# Civilization II

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/civilization-ii/

9 people recommended Civilization II in Hacker News comments, 1 had mixed feelings and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 4 of 12 months, in 4 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

5 of the 9 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “OpenCiv3: Open-source, cross-platform reimagining of Civilization III”.

**Verdict:** People call it the gold classic of the Civilization series and a favorite among the older Civ games, and some say it still runs without problems on modern systems.

Summary written by Claude from 10 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Favorite classic in the Civilization series (3 comments in the sample): "those have always been my favorites of the 'Modernish' civ games" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46919407)) "Civ 2 is probably my favourite of the lot" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46234167)) "II remains the gold classic" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46919469))
- Excellent and enjoyable to play (3 comments in the sample): "With the exception of Civ2, which was excellent." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46921532)) "I played a lot of Civ1, Colonization and Civ 2." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47564093)) "I very much enjoy Civ 2 and 3" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46921433))

## Other strategy games people recommend

- [Battle for Wesnoth](https://hackerapproved.com/p/battle-for-wesnoth/): 32 recommend, 7 mixed, 3 criticize
- [Sid Meier's Civilization](https://hackerapproved.com/p/civilization/): 17 recommend, 6 mixed, 8 criticize
- [Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri](https://hackerapproved.com/p/alpha-centauri/): 15 recommend, 1 mixed, 0 criticize
- [Heroes of Might and Magic III](https://hackerapproved.com/p/heroes-of-might-and-magic-iii/): 14 recommend, 2 mixed, 2 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Civilization II", https://hackerapproved.com/p/civilization-ii/ (9 recommend, 1 mixed, 3 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.