Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth [PC Game]

I assume that a good majority of people reading this have played Civ V. Now, I could be wrong but I imagine that most people picking up the science fiction centered Beyond Earth would have played the predecessor game. 

I love this image.

There are just so many similarities between Civ V and Civ Beyond Earth. Hex based, single unit per hex, and many basic mechanics. They are both 4X games.

4 out of 5 stars

Yes, there are differences between the games, but there are some extreme similarities. 

Virtues, the Beyond Earth equivalent of Ideologies.

Both games use culture as the marker for social advancement. In Civ V you apply it towards ideologies, and in Beyond Earth you apply them towards Virtues. Now there are no great people in Beyond Earth, but instead the Virtue tree gives you both vertical and horizontal bonuses. So you can work in both Knowledge and Industry and gain bonuses in their respective categories and gain bonuses in tier I on the chart. Culture still determines city radius growth, just like in Civ V.

Orbital bombardment!

Beyond Earth uses a resource called Energy in place of gold / money in Civ V. It works exactly like money from Civ V as well. They work almost perfectly identically.

You have your strategic resources just like Civ V. Instead of Iron you have Firaxite (yes, Firaxite). Instead of Aluminium you have Xenomass. Instead of Oil you have Petroleum (hah). Instead of Uranium you have Float Stone. Instead of Horses you have Geothermal. They work just like resources work in Civ V, save that in the late game certain units will require up to 4 (or maybe more) of one resource. 

Worm Sign!

Now there are differences, do not get me wrong. For one thing the Aliens are far more dangerous than Barbarians. Barbarians do not have the ability to one round almost any early / mid game unit. There are multiple Aliens that can do that - Worms and Kraken.

The Tech-web.

Then there is the Tech-Web. Instead of technology being rather linear as it is in Civ V, technology opens new sections of the web, and opens up something called 'leaf technologies.' Leaf Technologies fall under the main technologies, and they are where you find the all important
Affinities.

The Affinities are the most important new feature of Beyond Earth. They show the path your civilization is taking: Purity, Supremacy, or Harmony. Purity is maintaining humans more or less as they are when they left earth. It is shaping the planet to be more like Earth. Supremacy is all about overcoming the shortfalls of humanity through the application of technology - it is trans-humanism. Harmony is the shaping of humanity to fit in with the planet, to live in harmony with the native life.

Those Affinities dictate your military structures and your victory conditions. Each Affinity is related to one specific victory condition. Purity seeks to save humanity from earth by shaping the planet you are on and then bringing loads more colonists from Earth to settle on the planet. Supremacy seeks to return to Earth to conqueror it. Now there are some victory conditions that any Affinity can attempt to achieve, such as capturing all of your enemies' Capital Cities.

If you like Civ V, then you will most likely enjoy Beyond Earth. This is just the science fiction instead of historical fiction. And right now, I think I'll go back to conquering the world with my massive robot army.