Screenshots & trailers
What players say
Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 300 sampled Steam reviews (280 positive / 20 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.
What positive reviews talk about
Positive reviews don't converge on specific aspects.
What negative reviews complain about
Negative reviews don't converge on specific aspects.
Satisfaction by hours played
Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.
Under 5h
92%
13 reviews
5-15h
80%
20 reviews
15-40h
97%
30 reviews
40-100h
90%
29 reviews
100h+
95%
208 reviews
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (Metacritic) | – | 90 | 6 |
| Creator reviews (1 tracked) | – | 94 | 0 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 96% | 90 | 1323 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | 85 | 24 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 95% | 89 | 1119 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: since the last significant patch (May 6, 2026) · 300 reviews sampled · 1119 total reviews in window · weighted 220.4 up / 16.1 down · computed 2h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (68)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 100
“The real miracle of Civilization V is how effortlessly the game delivers its take on global empire-building. Beneath its well-polished hood, Civilization V is deep and complex. But where it counts, the game feels deceptively simple.”
read full review ↗ - 100
“For a game so very, very large, it delivers everything in an easy to understand package no matter what route you take to playing it. The core Civilization experience is still there, but it's like an efficiency expert came in and streamlined everything that had gotten clunky with the series. It's a "friendly" strategy game.”
read full review ↗ - 90
- 98
“It's very hard to describe a Civilization game in great detail without starting to ramble. If you take nothing else from this review, know that Civilization V is more inviting, fun, and engrossing than any lengthy description can truly convey. ”
read full review ↗ - 83
“Civilization 5 remains a threat to my productivity and household happiness. Though not quite the complete triumph it could be, Firaxis has shown how a twenty year old design can still be tweaked and improved in the hands of a team unafraid to break things in the interest of progress.”
read full review ↗ - 92
“Sid Meier's Civilization V is definitely a great sequel of the last Civilization games. It comes up with cool graphics, nice background music, and some really awesome gameplay with the well known Sid Meier's addictiveness.”
read full review ↗ - 92
“As good as Civ ever was, with some interesting new additions and, better yet, no more stacks o' doom. A worthy series update. [Issue#245, p.98]”
- 80
“In a sea of shooters with pounding soundtracks and frenetic gameplay, Civilization V is one of the few games to challenge players' minds - to have them sit back and analyze situations methodically. If Halo: Reach is heaven on earth for twitch-gamers everywhere, then Civilization V is the thinking man's paradise.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“The Firaxis team has proven that change is good when it's done right. Sid Meier's Civilization V takes core game assumptions that have persisted for as long as two decades and replaces them wholesale - almost invariably for the better.”
read full review ↗ - 100
“My favorite Civilization to date. Hex tiles and no stacking makes combat fun and more tactical. The new systems work incredibly well without altering what makes the game Civilization. Civ V is an excellent game.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“For all the hours it eats up, outside of its multiplayer it gives disappointingly little back, and it will continue to give very little back until Firaxis bites the bullet and admits that there are aspects of Civilization which deserve not just to be improved, but fixed.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“Excellent tactical battles and a slick interface make the latest Civilization another wonderful addition to a classic franchise.”
read full review ↗
The A.V. Club
GameWatcher
Worth Playing
The Escapist
Eurogamer
GameSpot…and 56 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- Civ Streams: Civ VII's Test of Time UpdateMay 6, 2026
- Civilization VII's Test of Time Update Coming May 19!May 6, 2026significant · resets scoring window
- 2K Launcher RemovalNov 25, 2024
- Launcher Update (12/5/18)Dec 5, 2018
- Civilization V multiplayer update is now liveDec 15, 2014
- Civilization V multiplayer update is now liveDec 15, 2014
- Small Hot-Fix incoming for Civilization V todayAug 29, 2013
- Small Hot-Fix incoming for Civilization V todayAug 29, 2013