The Advanced Access release for Civilization 7 on Feb. 5/6 was met with a mixed response. Some players loved the new addition to the franchise, but others slammed it, particularly the UI design.
As soon as Advanced Access launched, Steam reviews filled up with players commenting on the UI design choices. One player wrote, “There is a good game here buried under a horrible UI.”
Firaxis Games acted quickly on the feedback, releasing an official statement early on Feb. 7 outlining its approach to the Civ 7 complaints.
In this post, Firaxis acknowledged the criticisms of the UI, saying, “Our top priority is improving the UI … some areas that we’re already looking into include making UI interactions more intuitive, improving map readability, fixing areas of polish like formatting, and more,” promising that more details would follow.
The Firaxis team also mentioned a handful of community-requested features—such as a wider variety of map types, hot-seat multiplayer, and teams in multiplayer for co-op play—sharing that players could expect to see these in free updates.
Firaxis didn’t share dates for these updates but gave a rough release period for an upcoming patch. Players can expect to see “Quality-of-life UI adjustments, ongoing AI balance and improvement, adjustments to diplomacy and crises, plus additional bug fixes” with Patch 1.1.0 in March 2025.
As with the game’s Advanced Access release, the response to this announcement was mixed. Some players were grateful that the issues were being resolved, while others declared that it was too little, too late.
One player replied to the X (formerly Twitter) post sharing the statement by saying, “Thanks for listening to user feedback. I look forward to seeing those improvements to the UI. And congratulations on all the amazing new mechanics. You guys are not getting nearly enough credit. It’s a fantastic game overall.”
Another added, “People will complain but at least they’ve instantly said that they’re listening and will address the issues. Most big game developers these days would ignore the community.”
Not everyone was left feeling inspired. One player replied “It’s good that you guys are working on improvements but releasing a game in this state is unacceptable. Not a good look overall.”
The post also made its way onto the game’s subreddit, where the same debate unfolded. A player commented, “This game sounds even more half-baked than I expected. Nice job, Firaxis. I look forward to playing Civ 7 sometime next year. Or maybe the year after that.”
Another shared their thoughts, saying, “The game has amazing bones—once the UI is sorted out this will be a masterpiece.”
Others noticed the use of the term “Early Access” in the official announcement, pointing out that it was listed as “Advanced Access” on the Steam page. Some felt this was deceptive, with one person calling it “Disingenuous,” while others said it could simply be a miscommunication.
The reviews on Steam have ticked over from Mostly Negative to Mixed in the last 24 hours, with the game clearly still dividing the community. Full dates have not been confirmed for Patch 1.1.0 or the additional updates at the time of writing, but we’ll update once the information becomes available.
