Sid Meier's Civilization® IV

Sid Meier's Civilization® IV
94
Metacritic
92
Steam
93.673
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$7.49
Release date
25 October 2006
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
92 (2 037 votes)
Recent
100 (17 votes)

With over 6 million units sold and unprecedented critical acclaim from fans and press around the world, Sid Meier's Civilization is recognized as one of the greatest PC game franchises of all-time. Now, Sid Meier and Firaxis Games will take this incredibly fun and addictive game to new heights by adding new ways to play and win, new...

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Sid Meier's Civilization® IV system requirements

Minimum: Windows 2000/XP, 1.2GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent, 256MB RAM, 64 MB Video Card w/ Hardware T&L (GeForce 2/Radeon 7500 or better) DirectX7 compatible sound card, 1.7GB of free hard drive space, DirectX9.0c (included)
Recommended: Windows 2000/XP, 1.8GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent/better, 512 MB RAM, 128 MB Video Card w/ DirectX 8 support (pixel and vertex shaders), DirectX7 compatible sound card, 1.7GB of free hard drive space, DirectX9.0c (included)

Recommended:

Recommended requirements are not yet specified.
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gjmorrissette
gjmorrissette

I like playing on Realism Invictus mod when it does work. It did not work the second time I tried to load it. I found that weird.

michelledavidson37
michelledavidson37

no other game will keep you thinking every time it different every move you make changes the out come

andy.r.t
andy.r.t

With the map editor this i found to be the best civilization game out with the next best one being civ5. Same addictive elements with a jump of graphics quality from civ3.

Wulf
Wulf

AAAUUUHHH NOOOO THIS CANNOT BE HANNEPIN THIS GAME WAS RELEASED BEFORE I PLAYED IT!!!! You will experience many challenging events like this as you cheatt

MrCryptoGator
MrCryptoGator

I have so much nostalgia playing this game as a kid. This game is a classic and one of the greatest games of it's time (and dare I say one of the greatest games of all time). Great work to the developers and supporters of this game.

If you are into history of civilizations and/or strategy games that involve nations, this game is for you. Absolute must have for any turn-based strategy game lover!

Jack Bauer
Jack Bauer

Civilization IV is absolutely the best civ game and nobody will be able to convince me otherwise. I say this as someone who has played every civilization game except for Civ VI. I got the original game as a birthday present from my parents and became obsessed with each one since, so I know the strengths and weaknesses of them. The early civilization games were good, but had flaws. For instance, if you screwed up even a little bit, your game was finished. Never ending wars were a constant issue in civ 1-3 to the point where it became like Orwell's 1984; "we were always at war with Ghandi..." It was only truly fixed in this game where peace treaties became binding and it was not possible to cross borders without an open borders agreement (in the old games, you could keep troops in your opponent's territory and they would have to tell you to get out or declare war, after which most AI would declare war). So Civ 4 (this game) fixed these issues whilst still retaining the core gameplay which was utterly decimated in Civ V and newer versions. Later versions changed the core gameplay a lot and added complexity which doesn't really complement the game at all. Most people were happy that unit stacks were removed (i.e. you could no longer have 20 riflemen, 10 artillery, and 5 catapults on one tile) and with other changes to how combat works, but I feel that it ruined the game. It made combat more strategic in a way, but also more complicated in a bad way for gameplay & enjoyability. It's hard to describe exactly why, but Civ IV had the best of both worlds: the beginning of improvements that made civ better whilst also retaining the game mechanics and spirit of the old civ.

Oh, and I actually have 300 hours on this game, plus a bit more from when I owned it before having a steam account. I don't know why, but it reset my hours when I reinstalled this game on my new PC.

TLDR: Civ IV is the perfect civ game and you should definitely get it.

Samwhich123
Samwhich123

if you want to get into civ, this is the game to do so with. also one of the few game where I'll legit just sit there on the main menu because I wanna listen to the music

Theoran
Theoran

I haven't played the original aka "vanilla" Civilization IV since Beyond the Sword came out. 15 years later I decided to revisit the game and experience it all over again. I found I didn't miss the changes added by Warlords and Beyond the Sword DLCs at all, though, I guess I do miss a civilization's unique building. Civ IV is just as addicting as I remember and playing civilizations I normally looked over in Beyond the Sword was a great experience. Civ IV still holds up today and is a great entry point into the franchise.

dogtried
dogtried

Awful game. You can't even turn it off.

HerKneeUgh
HerKneeUgh

Didn't think I liked Civ then dropped 20 hours on a single scenario. I won a Diplomatic Victory as Bismark only having invaded the Romans and Incans, somehow allied with Victoria. The world was set to huge and the turns were on Marathon, after winning I kept playing until I had wiped everyone else off the earth. Guess I like Civ now.

Anonymous
Anonymous

It's a strategic turn based game that you can partly control

cojohaney
cojohaney

great game takes time, but super fun

Pappa Indigo
Pappa Indigo

I like the variety that even V doesn't cover.

Viper2003
Viper2003

I did like that it had earth map, and also had an edit for maps so you could make your own. It's been a while since I've played Civilization 3 and 2 and 1. So was glad to see that there is something that will run on win 10. I'm running a Ryzen 7 with 16gb of ram and it's working just fine with this. I know older programs sometimes don't work so well if your system is to big for it. But the main thing is that it was fun.

Blue786362
Blue786362

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☑ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☑ Amazing
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☑ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☑ Lots of grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☑ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☑ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☑ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

Richard
Richard

A classic game,a must play for all the 4X fans. This game was the first Civilization that I played. and the one that I belive is the most complete of all, clearly in graphics is inferior to V and VI but had the most Historically accurate development.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Better than copycats and cheaper to plan for example age of empires.

ngoldwe_2000
ngoldwe_2000

Civ IV is a an excellent game for those who enjoy the 4x genre. I have always enjoyed the Civilization franchise and Civ IV does not dissapoint. I particularly like the way you can customize your government and society, as well as being able to found a particular religion if you are the first to advance a particular tech associated with that particular religion. The map zoom in/out feature is also very helpful in keeping an eye on what is going on in and out of your empire.

buckg
buckg

i like one of the sub games, but this one doesnt run. it says i ran it but it actually locked up and froze for 3 days

darryl_mann
darryl_mann

This is a good strategy game. Not as difficult as later versions.

Patriotic M0nke
Patriotic M0nke

Fun and addicting although never let the Aztec's near you. Trust me I learned the hard way.

Mia_Sangold
Mia_Sangold

I cried when I heard the main menu music again after having not played it for over 8 years. This was a huge part of my childhood, and hearing that menu music after starting it up after so long is heart-wrenching, having deprived myself of that beautiful song for so long.

Baba Yetu is the most beautiful song I've ever heard in a game. Whether you have, or have not played this game before, I recommend it for nothing else other then nostalgia and the song Baba Yetu.

noordinaryguy
noordinaryguy

Great strategy game and really addicting first play through but it is hard. Session will take you hours. Not bad for a game named best strategy of them all.

Anonymous
Anonymous

In my opinion the most absorbing, most addictive, and generally best PC game ever. There are more updated versions and they're good too but it peaks with Civ IV.

rchiwawa
rchiwawa

A little wonky on Win10 but playable

thomaskhansen
thomaskhansen

I have played civ. 1, 2 and 3 a lot. This game is bad in every way, totally boring and waste of time

Br0Waffle
Br0Waffle

500+ hours before getting it on steam, 9/10 would get nuked by Ghandi again.

arandomretronerd
arandomretronerd

its classic civ
reccamend to get on sale for 3$

fisherb1986
fisherb1986

Still a good game. I managed to find and download all the old mods i used to play back in the day. Still better then 6

gordie239
gordie239

i down load and wanted sid meiers 111 not the 1V

Ken
Ken

Look no further. This is the top of the mountain.

nicnacjak
nicnacjak

A classic that still holds up well. Plus vo by LN you can't go wrong!

Deathstalked
Deathstalked

Civ has always been a great stategy game and still continues to be

paulevans2950
paulevans2950

Difficult to progress, Far too hard at higher levels

Hyperball
Hyperball

I hate that Rise of Kingdoms thinks they can copy this its so good

Foob
Foob

love everything except the stupid kuiblai, hate them

en jäkla potatis
en jäkla potatis

This game might be old but i still like it.
The game is challenging so you need to have the right prioritys and good strategy to win.

FNG4MOSHPIT
FNG4MOSHPIT

russia's in it sooo...
i give it a trans 11/10

Anonymous
Anonymous

Unlike most of the gamers I know, I never really cared for shoot'em'up or military conquest computer games. But games like solitaire and the ubiquitous merging games found on cell phones and computers today simply bore me to tears. I have been playing Civilization from when the very first edition came out in 1991. I welcomed CIV II and CIV III, but the advent of CIV VI gave me the strategy game I really was looking for.

I play CIV IV because it gives me the opportunity to win by diplomacy, cultural spread, and the space race as alternatives to outright war against the other civilizations. I play just the desktop mode, and generally customize to run the largest maps with marathon speed to let me really get into micromanaging the cities and units in games that might take me months to win, depending the real life time I have available to me.

For me it is the journey I take in developing my civilization, rather than the winning over the others that I enjoy. I set the game to always be in a state of peace (which I know is unrealistic) and dive in to the complexities of diplomacy and culture to either work together with the AI's civilizations or to entice them to join me through my culture development (usually by culture bombing the border cities by having Great Artists move to those locations and creating their Great Works).

I have yet to find another strategy game that caters as much to those players who don't enjoy warfare focused games as they do to those who are more interested in military conquest. CIV IV lets both types of player have an enjoyably challenging time creating and growing their civilizations.

oliverbicknell
oliverbicknell

best game EVER out of 5 stars its 51 51/5 the only problem is eventually i ran out of things to do

mjpc88
mjpc88

Wonders are pointless, religion is pointless, long-term tech is pointless, tile improvements are pointless, and even building settlers is pointless.

There's basically only one way to win in Civ4 which is to rush military units and attack, attack, attack. Compared to every other Civ game out there, it is hands down the worst of the bunch from this one-dimensional gameplay.

Note this is assuming you're playing on emperor or above difficulty. At lower levels, you can do those things, but the AI is easy to beat. In multiplayer, rushing military units is also necessary since cities do not come with their own defense and combat always results in one unit destroying the other in a fight to the death. There are no damaged units.

Chead03
Chead03

I love classic Civ and this is in the ball park with it

nahuatl79
nahuatl79

Great game, much better than Civ 6 (no annoying crappy-coloured religion wars or loosing out of nowhere because of some tiny civ's religion at the far end of the world). You can turn off wars in this one! Want to be one of the world leaders on a planet, which never did and never will see a military conflict? In this game, you can! :)

davidgcolley
davidgcolley

Good old school Warfare game. 4 stars.

HenrusTheFirst
HenrusTheFirst

I have spent 24 of the last 48 hours playing this game. Help me. I have an addiction.

ZeetLord
ZeetLord

best of the old school Civ. I Started playing civ 3 and loved it, and civ 4 just built on civ 3 before civ got more modern with 5. I love all the civ games but this is my personal favorite.

Aidski
Aidski

The newer civs are great, but there's something about stacking 20-30 horsemen or knights in one square that just can't be beat.

mah boi
mah boi

Civilization continues to improve with each installment. With this fourth attempt, the series has cleaned up almost all of its old shortcomings. The interface is nearly as streamlined as gameplay this complex will allow, and the controversial “strategic resources” from III have been made more plentiful and less decisive. In fact, due to overhauls of several mechanics, especially combat, this is probably the most balanced these games have ever been. It feels more organic than past titles as well – large cities spill out into adjacent tiles, the spread of religion across societies is only moderately controllable, and there are more numerous and interesting options for government style, unit promotion, and Great Person behaviour. The only remaining issues that aren’t endemic to the genre (such as game speed) are in the presentation. Outside of the famously incredible title theme, the music is quite boring, there are some odd sound effect choices, and the jump to 3D visuals had mixed results.

Score: 8/10

https://www.imlgames.com/sid-meiers-civilization-iv/

ryanto
ryanto

So far, I enjoy more than the VI

Anonymous
Anonymous

Been playing the Civ family of games for more years than I care to count. Civ IV builds upon the strengths of the genre.

oldlawdawg1954
oldlawdawg1954

enjoy the multiple was of playing game. the different ways to win, each person in game having its own personality. it is very challenging. what i don't like is some characters are missing, the Dutch empire for example. each game is totally different. i love the challenge of trying different ways of winning.

Glacialjay
Glacialjay

It's not really that much fun. The AI is a bit busted, and the game never really feels satisfying. Would not recommend, your time is better spent on other games.

bige_dad
bige_dad

a worthy successor to the Civ line. MUCH better than any subsequent entry!

butty
butty

Never play this in the evening. You'll never get to bed!

invalidated_files
invalidated_files

better than V but where tf are the settings

rosengrant
rosengrant

nostalgia and more movement options

BlorgLove
BlorgLove

i used to have this game on CD it was a good game then and is a good game now!

TheRealMisterMemer
TheRealMisterMemer

Complicated to learn, but a great game!

NoscopeJones
NoscopeJones

2 words: Freaking Amazing. Every bit of this is a worthy masterpiece. I don't know how i can praise this game to the level that it deserves. It has it all: Lenard Nemoiw, baba yetu, and that sweet sweet dated system graphics. But by far he best element of this game is that it's play on a square grid map. Civ 5 eat your heart out. Square grids are Completely Superior to hex. (Also my Totally hot gf has logged over 500 hrs in this game! Hourglass..../very nice/

Anonymous
Anonymous

Detail-oriented, inter-dependent world building. If you can't keep track of the small stuff, the big stuff will fail. If keeping track isn't your bag, try another game; this one will frustrate you.

Zomby811
Zomby811

barbarians are terrifying in this one

me
me

Says it runs on Linux but crashes on launching new game

Forlorned Fate
Forlorned Fate

I have loved this game for a long time

robert4260
robert4260

Many possibilities to win in this one.

busaned3
busaned3

Game will not load.
Uninstalled, reinstalled.
Nothing.
Never recommend a game that will not load for playing!

Anonymous
Anonymous

Its an amazing strategy game that I've played for years and I absolutely recommend it!

Anonymous
Anonymous

i have played civ since no. 1 came out. love it , great game for the ages.

Arctic👑
Arctic👑

i like the colour segragation, pls add hitler

Mediocre_Bard
Mediocre_Bard

My latest assault against the French was ill considered.

giovanniferal
giovanniferal

Start a game.
Meet like eight civilization in the first 20 turns.
At some point they all declare war on you for no good reason.
Die.
Curse your ancestors for having brought you to this world.
Repeat.

PukeNukem
PukeNukem

This game is in my top 10 games of all-time, and will never be topped as far as strategy games are concerned. It perfected the classic Civilization formula birthed from the original, and introduced full 3D graphics on top of that. Add an extremely skilled modding community and an open SDK, and you've got the strategy game equivalent of iD's DOOM.

Anonymous
Anonymous

its a good stratiagy game , if you want too wingot to now tech tree

Anonymous
Anonymous

It's rather slow going, but I love world building anyways, so it's cool.

Dinkish Rascal
Dinkish Rascal

A classic.
Keep coming back once or twice a year.
Never not installed on the PC for when I need a boredom filler.

andrewgrimley16
andrewgrimley16

Love this game- have played it for years.

chipmccullough
chipmccullough

it was good cuz i got me a lotta dat clout and ll dat other juju i aint got much xp but it still make me smile when i play it

RedBold77
RedBold77

Timeless. Great game. Easy to play. Fun.

Arthurson Sohei
Arthurson Sohei

I've been a fan of Civ since the first one came out many moons ago. This is my favorite one. 5 and 6 were fun but this one was just the right amount of "complex" for me.

Hrik
Hrik

A very addictive and enjoyable game!

steep_chesterfield
steep_chesterfield

i used to eat food but this game has all the nutrients you will need to grow up to be a strong healthy civilization iv player, take over the world you idiot spend money now

Fawk
Fawk

Love this game. Played it ages ago, was watching Star Trek with Leonard Nimoy and remembered this game has his voice over. Best version of Civilization.

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