Civilization VI

Firaxis's 2016 entry breaks cities open. Where previous Civilizations stacked everything inside one tile, here districts are placed on the map individually, so a campus wants mountains next to it, a harbour wants the coast, and a city is a spatial puzzle you solve against the terrain you were given. Wonders occupy their own tiles with their own adjacency rules, which makes them decisions rather than purchases. Government is a slotted card system swapped as you change civics, giving mid-game pivots real mechanical weight, and the leader agenda system gives every AI opponent a visible personality to play around. Two expansions matter: Rise and Fall added loyalty, governors and golden ages, and Gathering Storm added climate, floods and a world congress. It is busier and more colourful than Civilization V, which remains the community's main dividing line - VI is the deeper builder, V the cleaner one. Both are still played, and Civilization VII arrived in 2025 to a similar argument.