Civilization: Beyond Earth is now live on Steam worldwide, offering players a new evolution of the Sid Meier's Civilization formula. And alongside the release of the game comes the release of its complete, epic soundtrack, which is provided free to all who buy the game. Here's how you can get to your copy of the tunes.
Replacing Civ V's Happiness System With Beyond Earth's More Forgiving Health System
When you download Beyond Earth off Steam, head to the Steam\steamapps\common folder in your Program Files. There you should find the folder for Beyond Earth. The game's soundtrack is located in the "assets" folder there. For those who want to get the music without buying the game, the soundtrack is also up on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon and Spotify.
If you want to get a taste of the soundtrack to see how you like it, two particularly memorable songs are up on the Civ YouTube page. Both are from returning Civ composer Geoff Knorr, but the full soundtrack includes work from Griffin Cohen, Michael Curran and former Rare composer Grant Kirkhope.
Beyond Earth Mac And Linux Release Dates Announced
Beyond Earth shares many similarities with its predecessor, Civ V. Its combat, general mechanics and overall aesthetic have made some series veterans wondering if the game is more like a Civ V expansion than a whole new game. Plenty of additions to the game's formula, however, make Beyond Earth more than just Civ V in space.
The beginning of each game has players choose not only their civ's leader but also what kind of cargo they're bringing to the new world, what cargo their ship is carrying and other decisions that have a sizable impact on how the early game is played. The revamped Tech Web gives players more freedom than ever in deciding how to pursue science in their civ. The game has added a Quest mechanic that helps players strengthen their growth in the new Affinity system. Finally, a new Orbital Layer adds another tier to the game's units beyond simple ground, naval and air, changing up military and production strategies.
And this all takes place on a brand new world, one filled with new kinds of resources and new alien AI units that behave differently from other players and add another layer of interaction to the game's diplomacy.
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth is available now for PCs on Steam. A Mac and Linux version are set to be released sometime later this year.
