Put simply, Gathering Storm checks all the boxes of what a great expansion should be and is a must own for hardcore Civilization VI fans looking for a reason to spice things up in an incredibly positive way or get back into the game if they’ve been dormant.
Gathering Storm is overall a great expansion, ushering in two significant new systems that work hand in hand to deepen the experience. The embellished diplomatic options extend the range of interactions with other leaders, allowing you to work cooperatively towards common goals or pull the strings to your advantage behind the scenes. While the introduction of climate change delivers new strategic choices whose consequences resonate ever-more-loudly as you advance throughout the eras. It isn't simply more Civ, it's a whole new way to play Civ.
Great expansion for a great game.
Civilization is one of my all-time favorite games, and the leap from the fifth to the sixth game is epic. It offers new mechanics, tons of stuff to do and build and a fresh new look over the older games. There is some new and relaxing music, more factions and overall, it is a huge improvement over the previous game.
This expansion, Gathering Storm adds natural disasters, and a new mechanic to gather resources.
The disasters are cool but really frustrating at the same time. They add new challenge to the game and let you think about the placement of your new cities, the need to build damns and the constant repairing of destroyed tiles because of a tornado or sandstorm.
Instead of the need to own two or more resources to build a stronger unit, you can just have one tile and the resources will slowly increase. The more fields you own, the faster this process goes. I think this is a huge improvement over the old mechanic, in which many times, you only had one field of the resource you need close, and the first possible field is miles away from you.
Overall, Civilization VI: Gathering Storm is a nice expansion and worth the extra cost.
Overall: This is the game it was meant to be. The world feels real, diplomacy matters much more, resources are now handled more logically, and the new civilizations bring variety to how the game is played. I actually find myself saying "... just one more turn ...", which was rare before this expansion in Civ VI.
Civilizations: I honestly didn't know what to expect of the civ selections prior to the leak, because the last several announcements for Rise and Fall were truly underwhelming. This was not the case, for me, with Gathering Storm. The new ensemble brings several needed favorites, and they sre balanced by new and replacement civs that haven't left me disappointed (except maybe Canada, but then I may immigrate there some day, so I'll keep an open mind). More importantly, unlike most of the DLC and Rise & Fall civs, the civs of Gathering Storm feel like they bring unique approaches to how I play the game (even Canada, completely changing early game diplomacy without Surprise Wars). When I play as Mali, I'm working to maximize trade, building walls (because I have enough units and all my buildings and districts have been bought- thanks Reyna and Moksha), and generally feeling like an unparalleled economic powerhouse. As Phoenicia, my empire is built around my "colonies", as my new distant capital citizens refer to them, and I've got harbors out the wazoo. And so it goes.
Map: Not only has there been a massive and appreciable aesthetic upgrade (my fiancee that doesn't even play commented on this), but the map generation is more interesting and better developed. Additionally, I play with climate settings maxed out, so I regularly get flooded and volcanoed (I've lost many citizens already, once a catastrophe that wiped a 10 pop mega-city of it's time down to a 3 pop rural outpost (remember, in civ games population has an exponential relationship to number of fictional people). Tornados have surprisingly damage my troops, dust storm have wreaked having, droughts have limited me when I really need to grow, and so on. While many of these were setbacks, I put myself in place for them by settling near where the later yields would see me flourish- so I only have myself to blame. And I can't say it was pretty or an interesting event for my people.
Resources:
Why oh why wasn't always like this? Of my two least favorite changes from V to VI, I'm so incredibly happy to see this one fixed. Resources matter, and it always should have been this way. I'm now engaged with the system, and consider how I'm using and acquiring them. (Now, if you would just readjust movement costs to align with V, we'd be all set)!
Power: I play carefree enough that I can often make it to the late game, and I enjoy the add costs of environmental and resource challenges to developing my empire. It reminds me that a lot of the progress in the world post-Industrial era was centered in the few nation's that were able to terribly abuse resources for energy. The game now reflects this, and it's a fun and engaging system. Hopefully the real world continues to progressively move on from resource abusing means of energy production too.
Diplomacy: The grievances system as a coat of fresh paint on an old vehicle, but that new paint job came with some work under the hood which has led to the vehicle running more smoothly. Beyond that, the added late game agendas have added an appreciated additional dynamic to the AI leader charachter, which is appreciated (even if I would just rather have the personality table from V back). Additionally, we have the featured new diplomacy system, with favor and the World Congress. For this, I say thank you. It feels right having a political system in the game, and I appreciate that it's notably different than what we had in the past. It's no longer simple to merely buy votes alone and dominate politically, now you must earn favor with positive relationships with major civs and earning the suzerainty of the minor powers (of course, the better your relations, the easier it is to actually do some of that bribing, in this case for favor rather than direct votes). While I don't always enjoy the lack of variety (getting three identical proposals in a row, IIRC), I enjoy that there are fairly powerful resolutions, contests, a revamped and improved emergency system, and an additional approach to diplomacy. Overall, I'm quite a fan!
New Era: I appreciate the opportunity to stretch out the game, especially from a science and military game perspective (the two victory paths that have the most potential to benefit from the new aspects). The GDR is interesting, and the added time led to the developers really upgrading the science victory. With a slightly longer game, you also get more opportunity to appreciate later game buildings and events (like climate change).
Is it perfect? No, but it's the best game for my tastes on the market, and this heavily loaded expansion pack is the reason.
Gathering Storm is an easy recommendation for all Civilization fans that are looking to breathe new life into the Civ VI experience, and a great entry point to the series for newcomers looking to get in on the action.
Known long-time fans of the series have put in far less time playing VI than they did previous titles, and I am no exception. The Rise and Fall expansion did little to improve this and I found it to be among the weakest expansions ever released for the franchise. Gathering Storm, though, sings a different tune and may be one of the best. It introduces possibly the best diplomacy system I’ve seen in any game, and a climate change mechanic that ticks boxes I’ve long wished to be there.
Gathering Storm offers an interesting take on the formula, with less focus on the martial side of the civilizations, maybe to make easier to reach the modern eras. It is, overall, a very good expansion that brings more Civilization and gives it its own flavor.
Civilization VI: Gathering Storm has new leaders, wonders, and mechanics to freshen up your experience. Unfortunately, some of these features occur fairly late, or are non-factors in your playthroughs.
Gathering Storm offers a mixed bag. The ambition is clear, with climate change and the World Congress being major changes that sadly fails to fully live up to their potential. At the same time, the new resource mechanics are engaging, and the new leaders and other additions make for an expansion filled with content. Nevertheless, Gathering Storm does not live up to the standards set by last year's expansion, Rise and Fall.
L'ajout de la gestion du changement climatiques et de l'énergie est cool, ça pousse à bien géré ces ressources, à pousser la science pour trouver des énergies vertes et à faire pression voir détruire les pollueurs quand ont arrivé sur des moments critique. Les catastrophes aléatoires mette un petit plus dans les parties, des avantages peuvent changer, des victoires diplomatiques, vraiment sa apporte plein de petit truc vraiment intéressant.
I like the base game, but this expansion just adds drudgery and makes everything a lot more complicated, without making much sense. The natural disasters just add noise and distraction. The world congress and the diplomatic victory was my least favorite mechanic of Civilization 5, and here it is again, even more obtuse than before, with all kinds of complicated voting choices. There is so much stuff that needs to be micromanaged. For example, cities need power, and you need to build power plants, which requires coal/oil, which contributes to global warming. Plus the strategic resources needed are rare. I had six cities spread over a good portion of the map. No coal or oil in sight. So no power plants for me. The whole thing is just silly. After one play-through I already had enough and decided I don't want to play this expansion any more.
The new expansion adds almost nothing to the game, and at a price point of $40 you'd have to be an idiot to purchase this. The global warming mechanic doesn't kick in at all until the very end game, and many games will have been won before anything this DLC adds kicks in.
SummaryIn Gathering Storm, the second expansion to Civilization VI, the world around you is more alive than ever before. Chart a path to victory for your people by developing new advanced technologies and engineering projects and negotiating with the global community in the World Congress on critical issues. The choices you make in the game wil...