What are video games for if not escapism?

Grade: A-

It has been nearly ten years since addicts of the empire-building simulator Civilization — or Civ, as players call it — have had a fresh fix. Was it the original Civ that cost you an A on your paper? It’s back, and this time round it aims to cost you a promotion at work. You’ve both grown up. Prepare to lose very many hours to its blend of diplomacy, resource management, city-building and strategic ultraviolence.

Your path through history comes in three linked chunks: you’ll play through the ancient world, then carry forward some of your progress into the age of exploration, and then do the same again in modernity. What’s more, your leaders no longer have to be historically or geographically appropriate. If you want to set Benjamin Franklin on a hostile takeover of Confucian China, now’s your chance. Level him up quick and get a buff from those bifocals.

I asked Harriet Tubman to build an empire in Ancient Egypt. Regrettably, she turned out to be useless as pharaohs go. She was wiped out by the neighbor- ing tribes long before she got round to building any pyramids. Diversity hire, amirite? I had a bit more luck plonking Xerxes into ancient Persia. Before long we were descending on our neighbors like the wolf on the proverbial fold, and soon Nineveh and Tyre were, well, one with Nineveh and Tyre.

The graphics are gorgeous — rivers, mountains and valleys open out tile by tile as your scouts explore — and the gameplay is rich and various and outstandingly one-more-try-ish. Its Whiggish premise that humanity moves, as a rule, from barbarism to civilization rather than in the opposite direction looks increasingly quaint. Still, what are games for if not escapism?

This article was originally published in The Spectator’s April 2025 World edition.