- Publisher(s): Grail Games, Matagot
- Designer(s) : Stefan Feld
- Artist(s) : Dennis Lohausen
- Players : 1–4
- Playing time : 90 - 120 Min
- Weight BGG : 4.25
What's this?
Civolution is an expert-level game by Stefan Feld in which players take control of a rapidly evolving civilization. Across multiple eras, you will develop your territory, advance your tribes, explore new environments, and accumulate victory points.
How do you play?
A game takes place over four eras , each divided into 8 distinct phases . The core of the game lies in managing your personal “console” and activating modules via dice .
The unfolding of an era:
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Preparation (Phases 1 to 3): Players receive new Research cards, new achievements and additional discoveries .
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Action Phase (Phase 4): This is the engine of the game. You use your activation dice to trigger the 15 main modules of your console .
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Migration and Procreation: Deploy your tribes across the continent and increase your population .
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Production and Transport: Gather resources (wood, stone, etc.) and manage your storage .
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Research and Invention: Install Research cards (Invention, Mutation, Sagacity, Building, Exploit) to gain unique abilities .
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Construction: Build farms, settlements, or special structures to score points .
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Maintenance and Evolution (Phases 5 to 8): We manage the feeding of the tribes, random events and the collection of income before moving on to the next era .
Victory is based on 9 scoring categories , including your progress tracks (Technology, Prestige, Culture, etc.) and the development of your console .
Is it good?
Civolution is first and foremost a remarkably rich game, designed for fans of demanding, large-scale strategy games.
The number of possibilities offered on each turn is impressive: with more than 22 different actions, the game offers many avenues of development to explore depending on your strategy.
Civolution is a demanding game. Between managing your tribes across the continent, exploration, map management, progress tracks, and the numerous possible actions, each turn becomes a real puzzle… in the best possible way. The game will definitely make you think.
And with all these possibilities in each round, thanks to the variety of cards, different scoring systems, constantly changing territory configurations, and events that vary from game to game, the game possesses incredible depth and shines with its immense replayability. Civolution can almost be considered a “sandbox” game, where no strategy is entirely linear. No two games are alike.
The dice system introduces an element of chance, but it remains well-controlled. Even after a bad roll, you’ll have numerous opportunities to improve your results. And if you’re unlucky, the game will push you to adjust your plans and improvise intelligently.
On the downside, Civolution is definitely a complex game. The rules are dense, the first game can seem intimidating, and it will require a little time to learn in order to fully enjoy it. However, it’s worth noting that the icons are very intuitive and become easy to understand after a game.
Other possible flaws: the opportunistic nature of certain events when they are revealed, games that can drag on, especially with players who like to think long and hard about each decision, an art direction and theme that are not necessarily very appealing, as well as a relatively limited direct interaction.
Despite these minor reservations, Civolution stands out as an excellent, high-level civilization game. Deep yet intuitive, generous yet satisfying to master, it amply rewards the investment required and offers a fabulous experience in managing and developing a civilization. For players seeking a dense and strategic challenge, it’s a must-try.
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Civolution Review
Positives
- Great strategic wealth
- More than 22 possible actions each turn
- A sense of freedom in development
- Huge replayability
- Intelligent and modular dice system
- Intuitive icons after the first part
- Many paths to victory
- Very satisfying to master
Negatives
- Dense rules
- Intimidating first part
- Fairly long sections
- Some opportunistic events
- Limited direct interaction
- Unappealing theme and art direction
- Element of chance in the game
