Every Sid Meier's Civilization game, ranked
All 7 Sid Meier's Civilization games we hold, spanning 2006 to 2025: 5 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 301,718 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: Sid Meier's Civilization V (GamingPickz Score 8.7), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For canon order: begin with Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete (2006) and follow the release-order timeline below.
- For the money: Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete gives the most score per dollar right now.
The Sid Meier's Civilization games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 5 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
5 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 5 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
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.
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.
Every game by critic score
The grid above is built from Steam data, so it can only place the Sid Meier's Civilization games that were on Steam. This one uses the Metacritic critic aggregate, which the older console-only entries have too, so the whole series lands on a single chart: critic score against release year.
On Steam (also has a GamingPickz Score) Console-only (Metacritic only)
5 best Sid Meier's Civilization games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
- 1
Sid Meier's Civilization V
Best for: The safest bet on this list, by weight of evidence
8.7GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceSid Meier's Civilization V at a glance Released 2010 Studio Firaxis Games Player sentiment 96% positive of 210,613 Critics 90/100 Price $29.99 Steam Deck playable Install size Not stated Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 96% shrinks to 96.0 on 210,613 reviews, then blends with the 90 critic aggregate, giving 8.7.
What the data supports- 96% positive across 210,613 reviews is a strong signal at that volume, where a few enthusiasts cannot move the number.
- 2
Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete
Best for: Playing with other people
7.8GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceSid Meier's Civilization III Complete at a glance Released 2006 Studio Firaxis Games Player sentiment 89% positive of 7,789 Critics 90/100 Price $4.99 Steam Deck unsupported Install size Not stated Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 89% shrinks to 88.7 on 7,789 reviews, then blends with the 90 critic aggregate, giving 7.8.
Worth checking first- Valve rates it Unsupported on the Steam Deck.
- 3
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization
Best for: Playing with other people
7.2GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceSid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization at a glance Released 2008 Studio Firaxis Games Player sentiment 87% positive of 1,574 Critics 83/100 Price $19.99 Steam Deck playable Install size Not stated Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 87% shrinks to 86.4 on 1,574 reviews, then blends with the 83 critic aggregate, giving 7.2.
- 4
Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth
Best for: Playing with other people
6.3GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceSid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth at a glance Released 2014 Studio Firaxis Games Player sentiment 61% positive of 23,140 Critics 81/100 Price $39.99 Steam Deck unsupported Install size 8 GB Accessibility 0 declared features Raw 61% shrinks to 61.4 on 23,140 reviews, then blends with the 81 critic aggregate, giving 6.3.
What the data supports- Small install at 8 GB.
Worth checking first- Critics rate it well above players, 81 against 61. Worth reading why before buying.
- Valve rates it Unsupported on the Steam Deck.
- 5
Sid Meier's Civilization VII
Best for: Players who need accessibility options that actually exist
5.7GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceSid Meier's Civilization VII at a glance Released 2025 Studio Firaxis Games Player sentiment 48% positive of 58,602 Critics 79/100 Price $49.99 Steam Deck verified Install size 20 GB Accessibility 12 declared features Raw 48% shrinks to 48.2 on 58,602 reviews, then blends with the 79 critic aggregate, giving 5.7.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- Declares 12 accessibility features, well above the catalogue norm.
Worth checking first- Critics rate it well above players, 79 against 48. Worth reading why before buying.
Only the 5 Sid Meier's Civilization games with Steam review data can be scored and ranked. The complete series, scored or not, is charted in order below.
Best and worst entry
The best-received Sid Meier's Civilization game we can score is Sid Meier's Civilization V at 8.7. The lowest is Sid Meier's Civilization VII at 5.7, a 3.0-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
How the series scored over time
GamingPickz Score against release year, 2006 to 2025. The later entries score lower than the earlier ones: the series has been trending down.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete at $4.99. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the Sid Meier's Civilization entries on Steam:
- Verified: Sid Meier's Civilization VII
- Playable: Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization, Sid Meier's Civilization V
- Unsupported: Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete, Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth
Platforms across the series
Where the 7 Sid Meier's Civilization games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 7 of 7 |
The Sid Meier's Civilization series, game by game
Every Sid Meier's Civilization game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2006
Sid Meier's Civilization III: Complete, the latest offering in the Sid Meier's Civilization III franchise, provides gaming fans with Sid Meier's Civilization III, the highly-addictive journey of discovery. (Steam)
- 2006
Sid Meier's Civilization IV
Metacritic 94With over 6 million units sold and unprecedented critical acclaim from fans and press around the world, Sid Meier's Civilization is recognized as one of the greatest PC game franchises of all-time. Now, Sid Meier and Firaxis Games will take this incredibly fun and addictive game to new heights by adding new ways to play and win, new... (Steam)
Reception
Sales Civilization IV was a commercial success, and sold more than 1 million units by mid-March 2006. By that time, it had held a top-10 position on every weekly computer game sales chart released by The NPD Group since the game's launch. NPD declared Civilization IV the 11th-best-selling computer game of 2005, and it rose to ninth place on the firm's annual computer game sales chart for the following year. (Wikipedia)
- 2008
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization is the third offering in the award winning Civilization IV series. A re-imagining of the classic Colonization game Sid Meier created in 1994, Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization is a total conversion of the Civilization IV engine into a game experience in which players will lead a European... (Steam)
Reception
Reception The single victory condition – declaring and winning a war for independence – has been both criticized and accepted by reviewers. Another criticism of the game is that it only has four playable colonial powers. The exclusion of Europe's other prominent colonial powers has been called a "limiting" factor in the game. (Wikipedia)
- 2010
Create, discover, and download new player-created maps, scenarios, interfaces, and more! (Steam)
Reception
Reception Civilization V received critical acclaim, achieving a Metacritic score of 90/100 after 70 reviews and 89. 17% after 49 reviews in GameRankings . G4TV gave it 5 out of 5, describing it as a "fantastic turn-based strategy game... (Wikipedia)
- 2014
Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth is a new science-fiction-themed entry into the award winning Civilization series. As part of an expedition sent to find a home beyond Earth, lead your people into a new frontier, explore and colonize an alien planet and create a new civilization in space. (Steam)
Reception
Reception Civilization: Beyond Earth received positive reviews. It received an aggregated score of 80% on GameRankings based on 52 reviews and 81/100 on Metacritic based on 78 reviews. During the 18th Annual D. (Wikipedia)
- 2025
Lead empires that evolve or endure through the Ages. Build something you believe in with Sid Meier's Civilization® VII. (Steam)
Reception
Reception Civilization VII received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregator website Metacritic . OpenCritic determined that 77% of critics recommend the game. The game's visuals and sounds and diplomacy system overhaul were mostly praised. (Wikipedia)
- —
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
not scoredNo sourced description on file.
Sid Meier's Civilization, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
Sid Meier's Civilization vs other series
How Sid Meier's Civilization stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: Sid Meier's Civilization vs Age of History, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Beholder, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Brothers in Arms, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Call to Arms, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Day of Defeat, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Door Kickers, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Dungeons, Sid Meier's Civilization vs ENDLESS Space, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Europa Universalis, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Frostpunk, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Hearts of Iron, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Insurgency, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Kingdom, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Men of War, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Overcooked, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Payday, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Poker Night, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Red Orchestra, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Soda Dungeon, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Stronghold, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Stronghold Crusader, Sid Meier's Civilization vs Victoria
Common questions
How many Sid Meier's Civilization games are there?
We hold 7 Sid Meier's Civilization games in the catalogue, released between 2006 and 2025. 5 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which Sid Meier's Civilization game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, Sid Meier's Civilization V rates highest at 8.7. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the Sid Meier's Civilization games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2006 to 2025. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
More franchises
Browse every game franchise ranked the same way, or head to the full grid.