# Sid Meier's Civilization

25 Hacker News commenters recommended Sid Meier's Civilization and 9 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Addictive turn-based strategy game people recommend for its fast, simple play and long hours of replay; critics say the AI is weak.

## Why people recommend it

- Addictive, hours of play (5 comments): "I'm somewhat addicted, but at the same time I might find a new game soon because I get upset when the AIs attack me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47041635)) "Every person I considered really smart in the early to mid nineties had a Civ addiction at some point." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50032717)) "I have played more hours of any single Civ than all other games combined." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48829294))
- Original Civ 1 preferred over sequels (6 comments): "I loved the fast play style that was possible, also in other games, civilization 1" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47815304)) "Strangely enough I still think Civilization I is best." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46929430)) "civ 1 is by far the best! I adore the wonky graphics." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46920149))
- Fast, simple gameplay (3 comments): "It's simple (both in terms of gameplay and graphics) and it's the fastest Civ game to complete a full playthrough." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47560919)) "I loved the fast play style that was possible, also in other games, civilization 1" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47815304)) "Great for playing Civ on a flight" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47226183))
- Nostalgia and fond memories (4 comments): "I was spending more hours with Civilization and Heroes of Might and Magic games than Wolfenstein and DOOM" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49229976)) "I remember the old CIV games used to have a replay map of the entire world history, that was pretty cool." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45994002)) "This, Civilization, the Wizardry remake, and a few old Ultimas brought back some great memories." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49387832))

## What people warn about

- Long sessions eat time (3 comments): "they make 4hrs feel like 30min, so I can't play them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46920094)) ""One more turn" at 2am is harmful." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47531800)) "I will be up until 3am playing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47530650))
- Weak, poor AI opponents (3 comments): "I'm somewhat addicted, but at the same time I might find a new game soon because I get upset when the AIs attack me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47041635)) "I do think Civilization games are lacking because of poor AI" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50321168)) "the AI in Civ games has always been known to be poor" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50237194))
- Later games declined or stalled (4 comments): "the actual game and gameplay itself got worse over the years. Same with civilization" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48306187)) "I haven't really felt compelled to play the franchise much since Civ4." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46722225)) "later parts required so much more computational calculations" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48306176))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Battle for Wesnoth](https://hackerapproved.com/p/battle-for-wesnoth.md): 39 recommend
- [Sid Meier's Civilization III](https://hackerapproved.com/p/civilization-iii.md): 20 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

- [Visit the official site](https://civilization.2k.com/)

## Cite as

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