GamingPickz
Game vs game · side by side

Sid Meier's Civilization V vs Slay the Spire

Sid Meier's Civilization V is a simulation strategy game from Firaxis Games (2010) while Slay the Spire is a roguelike RPG game from Mega Crit (2019).

Sid Meier's Civilization V

2010 · Firaxis Games

8.7GamingPickz Score

$29.99

Steam: Overwhelmingly Positive

Slay the Spire

2019 · Mega Crit

8.8GamingPickz Score

$24.99

Steam: Overwhelmingly Positive

What each one is

Steam files Sid Meier's Civilization V under Simulation and Strategy. In contrast, it files Slay the Spire under Roguelike and RPG.

Sid Meier's Civilization V

Create, discover, and download new player-created maps, scenarios, interfaces, and more!

Description from its Steam store page

Slay the Spire

We fused card games and roguelikes together to make the best single player deckbuilder we could. Craft a unique deck, encounter bizarre creatures, discover relics of immense power, and Slay the Spire!

Description from its Steam store page

At a glance

Sid Meier's Civilization VSlay the Spire
GamingPickz Score8.7/108.8/10
Steam ratingOverwhelmingly Positive (96%, 210,613)Overwhelmingly Positive (97%, 217,947)
Critic aggregate90/10089/100
Price$29.99$24.99
Install size1 GB
Steam Deckplayableverified
Released20102019
DeveloperFiraxis GamesMega Crit

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Sid Meier's Civilization V vs Slay the Spire, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    Sid Meier's Civilization VSimulation strategy game
    Slay the SpireRoguelike RPG game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Sid Meier's Civilization VTurn-Based Strategy, Strategy, Turn-Based
    Slay the SpireRoguelike Deckbuilder, Card Game, Card Battler

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    Sid Meier's Civilization VScore 8.7 · 96% on Steam · 90 critic
    Slay the SpireScore 8.8 · 97% on Steam · 89 critic

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    Sid Meier's Civilization V210,613 reviews · 15 add-ons
    Slay the Spire217,947 reviews · 1 add-on · 1 GB

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    Sid Meier's Civilization V$29.99
    Slay the Spire$24.99

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    Sid Meier's Civilization VPlayable
    Slay the SpireVerified

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

Slay the Spire takes 3 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

Sid Meier's Civilization V and Slay the Spire on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.

2 games have both

01000100PlayersPopularity

Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.

Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.

  • PC

Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.

See the whole grid

How positions are decided

No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
  • Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
  • Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
  • No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
  • A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
  • Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The higher-rated of the two: Slay the Spire (GamingPickz Score 8.8)
  • The cheaper right now: Slay the Spire ($24.99)
  • Better on a Steam Deck: Slay the Spire (verified)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

StrategyTurn-BasedSingleplayerReplay ValueGreat Soundtrack

Where they differ

Sid Meier's Civilization V is also

Turn-Based StrategyMultiplayerHistorical4XAddictiveHex Grid

Slay the Spire is also

Roguelike DeckbuilderCard GameCard BattlerRogue-likeDeckbuildingRogue-lite

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Sid Meier's Civilization V is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Slay the Spire is demanding, for players who want a challenge.

System requirements, side by side

Sid Meier's Civilization VSlay the Spire
Minimum GPU256 MB ATI HD2600 XT1Gb Video
Minimum CPUIntel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz2.0 Ghz
Minimum RAM2 GB2 GB
Install size1 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Sid Meier's Civilization V · Slay the Spire.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Sid Meier's Civilization V and 6 for Slay the Spire. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Common questions

How different are Sid Meier's Civilization V and Slay the Spire in scope?

Sid Meier's Civilization V has drawn 210,613 Steam reviews and ships 15 add-ons. Slay the Spire has drawn 217,947 Steam reviews, ships 1 add-on and installs in 1 GB.

Is Sid Meier's Civilization V or Slay the Spire better?

By the GamingPickz Score, Slay the Spire rates higher (8.8 to 8.7). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.

Which is cheaper, Sid Meier's Civilization V or Slay the Spire?

Slay the Spire is cheaper right now at $24.99, against $29.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

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