Last year’s Civilization: Beyond Earth may have been received well enough, but in the end, the community kept ignoring it in favor of the older Civilization V, and all of its expansions- the reasons were simple. As good as Beyond Earth was, it simply could not compete with Civilization V’s established lead of five years, and a plethora of updates and expansions that had added so much depth and nuance to its gameplay.

Of course, this phenomenon is nothing new to the Civilization series- each new entry undergoes this same cycle, including, yes, Civilization V, back when it was first released, and panned by players for not living up to the complexity of Civilization IV and its expansions.

Well, if Civilization V could recover with its expansions, there is no reason that Beyond Earth cannot. And indeed, its upcoming expansion, Rising Tides, does look like it will add a host of mechanics to add depth to the core gameplay. This new video, originally exhibited at E3, shows off some of the new additions- including aquatic gameplay.

Civilization: Beyond Earth: Rising Tide will launch for PC and Mac this Fall for $30.

Civilization: Beyond Earth was a hell of a game when it launched last year, but to many, it did feel a bit underwhelming. A lot of that feeling derived from the fact that the game felt far less full featured than Civilization V does, especially now, with Gods and Kings and Brave New World both adding significantly to the repertoire of features the base game offered.

The Civilization series isn’t new to this kind of reset and the subsequent criticism that ensues- each game in the franchise is less full features than its immediate predecessor, until the expansions build it up again. And now, it looks like it is Beyond Earth’s turn to start getting iterated upon, as Firaxis announced today the very first expansion for that game- it’s called Rising Tide, and it  will expand Beyond Earth to new frontiers on the planet’s surface and across its seas, adding more choices and diplomatic options as players build “one more turn” toward a new vision for humanity’s future. New aquatic gameplay will explore the oceans for colonization by dramatically extending the play space, while an overhauled diplomacy system will provide players with additional layers of dynamic choices and options to shape the diplomatic landscape while engaging with the AI and one another.

“Firaxis Games has an impressive track record of delivering robust and innovative expansions that radically change player experience while adding extensive replay value,” said Sarah Anderson, SVP of Marketing at 2K. “Rising Tide is no exception, offering new features and overhauled gameplay systems that will challenge players embarking on a quest for planetary domination.”

“Rising Tide builds upon the lore of Beyond Earth, breaking away the historical boundaries of the original franchise and furthering mankind’s search for a new home in outer space,” said Sid Meier, director of creative development at Firaxis Games. “Whether colonizing the planet’s oceans, acquiring new Affinities or meeting exotic new leaders, aliens and units for the first time, Rising Tide offers more ways for players to write their own stories on a new world.”

The expansion is currently announced for this Fall, and only for Windows PCs. Stay tuned, and we will keep you posted.

Yes, we know, we know. In the absence of our review for Firaxis’ Civilization: Beyond Earth (we’re working on it, we promise- you need to give us just a little more time), you’ve been wondering whether the game is actually worth a purchase. We feel you. It’s a great question. And while we still will direct you to our review when it goes live, you can make up at least part of the decision for yourself by playing the new, free demo for the game that is now live on Steam.

It’s 5GB in size, obviously, offers a much more limited take on the full game; nonetheless, it should be sufficient to answer some of your questions, such as how the new mechanics play, or such as whether the game will even run on your setup.

Civilization: Beyond Earth is out now on Windows PCs. A release for Mac and Linux computers will follow this holiday season.

It’s been a very big month thus far with the release of Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Forza Horizon 2, Alien: Isolation, The Evil Within and much more. However, according to this week’s UKIE game charts courtesy of Gfk Chart-Track, EA Sports’ FIFA 15 is still on top.

This was followed by Minecraft: PlayStation Edition in second place thanks to the release of the PS4 version. This combined with the PS3 version helped provide a nice bump in sales. New releases included Bayonetta 2 which came in at seventh while Civilization: Beyond Earth debuted at 18th place. Keep in mind that despite the latter’s place on the charts, UKIE game charts don’t account for digital sales so it’s highly likely that Beyond Earth’s sales are higher.

The Evil Within is currently in third place while Destiny is in fourth, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor at fifth and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel at sixth place. What are thoughts on FIFA 15’s continued success? Let us know in the comments.

Civilization: Beyond Earth has quite a bit of expectations riding on it. It’s the first Civilization game that breaks away from the grand history setting that has been the series’ conceit ever since it first launched; it’s supposed to be the spiritual sequel to veritable strategy classic Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri; it sees the introduction of some new ideas and mechanics to the series; it follows the highest selling and most successful Civilization game of all time, one that finally saw the series break into the mainstream; and it is also the first game being developed by a relatively young and fresh team.

But hey, it’s Civilization, right? Those games are always amazing. You sink hundreds of hours into them. There’s no way they would be able to screw it up, right? Worst case, we’d get something that isn’t as amazing as Alpha Centauri or Civlization V: Brave New World, but that’s an unreasonably high standard to begin with.

It appears that is what has happened. Unlike other Civilization games, Beyond Earth hasn’t been met with the kind of universal praise that characterizes the series’ critical reception, but it’s still doing pretty well for itself, with most criticism being leveled at how combat centric it has become owing to nerfed diplomacy options.

Game Informer and Polygon both seemed to be very happy with it, giving it a 9/10; on the other end of the spectrum was Gamespot, who found it fit only to receive a 7/10, while IGN felt a 7.9/10 was much more fitting. Destructoid gave it another 9/10, GameTrailers gave it 8.7, and Eurogamer gave it an 8. All in all, the game currently has a Metascore of 82.

Personally, this sounds like the kind of game I would want to play. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more of our coverage of the title, including our own review of it.

Civilization: Beyond Earth is out this week and will no doubt result in an uptick of troubled relationships, skipped classes and sudden sick days. But before that, 2K Games is offering players on Steam the chance to experience Civilization 5 on Steam for no charge. If that weren’t enough, you can also pre-load Beyond Earth on Steam if you’ve pre-ordered it.

Civilization 5 can be downloaded and played through this link but keep in mind that you need to act fast – it will only be available until October 23rd, 10 AM PST. After that, you might as well hop into Civilization: Beyond Earth and take the journey for conquest into space.

If you want to know when Civilization: Beyond Earth will be available for playing after pre-loading it, you can head to the official Facebook page where the unlock times have been detailed. Are you looking forward to Beyond Earth? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Civilization: Beyond Earth looks absolutely great. It takes the series’ long standing addictive formula, and, instead of having players relive (and change) history again like all the games in the series so far have done, it takes players to outer space in a space faring future for humanity- sort of like a spiritual successor to Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri.

It sounds epic, it sounds promising, as players get ready to chart the future history of humanity, and if you needed any more of a reason to get hyped, well then, here is the starting movie for Civilization: Beyond Earth. It looks so rousing, so epic, and it seems to set the stage for what promises to be a very great game extremely well.

Civilization: Beyond Earth launches on PC, Mac, and Linux later this month. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage of the title, including our review for the game.

Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth signals the return of Firaxis Games to the franchise and rather than focusing on the selection of different empires, you’ll have to choose a different organization to back your trip into space. The developer has released a new trailer for the game which explains just about every single aspect of the game. It’s worth looking into, especially if you want to see just how much it varies from the previous games.

Civilization: Beyond Earth essentially brings you to a brand new planet in the depths of space where you must effectively re-establish humanity. You’ll have a different tech web to navigate to develop the civilization though there are several technologies you won’t be able to unlock on your first playthrough.

Releasing on October 24th, Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth will be out on PC, Linux and Mac. What are your thoughts on the game? Let us know in the comments.

Although Civilization is primarily a PC series, it has had a good measure of success on other platforms too- Civilization Revolution was released on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and the Nintendo DS, and later on, it was also released to iPhone- on each of these platforms, it was met with a near unanimous amount of critical acclaim.

Now, a sequel to the original game has been announced- Sid Meier’s Civilization 2 will be coming to iOS platforms, with an Android version planned for sometime later. The game has been announced as a ‘premium’ game, meaning it won’t be a bastardized free to play atrocity, like, say, Roller Coaster Tycoon 4 Mobile was. Rather, it will probably be something like XCOM: Enemy Unknown for iOS was, as a higher priced, full fledged game optimized for mobile platforms.

Also interesting is that the game will not be using the modern hexes system that Civilization V introduced to much controversy, and that was refined over subsequent expansions, and which this year’s upcoming Civilization: Beyond Earth will also be using- rather, it appears that the game will be using the classic Civilization engine.

It hits iOS platforms July 2; an Android release will follow some time later. No release date for Windows Phone has yet been announced.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

2K Games has a fairly packed year ahead and what better way to start it off than with Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel? Taking place before the second game and after the first, The Pre-Sequel will see you working under Handsome Jack as four new characters. The game will take place on Pandora’s moon and feature new weaponry along with low-gravity gunplay. Check it out below.

Evolve

The other big shooter planned for this year is Turtle Rock Studios’ Evolve. Unlike other multiplayer titles, this will be a 4 versus 1 battle as one team controls the Hunters and a single player becomes the Goliath, a huge hulking monster that must be brought down.

WWE 2K15

Lest you think Yuke’s will be recycling last year’s concepts for WWE 2K15, the game will feature tons of new animations, more dialogue, new wrestlers like Bray Wyatt and Cesaro and much more in order to mimic the “realism” of sports entertainment. Check out the first screens below.

NBA 2K15

2K’s next big basketball title NBA 2K15 will be out later this year and pre-order bonuses have already been announced. These include 5,000 virtual currency, 2 MyTeam card packs and a Kevin Durant Throwback MyTeam card and MyPlayer leg sleeves.

Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth

Earth is officially over. For the sake of continuing the species, you’ll need to launch into space and spread the civilization of humanity into the great beyond. This will mark a significant first for the series but you’ll still get to experience the classic turn-based 4X gameplay that makes it so addictive.