# Sid Meier's Civilization III

20 Hacker News commenters recommended Sid Meier's Civilization III and 10 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Players recommend it for nostalgia, strong art, an active modding and multiplayer scene, and its long, absorbing play. Critics say it is hard to run on macOS.

## Why people recommend it

- Nostalgia and favorite Civ version (5 comments): "there is a certain sense of nostalgia I get from playing Civ 3 that I never got from any of the other Civ games" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46920631)) "I actually preferred Civ 3 to 2 and 4. It scratched a certain itch." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46919068)) "For me the most classic one is Civ III by a mile." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46919546))
- Active modding and multiplayer community (3 comments): "The modding community was gigantic for 3 and was simply amazing being a part of it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46920534)) "3 is just as active on steam and has a very active and loyal multiplayer league." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46919424)) "One of my fondest gaming memories involves a massive Civilization 3 PBEM match" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46921168))
- Great art and graphics (2 comments): "Civ III in my opinion had some of the best art of the entire series." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46919998)) "3 overall feels complete and had great graphics" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46919113))
- Long, absorbing play sessions (2 comments): "I lost the best part of a week of my Christmas break to it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46923098)) "I'd play for 6+ hours at a time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46919816))

## What people warn about

- Hard to run on macOS (3 comments): "getting vanilla Civ III running on MacOS is a hassle and still has issues with e.g. audio and cutscenes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46919095)) "getting vanilla Civ III running on MacOS is a hassle" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46921343)) "that doesn't work on Mac either" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46920475))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Battle for Wesnoth](https://hackerapproved.com/p/battle-for-wesnoth.md): 39 recommend
- [Sid Meier's Civilization](https://hackerapproved.com/p/civilization.md): 25 recommend
- [Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri](https://hackerapproved.com/p/alpha-centauri.md): 16 recommend
- [Heroes of Might and Magic III](https://hackerapproved.com/p/heroes-of-might-and-magic-iii.md): 16 recommend
- [Civilization IV](https://hackerapproved.com/p/civilization-iv.md): 15 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Sid+Meier%27s+Civilization+III&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Official site](https://civilization.2k.com/civ-vii/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Sid Meier's Civilization III", https://hackerapproved.com/p/civilization-iii/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).