Over on Steam, I’m at constant odds when it comes to what to play and pick up. Do I buy something that will take up all my time, or just some of it?
Well, that’s where free projects come in. This one over on Steam is entirely free and could end up becoming your next obsession, if you have the constitution for it.
Cividle Is Completely Free On Steam
“The Empire Must Grow, And Numbers Must Go Up”
Created by Fish Pond Studio, Cividle is, simply put, a Civilization and Idle game mashed into one. Civilization games (and the 4X genre as a whole) typically ask players to explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate (hence the four Xs) to win. Idle games are literally meant to be played idly, with automatic gains and benefits for the player. The marriage of the two makes perfect sense, especially given how much of a time sink 4X games are.
Your job is to grow your empire, make people happy, and, naturally, make the numbers go up. You’ll accomplish that on a procedurally generated map, which allows you to expand and eventually “reshape the terrain” once you’ve reached a sufficient amount of strength and technological growth. Speaking of technologies, there are over 100 of them, ranging from hunting to virtual-reality manipulation. You can also trade on a global market, and acquire world wonders and historical figures that grant you bonuses.
The best part? As developer FishPond Studio puts it: “If your computer can run Paint, you can probably run CivIdle.”
Say Goodbye To Real Life For A While
There’s A Lot To Dig Into
As is the case with many free indie games, Cividle has a supporter pack available for $4.99 if you want to throw the developer some cash. Here’s what you get for that:
- A unique badge for supporter pack owners that is shown in the in-game chat, player trades and world trade map tile
- Choose a custom color for your name in the in-game chat and the trade map tile
- Your name will appear in the wonder Hagia Sophia (three random supporters will be shown every time the wonder is clicked)
- You can skip the antibot/spam play time requirement (48-hour play time) when upgrading from Tribune to Quaestor
All players get access to one benefit a week, including free players, but supporters will get access to everything all the time. As a supporter, you’ll also net the following civilizations:
- American
- Babylonian
- Japanese
- German
- English
- French
- Ottoman
- Brazilian
Steam remains a playground for indie games, often featuring interesting forms of monetization. As developers try to stand out with free games, many of them end up being buried by the deluge of mass releases in any given week, but that’s what proper curation is for.