Brave New World is the latest expansion pack for Civilization 5 – although describing Brave New World as an expansion pack really doesn’t do it justice. A massive roster of changes can be seen in Brave New World and each one actually feels not only well implemented but actually kind of crucial. So well integrated are these new features that they are in fact difficult to tell apart from the main features of the original game. Those who have God’s and Kings will be familiar with a few of these features, mainly religion, but in Brave New World even these are enhanced enormously so that they make more of a difference to the world, and ultimately, victory.
One of the most important features new to Brave New World is trade routes. You can now build units that are capable of trading both with other players in the game as well City States. You can also trade internally within your own cities providing much needed resources to a city that lacks food or production. Or you can use internal trade routes to spread religion within your own borders. Generally speaking trade routes can be quite lucrative. There is no need for any real micromanagement either, once a trade route has ceased the unit requires your attention before turn end and you can select one of the available routes from a list and off it goes. It will continue to generate the resources of the route until it has finished at which point you can pick the same route again or choose another. It’s a very useful feature and it’s nice just to have it ticking away in the background.
On top of trade routes and a more advanced religion mechanic Ideologies and World Congress now shape the world your Civ lives in. There are 3 ideologies you can choose from; Freedom, Autocracy and Order. In my last game I played as England and chose Freedom. Sadly for me every other nation on the map had decided to go for Order and soon my people felt left out and became unhappy with Freedom. Luckily you can alter your ideology and conform to the pressures of diplomatically superior nations. I did so and received huge bonuses to happiness, chose a different set of Ideology bonuses, and carried on. It’s great to see that Ideologies have been added and in fact change the game quite noticeably. The bonuses you receive are good and I love the fact that the globally accepted standard ideology makes an impact on everyone. Although with a strong enough nation you could fight it and establish your chosen ideology as the prominent one.
The World Congress will meet occasionally to vote on different, potentially world changing, decisions. Stuff like the banning of a certain product which may weaken a certain nation dramatically but make little to no difference to another. Depending on the amount of delegates you have you will be able to vote by differing amounts. When I played as England I had very few, at 6, where Persia had above 12 at all times. Most decisions where based on what they said. When they banned trade with me and there was nothing I could do about it it was uniquely both frustrating and impressive.
You can also now use your spies to infiltrate other nations and bargain for votes under the table. This is particularly useful when you have plenty of spies but absolutely nothing for them to do. Rather than them just sitting at home using up all your resources and making people miserable you can send them out into the wild and get yourself some more sway with the World Council.
But that’s not all. Brave New World also adds a much improved cultural victory system by allowing you access to many more ways to improve a civ’s culture. Not least of which is tourism. Depending on how many great works you own, such as famous paintings and pieces of music, and how many cultural buildings you have you will get increased culture from tourism. It really is a viable way to achieve victory now, especially with the added wonders.
With much more interactive and effective world politics thanks to the World Congress system, more buildings and much better victory conditions, Civ 5 now gives you way more choice. Even (very) late game you can attempt a last minute switch to a different type of victory. After planning a conquest victory and not quite getting things on track I realised I was actually pretty close to launching my mission to space so started researching and manufacturing like the sun wouldn’t rise tomorrow. Sadly a different nation beat me to victory with diplomacy but I very well might have won the space race if left to it. And this was as late as 2020!
A vastly improved late game, with more activities early and mid game too, make for a much more fleshed out experience – avoiding the inevitable lulls almost entirely. So well integrated are the new features of Brave New World that you can hardly tell it’s there. But it really is. Each feature adds something to the game. They all seem subtle and remain independent of one other, but when you rack up all the changes Brave New World makes, it’s almost a whole new game. Brave New World simultaneously draws no attention to itself yet completely alters the feel of Civ V. It does exactly what an expansion should do. It benefits and adds to the original without unbalancing, intruding on or becoming too distant from the vanilla game.
Reviewed on PC
