For the uninitiated this is a turn based strategy game that involves building up a civilization. That includes creating cities, developing new technologies, building trade and diplomatic relationships, experimenting with different forms of government, and a heck of a lot more. There are so many different paths you can take that the game really has almost infinite replay value.
The Switch version is excellent and retains most of what might be found on the PC version yet can played in portable form or on a TV. It runs at a decent frame rate and feels very natural on the console despite its PC roots. It will work with the controller or touch display. Controls take a little bit of getting used to if you’ve primarily been a PC player but there is a Switch specific tutorial for acclimating to the Switch version.
I am knocking off a star for two reasons:
1. Multiplayer is local only. Given that I’m paying for this Nintendo Online subscription it’s unfortunate a flagship game like this doesn’t take advantage of that. I would love to challenge my friends to a game.
2. 2k decided to not store save games from Civ VI with the Nintendo cloud backup feature. They offer a free alternative through their services but that requires turning over some of your personal information to them. It also is not a syncing service so if you’re offline you can’t load your game that’s stored on the cloud server. This means you’ll be manually syncing your saves to the cloud when you want to make a backup copy. Too much file management for me especially when there’s a built-in sync function that would work fine through Nintendo’s cloud.
Some may see this as a plus since you don’t need to have a Nintendo online account to make a cloud save. But I’d much prefer to store my saves on Nintendo’s cloud and have them backup automatically the next time I have a connection.
One last thought to ponder: if you’re attracted to the portability of the game on Switch do give the iPad / iOS version some consideration. The iPad version of the full game costs only $20 and gives you more screen real estate to play with.
