In an announcement right out of left field, Firaxis and 2K Games have announced the latest installment of their massively influential empire builder, Civilization VI, will be launching on PC on October 21st. The trailer we have seen is only a brief one, showing glimpses of humanity’s advancement from Stone Age tribes right up to the modern day. No actual gameplay footage just yet but we have seen some screenshots, courtesy of the game’s Steam pre-order page.

The art style is much more vibrant and cartoon-y than Civ 5, resembling the spinoff series Civilization Revolution rather than the mainline series. The screens show what looks like a match between Japanese and Egyptian civilizations, as seen through the samurai units and the Pyramids located next to one of the yellow team’s cities. The system of wonders appearing in around the cities you built seems to be in tact, as along with the Pyramids, the yellow city seems to have both the Lighthouse of Alexandria and the Colossus of Rhodes in one of its coastal cities.

As for specific changes for this new Civilization, here are the bullet points straight off the Steam page, which details the new support unit system which allows units to combine to assist each other in battle, as well as the new district system for cities:

• EXPANSIVE EMPIRES: See the marvels of your empire spread across the map like never before. Each city spans multiple tiles so you can custom build your cities to take full advantage of the local terrain.
• ACTIVE RESEARCH: Unlock boosts that speed your civilization’s progress through history. To advance more quickly, use your units to actively explore, develop your environment, and discover new cultures.
• DYNAMIC DIPLOMACY: Interactions with other civilizations change over the course of the game, from primitive first interactions where conflict is a fact of life, to late game alliances and negotiations.
• COMBINED ARMS: Expanding on the “one unit per tile” design, support units can now be embedded with other units, like anti-tank support with infantry, or a warrior with settlers. Similar units can also be combined to form powerful “Corps” units.
• ENHANCED MULTIPLAYER: In addition to traditional multiplayer modes, cooperate and compete with your friends in a wide variety of situations all designed to be easily completed in a single session.
• A CIV FOR ALL PLAYERS: Civilization VI provides veteran players new ways to build and tune their civilization for the greatest chance of success. New tutorial systems introduce new players to the underlying concepts so they can easily get started.

We’ll no doubt get some extra information on Civilization VI at E3 but in the mean time, check out the overly dramatic announcement trailer below.