Sid Meier's Civilization® V

An turn-based strategy game that everyone should check out.

You will need the Gods and Kings, and Brave New World DLCs to fully enjoy this game. tho. It is typical for modern civ games to require DLC to truly be good.

Upon first playing this game, I was very new to the turn-based strategy genre and I can assure you I was very confused. I purchased the game with all DLC for $50 on sale because I did not want to have to go through the expensive process of DLC acquisition if I liked the game so I took the risk--and it definitely paid off.

Civilization V, especially with DLC is a complex game with many levels of gameplay. You have to manage cities, production, happiness, your military, diplomacy, and so many other aspects. If you're going in blind it can be very difficult to understand at first, and many concepts will seem vague. But overtime, I slowly learned the various components such as production, tourism, culture, science, trade, wonders, and many more.

So, I can assure you, you will likely enjoy this game, but you have to be patient and invest time into understanding the crucial mechanics and how they affect your gameplay.

Overall, a great game.

Civ V is the most playable version. Civ 6 is too complex for a relaxed game, and Civ 7 is a dumpster fire.

Want to lose 3-hrs of your life in some kind of weird time warp of dissociation because you had to build Rome in a day? Boy is this the game for you. Beautifully satisfying for the novice history buff.

If you’re into strategy games, Civilization V is an absolute must-have. The hours will fly by, and just when you think you’re done, you’ll want to start another game. Highly recommend!

only 16 hours in, but only 2 games played, not even 1 game won. The first game i started, i went straight to 3 hours of gameplay without even noticing time fly.
Just one more turn to save and leave the game. Nope. 6 turns after and maybe i'll remember wanting to leave the game.
It just grabs your attention and makes you think about what to do but in an enjoyable way.
I'm not the biggest CIV fan but i can say without a doubt that it's a great game and a game i'll always play.

This was my first Civilization game and a great segway into the franchise. I love how many little things you can control and all the different ways to play. There are so many different ways to win and things to find and leaders to play as. I love the diversity of the leaders and that there are so many that wouldn't necessarily be the first to spring to mind. It really allows so many different games to play out.

This I think will probably be my most favourite civ game.

Civ 6 and 7 took more of a "board game" approach with basically trying to create a good game with interesting mechanics and *then* smacking history elements on it. Problem with that approach is that you end up with mechanics that feel so detached from history that you could barely call it a history game. Oh, let me spend 3 turns to put this eternal governor into this city that magically makes it immune to disasters or makes pops grow faster.

I mean civ 5 also has plenty of that, but at least it makes some mechanics ***feel*** believable. Like you actually are re-creating the great roman empire with millions of people or something.

Also civ 5 feels less micro-managey compared to 6. I'm also gonna not even really bother comparing to 7 seeing as how it's kinda a buggy mess.

Anyways, I like Paradox Interactive games more since their mechanics feel more "how can we create a mechanic that allows this historic event to take place (in a fun way)" and I find them much more engaging since I can like compare myself to real life entities, which is neat.

Back to 5. Uh the multiplayer is a gitchy mess (seems to be a common theme with civ).
The mods are good though! I wanna say most of the hours I have in this game are playing modded singleplayer. There are some big ol' packs out there like Vox Populi but there are still some active modders creating new mods for the game 15 years after release which is pretty cool.

I play this game when I'm taking a break from my actual favourite Turn-based strategy game...
Sid Meier's Civilization II.

Stacks of DOOM for the win!

It is a heavily flawed but very fun game. Certainly my favourite in the series when it comes to the numbered titles.

It strikes a nice balance between streamlined simplicity and complexity.

I bot Civ 6 when it came out and didn't care for the changes. I didn't even consider buying Civ 7 cause I already own Humankind, and Civ 7 just looks like Humankind with meh characters as leaders where you have to change civs.

This game seems to be the sweet spot for the Civ games. This is where playability and fun topped out for the franchise.

Civ V with Vox Populi is the greatest modern Civilization game

I like the strategy aspects at all levels; needing to manage and balance investments in social policy, science, economics, and military. Always engaging as you can change the geography, civilizations you are playing with, and degree of difficulty. The AI is better than previous versions, which makes it tough at the higher settings that give the computer an edge in the speed of development of other civilizations.

Great Game. 9/10 I've played this game for Hundreds of Hours (On a Different Account) and Have many great Memories playing Civ5,

Nvm it was a Computer Issue

Old Review:
|
V
However the Game Immediatelly crashing when trying to open it 100% of the Time i wouln't Buy this game until this is Fixed.

Still the best Civilization game in the franchise.

Still the best CIV in my opinion. I played a ton of 6 but I started getting tired of the micro-managing that is absolutely required by it. I went back to 5 and it was like a breath of fresh air!

Where 5 feels like a fun board game, 6 feels like managing a spreadsheet.

I remember when I got this game and all it's dlc for 12 bucks during a seasonal sale the better part of a decade ago. I don't know what's going on over with T2I but to see this game at full price with only 10% off the DLC right now in the midst of a sale is... disheartening.

If you want an honest review it's great, my favorite in the franchise and the benchmark that I compare others to (Even though I played Rev and 4 first). The large armies and hexagonal map give the game a favorable appearance, though the maps have only gotten prettier in the franchise I do think civ 5 had the coolest units by scaling their count. A whole battalion of riflemen unleashing a devastating barrage never gets old. The game flows naturally, and though diplomacy is more shallow than you'd expect the game has the depth you would want from a civ 4x with a variety in possible victorys. Leader personalities are all splendid, fun characters that add life to any civ and how their personalities contribute to gameplay is clearly present (I will never forget the great betrayal of Casimir III).

It's also older than most highschool freshmen, so to see the entire game and all it's (unfortunately) crucial dlc still cost 90 dollars combined in the middle of a seasonal sale... Maybe it went on sale when 7 came out, but I can't imagine that meriting not taking part in the seasonal. Take it from someone who loves this game to death; don't spend 90 dollars on this, buy it somewhere else or don't buy it.

Don't be sad about the joke that is CIV6 and CIV7, game developers these days don't even know anymore what made their franchise great or care about pleasing their loyal community. Just look at CIV7, instead they copy boring mechanics from a FAILED competitor. Tells you enough about their priorities.

Luckily we have CIV5.
For the best CIV experience ever play CIV5 + Vox Populi mod which makes improvements on core mechanics of the game, adds new and old mechanics while adding layers of complexity and massively overhauls AI making it the only 4x game with an actually competitive AI.
Challenge and countless hours of fun await you.

Greetings

Civ 5 is undoubtedly one of the greatest entries in the Civilization franchise. This game is more than a decade old now, but I'd say it still holds up incredibly well today. The gameplay is amazing, and it's relatively easy to get into without being overwhelmed or confused. On that note, I would highly recommend picking up the complete bundle; it usually goes on a pretty hefty discount during major sales.

playing civ 7 for a dozen of hours (this is how long I could bare it) made me appreciate even more the old versions

Bit of a nuisance getting it to run in full screen and then had some issues with the game not launching.

The game itself is great though.

Simple game to play, difficult to master. It would be nice if the spy/religious mechanics were better, but this is an older game. Still it is fun

I enjoy all of the Civ games, III is probably my favorite but V is also a lot of fun! Can't go wrong with a good game od Civilization

Yeah this was a great game, which is even better with mods. They didn't really nail the 1upt or the conversion to hexes, but they were needed changes and they are a good first attempt. It is too bad about the direction the game took in versions 6 and 7.

just good chill fun, game is exponentially better if u play with friends teamed up and betray each other for laughs

As someone who has spent a perfectly reasonable amount of hours on this game, Civ V is hands down the best of the series.

Yes, some of the graphics are somewhat outdated. but the core gameplay is so streamlined that trying to deviate from perfection is part of the reason the subsequent games have failed to capture the spirit of CIv V. Civ VI tried too hard to reinvent the wheel that I genuinely can't stand it and regret spending money on it. I already knew better than to get Civ VII on release, but the amount of bugs and purely unfinished content ripe for EA style dlc monetization has completely made me lose faith in any successful follow up now that we're clearly heading towards another video game crash due to money being prioritized over quality content.

Good thing is that Civ V has everything you could ever really want out of the series, and with an active modding community, you will forever be longing for one more turn.

Easy to learn and eventually allows you to explore the complexities of gameplay at a decent rate.

Activist forum moderators censor EVERY criticism of their recent games, banning everyone who do not shill for them.

A civ 7 buyer was complaining that the game "isnt what he expected", I told him its his own fault for buying this early, when firaxis is a known developer that releases bugged games with cut content to be sold as DLC.

They banned me from the forum for a month.

Absurd what power trip these greedy corpos run these days.

This is peak Civ, nothing comes close. For an even deeper experience, download Civ V: Vox Populi mod on civfanatics forums. Do not waste your money on the simplistic and nonsensical abomination called Civ 7.

Civ V is a masterpiece of turn-based strategy game and strikes the perfect balance between complexity and enjoyment.

While the base game is already excellent, Civ V truly reaches its full potential with the Gods & Kings and Brave New World expansions. These add critical elements like religion, espionage, trade routes, and ideological conflicts, vastly improving the depth and variety of gameplay.

Whether you're a seasoned strategist or a newcomer to the genre, Civ V is a game that will keep you saying, "Just one more turn."

Game is now completely unplayable since the removal of the launcher. Will not launch. There are countless different fixes which supposedly work for others, none of them work for me. They are all utterly absurd, frankly some of those fixes have real "Mew under the truck" energy & I wouldn't believe they could fix anything if other people weren't claiming it worked for them.

I really love civ five in particular, witch is why its so sad that i can't play cause it won't launch on windows 11. wtf, glad i didn't buy this game full price originally. feel bad for anyone who did. DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!! (at least not right now)

Sid Meier's Civilization® V – 10/10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

"Just one more turn..." Civilization V is an absolute masterpiece in the turn-based strategy genre, perfect for both newcomers and veterans of the series. Developed by Firaxis Games, it refines the core mechanics that made Civilization famous, offering an incredibly deep and rewarding empire-building experience.

Why It’s Amazing:
✅ Accessible Yet Deep – Civ V removes some of the complexity of previous games (like Civ IV) but still maintains immense strategic depth. The introduction of hexagonal tiles and the removal of unit stacking make combat more tactical and enjoyable.

✅ Endless Replayability – Each game plays out differently thanks to randomly generated maps, AI opponents with unique personalities, and multiple victory conditions (Domination, Science, Cultural, Diplomatic). The expansions, Gods & Kings and Brave New World, add even more variety.

✅ City-States & Diplomacy – The introduction of city-states adds an interesting diplomatic layer, allowing players to form alliances, wage proxy wars, or dominate through sheer influence.

✅ Incredibly Addictive – The "one more turn" phenomenon is real. Games can stretch for dozens of hours, and every decision—whether it's expanding your empire, researching a technology, or declaring war—feels meaningful.

✅ Mod Support & Community – The Steam Workshop is filled with custom mods, scenarios, and civilizations, ensuring that the game never gets old.

Minor Drawbacks:
❌ AI Can Be Unpredictable – While the AI is competent, it sometimes makes bizarre strategic decisions, particularly in warfare.
❌ DLC Dependency – The base game is great, but expansions like Brave New World are almost essential for the best experience.

Final Verdict:
If you love strategy games, Civilization V is a must-play. It's one of the most engaging and replayable games ever made, perfect for casual players and hardcore strategists alike. Be warned: once you start, you may find yourself playing until the sun rises!

⭐ Rating: 10/10 🔵【Highly Recommended】

One of the greatest games of all time. Fun, Endlessly repayable and guaranteed to work on almost any system. And its not CIv 7, which is horrible, boring and tedious. For that alone, you should buy it now, to remind Firaxis that it can do the right thing when tits not designing games by focus group / for the iphone.

They "updated" this recently to try and break it on modern systems right before VII released. POS developers. That won't make people buy VII, it will make people buy other games from better companies.

After playing Civ 7 for a bit, it made me further appreciate Civ 5 with the Vox Populi mod as the best in the series by far.

A shame how Civ 7 is a regression in many aspects from Civ 5, a game released 15 years ago....

Probably the best civ version. No denuvo, no forced account, lots of mods.

Best one yet, I have VI and don't care for it as much. Great UI, NPC personalities are interesting, I really enjoy playing this game

BEWARE! FRESH INSTALLS ARE MOSTLY BROKEN! This is the videogame equivalent to pushing a busted update to the production server Friday evening and going home for the weekend. Except it's been over two months.

It is also not lost on me they bricked the game right before Civ VII's launch...

2K managed to turn a positive update into a game-breaking one.

I was originally tickled pink by the 2K Launcher removal update. The launcher never bothered me but I was VERY impressed they properly retired it and used Steam's built-in alternative for DX9/11/Touch rather than deprecate a 14 year old game. They seemingly had handled the situation perfectly and handled it way better than Activision-Blizzard, Rockstar, and other tier 1 studios that fumbled the ball with old titles and remasters.

However, I unwittingly re-installed Windows and didn't bother backing up my Steam library because I have gigabit internet and the game is small. You cannot launch new installs. The game says launching and then it stops without anything happening. The closest I ever got it to launching was via the .exe's in the install folder but I got a generic DX9 and DX11 error.

In order to get the game to function, you either need to spend hours redownloading the game and backing up the .exe's when you finally get functional ones or you need to run a script to do it for you. I spent almost 3 hours troubleshooting before I gave up. My physical copy of the Complete Edition arrived in the mail the other day and I'm not planning on purchasing any 2K
or Firaxis games in the future.

I was planning on purchasing Civ 7 at launch but am now unlikely to buy it at all cause of their ham-fisted Civ 5 update. I play my 4X games quite literally for decades and I don't want them to break it in a decade and then completely forget about it in favour of whatever their new titles are.

There are lots of 4X and grand strategy games that have *significantly* better AI than Civ 5 and 6. Go play Age of Wonders, Hearts of Iron, freeciv, Europa Universalis, Stellaris, Humankind, Pax Nova, Crusader Kings, or literally anything else.

Game is broken and unplayable due to 2K antics. Please do not purchase game as it does not work. I have spent over 100$ on this game and i might as well not even own it!

Releasing an update that stops the game from even running is anti-consumer and all potential buyers should avoid games by Firaxis games studio and it's related partners in the future. This likely includes all future civilization games, but i'm not a wizard so I cannot say for certain if another studio might take up new entries in this particular series.

Furthermore steam should be making more of an effort to punish games studios who do this. I am very disappointed in Steam for even allowing this to occur.

Users should not be forced on to the forums to find some fix posted by a third party from another website and dig into the game files just to make it function.

This is clear and obvious trick to force people to play newer titles and should be punished accordingly.

Now Changing my review after Years of Owning it. DO NOT BUY IT WILL NOT WORK. Ive tried every Fix the community has offered and the Civ Support Just flat out tells you to Buy the new games. This Game should be Removed from Steam if it no Longer Functions.

They broke the game with the latest update and it no longer launches properly on Windows 11. Tried a dozen "fixes" online and none work. Please update the game!

Game does not work anymore, launcher got removed and it broke the game

Game stopped working after the recent update, they should refund it if they are not fixing it.

While I personally believe this to be the pinnacle of the Civilization franchise up to this point, I can't recommend this to anybody in good conscience in its current state. This game refuses to launch, broken a few months ago after 2K removed their dogwater launcher that they forced upon everyone some years prior. Neither 2K nor Steam is interested in helping rectify this issue, and none of the troubleshooting methods being passed around in the Steam discussions nor on Reddit have resolved it. Until the game is actually able to be started, this will remain a negative review.

If Civilization 5 isn't launching after the recent update where they removed the 2k launcher do the following.
1. Go to your steam library
2. Right click on the game
3. Click on properties
4. Click on installed files
5. At the top right of the window you will see the location of installed files, click on the browse
6. In the directory right click on either executable you wish to run. CivilizationV.exe or CivilizationV_DX11.exe
7. Click on properties
8. Click on compatibility
9. Enable compatibility mode with windows 8 mode
10. Click apply
11. Run the game through the selected executable in the folder not the play button through steam.
12. Enjoy

With 392 hours of play time, this game was on my favorites list for some time. Since the recent update, the game no longer launches. When I click the "Play", the button changes to "Stop" for 15 seconds, then changes back to "Play". The game doesn't launch. I have owned very civilization game since the first through Civ 6. I won't be buying Civ 7.

Recently booted up 5, only to be shocked to discover how much better it is than 6.

Best way I can describe it is 5 is an organic Civilization building experience and thus more immersive while 6 is just a bunch of gimmick mechanics like districts and DLCs that don't really add anything of value, feels like playing a card deck building game more than a 4x game. Not to mention the art is actually good instead of looking like a mobile game.

Just get this game if you want a true Civilization experience, the new ones are under terrible management by very confused people.