The launch of Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth is only three weeks away at this point, and Firaxis is counting down the weeks with a new let's play style live gameplay demo. This week kicked off the demo with the ultimate goal of capturing a Domination victory with Brasilia.
Official Beyond Earth Gameplay Trailer Released
The gameplay itself goes somewhat slowly, as the narrator talks through every decision, making sure the audience knows the consequences of each gameplay choice. Still, being able to see the start of a new game, along with all of the stumbling blocks that players are likely to face on the new and alien planet, is helpful. The video makes it clearer than ever just how much of a hindrance the alien miasma can be to civs still trying to get their footing and how severely it can affect the critical early-game exploration.
The playthrough also highlights the process of deciding which affinity civs should start pursuing in the early game. The demo's spawn point was near several deposits of the Xenomass resource with little else around it. Xenomass is used largely for Harmony units, and the plentiful miasma surrounding Brasilia's capital city could be an advantage for a player with a high enough Harmony level. The decision, then, to pursue the Harmony affinity was an easy one.
Civ Veteran MadDjinn Offers Strategic Tips For Beyond Earth
In every single-player game, the player is always the first civ to land on the new planet. Other civ leaders will then start landing several turns after the player. As the demo shows, these computer players can spawn as early as a couple turns into the game or as late as the 20th or 30th turn.
Right now, the game is more focused on expansion than warfare. In coming weeks, the gameplay may start to evolve into a more aggressive playstyle, and we'll get to see Beyond Earth's combat gameplay in action.
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth is set to release for PC on October 24.
