Civ 5 is the game my girlfriend and I keep coming back to. We played it together, switched to Civ 6 when it went on a big Steam sale, and returned to Civ 5 after a single game. Civ 6 looks better and has a lot of quality of life improvements, but mechanically it felt worse to us , and that's also why we never bought Civ 7.
Civilization V came out in September 2010 and Civilization VI in October 2016, per their Steam pages (Civ V, Civ VI). Civ VII followed in February 2025. All three are still being played on Steam in 2026, and the older two are still ahead.
Why Did We Go Back to Civ 5?
We started on Civ 5 because it was the game we both already owned. We'd done two and a half full games together, and a standard-speed game in both Civ 5 and Civ 6 runs up to a 500-turn limit, per the Civilization wiki. That's a lot of evenings.
Then Civ 6 went on a big Steam sale , maybe a month or two back, around 90% off. I said, okay, this weekend we'll do Civ 6, and bought it for both of us.
We played one game, and I don't even think we finished it. It felt like we were just waiting. A lot of what we were doing didn't really change the outcome of anything happening around us, compared to how it felt in Civ 5. So we went back.
What Does Civ 6 Do Better Than Civ 5?
There's a bunch of quality of life stuff Civ 6 does better. It looks generally better, and the way things are laid out on screen is an improvement too.
The biggest mechanical change from 5 to 6 is how cities work. Civ 6 "unstacks" cities into districts that sit on the tiles around them, and adds Eureka boosts , conditions that cut a tech's research cost by half when met , per PCGamesN's review. On paper, that's more to plan around. In practice, for us, it felt mechanically worse.
Is Civ 5 or Civ 6 More Popular in 2026?
Civ 6, by a long way , but Civ 5 still beats the newest entry. On 9 October 2026, SteamCharts showed a 24-hour peak of:
That's not a new trend. PC Gamer reported in February 2025, a week after Civ 7 launched, that Civ 6 still had more daily Steam players than Civ 7. Sixteen years after release, Civ 5 is still pulling more players a day than the game that's meant to replace it.
Which Do Steam Players Rate Higher, Civ 5 or Civ 6?
Civ 5 , and that lines up with what we found. On 9 October 2026:
- Civ 5 was rated Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam, with 96% of over 211,000 reviews positive, per its Steam reviews.
- Civ 6 was rated Very Positive, with 86% of over 380,000 reviews positive, per its page.
Both scores are high, and Civ 6 has far more reviews because far more people have played it. But a ten-point gap at that scale is significant, and it's the older game that comes out on top.
Have I Played Civ 7?
No. A lot of the reviews I saw said don't bother with Civ 7 , just play Civ 5. Having had the same experience going from 5 to 6 myself, I decided to trust them.
The Steam numbers back that up. Civ 7 sits at Mixed on its Steam page, with 47% of more than 62,000 reviews positive. It launched to a rocky start, with PC Gamer reporting Mixed reviews from early-access buyers in February 2025. Updates have kept coming since , including Update 1.4.1 , but the overall rating hasn't recovered.
Which Civ Should a Beginner Buy in 2026?
I'd still say Civ 5, especially since it's likely to be cheaper. Civ 5 is $29.99 on Steam and Civ 6 is $59.99 before discounts, though Civ 6 regularly drops by up to 90% in sales, per gg.deals. Both go on sale often , which is how I bought Civ 6 in the first place.
That said, I haven't played Civ 7, so maybe it's worth the money and I'm wrong. We only started on Civ 5 because we both already owned it, and after trying Civ 6 we chose to stay there.
If you enjoy older strategy games, I've also written about why FTL is still good in 2026, and about RimWorld without DLC , where I've clocked over 1,200 hours.
