Millennia Vs. Civilization 6: Which Game Is Better?

Summary

• Civilization 6 boasts 60+ leaders with unique skills, while Millennia offers 18 nations with customizable gameplay.
• Civilization 6 has vibrant graphics and user-friendly interface, while Millennia shines in storytelling and alternate histories.
• Civilization 6 is beginner-friendly with intuitive gameplay, while Millennia caters more to experienced players with deeper strategy.

Any time a new 4X game comes out that spans the entire course of human history, it's going to be compared to the legendary Sid Meier's Civilization. Civ has never been perfect, but it's always been best-in-class. Millennia, a new title from C Prompt Studios, offers its own spin on the genre that offers new strategic challenges and exciting alternate-history scenarios.

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After playing an exhaustive amount of both games - relative to the length of time since they've been released, of course - we compared these epoch-spanning experiences to see which one does it better.

6 Number Of Playable Countries

Technical Tie

Civilization 6, with all its DLC, offers more than 60 playable Leaders after years of expansion and development. Each has unique skills that, combined with the strengths of their associated empire, give them a clearly-defined style of play and path to victory. Choosing your character in Civ 6 can wildly change how you approach your campaign, and with so many available you'll be hard-pressed to try them all.

Millennia, on the other hand, has only 18 playable nations, but your choice won't affect gameplay that much, and mostly just defines what your flag looks like. Instead, you'll develop your culture's strengths throughout the game by selecting new Governments and National Spirits. Two different campaigns as the same nation can end with a completely different build as you adapt to new challenges on the fly. There are tens of thousands of possible combinations when all is said and done.

Ultimately, the games approach nation design in two distinct ways and excel at each. If you like to have a strategy in place from the start, Civ is the game for you. If you prefer to change your approach to meet the needs of your current situation, Millennia will give you ample opportunity to do so.

5 Graphics And UI

Civilization 6

Despite being several years older, Civilization 6 is a beautiful game. The world always feels vibrant and alive, and it's easy to get all the information you need quickly. While its cartoony style ruffled some feathers as a departure in tone from Civ 5, there's no denying that Civilization 6 is charming, immersive, and consistent.

Millennia has beautiful, evocative artwork for its distinct Ages, Technologies, and National Spirits, but the map - which players will spend most of their time looking at - can't hold a candle to Civ. Add in a less-than-stellar user interface, and Civilization becomes the clear winner where appearance and presentation are concerned.

4 Storytelling

Millennia

4X games are, at their heart, sandboxes that let you create the entire history of your own world. Millennia leans into this with its Ages system, letting your nation flourish or stagnate to take the story into fascinating scenarios. If you've ever wanted to see a world where advances in alchemy lead to Bioshock-style underwater cities, Millennia can make it happen.

Civilization has a little of this thanks to its Golden and Dark Eras, which clearly provided the basis for Millennia's system. However, outside of some esoteric alternate game modes like Secret Societies or Apocalypse, each game of Civilization is rooted firmly in real-world history and limits its potential stories to that sphere.

3 Approachability For New Players

Civilization 6

This might be a result of it being the gold standard for 4X games since 1991, but Civilization is about as intuitive as the genre gets. New players can guess how something works - spears beat cavalry, crossing rivers takes extra movement, and so forth - and they'll usually be correct. That's not to say that Civ 6 doesn't have obtuse systems (Housing and Amenities come to mind), but it gives beginners a foundation to build with and learn from.

Civilization 6: Best World Wonders to Build First

Civilization 6 is all about scoring a victory as the top leader. These World Wonders can help any player make the most of their civilization.

Millennia, on the other hand, seems to be built with experienced players in mind. A bit of trial and error never hurt anyone, but it can take a few restarts to get your feet under you when you start playing for the first time.

2 Depth Of Strategy

Millennia

Every game boils down to a series of decisions taken by the player. Titles as deep as these offer chances to create a large ripple effect each turn, but Millennia does so in a way that feels empowering and satisfying. Choosing Culture Bonuses, National Spirits, and deciding whether to go for a Variant Age all let you feel like you're in control of your destiny. Warfare also has more depth overall, thanks to stacking units and balanced counters.

While Civilization has more depth than most games, Millennia's approach to the 4X gameplay loop offers more meaningful turns overall.

1 Price

Millennia, But Not Always

Civilization 6 has been available for seven-and-a-half years. As often happens with older games, it regularly goes on sale for as much as 90 percent off. If the standard price tag of $59.99 is too much, all you really have to do is wait.

Millennia, a newer title from a smaller studio, is very reasonably priced at $39.99, but you probably shouldn't expect it to go on sale for at least six months or so. It's also got the potential for updates and DLC, where Civ 6's development cycle is effectively over.

While no announcements have been made, fans expect Civilization 7 to launch sometime in the next year or two.

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