2. Civilization VI

Civilization VI’s leaders are a colorful bunch.

The latest iteration of the legendary Civilization series is certainly a superb game. Civilization VI took everything that made earlier games great, and delivered a great strategy experience. But perhaps the most noticeable feature of this latest Civilization outing is the fact that city buildings are not stacked in one square but are spread out in “district” tiles. Specializing cities by building science districts and constructing research labs in them is possible, but this added clutter and complications to the gameplay.

The leaders of other nations are more detailed (and cartoony), and the game is more colorful, but I still prefer the Civilization V look. Nonetheless, a bevy of little improvements, a great new musical theme and Sean Bean’s narration still add up to a Civilization game that is one of the best the series has offered to date.