‘Civilization V: Brave New World’ Expansion Coming To PC, Mac This Summer

Need a good reason to dive back into Firaxis’ devilishly addictive game Civilization V? Provided you can hold on for several more months, you’ll have just that.

This morning, Firaxis announced that Civilization V will be getting a new expansion dubbed “Brave New World,” which will be heading to both PC and Mac at some undisclosed point this summer. Hopefully it’s around the earlier half.

Civilization V: Brave New World is the second expansion from Firaxis, and, like its predecessor, Brave New World offers a host of new things to add even more depth to the overall campaign experience, including a new victory condition.

According to Firaxis, Civilization V: Brave New World adds in two new scenarios, eight new wonders to construct, and a total of nine new Civilizations.

“Civilization V: Brave New World continues the strong tradition of ambitious expansion packs that fans have come to expect from the Civilization franchise,” said Sarah Anderson, senior vice president of marketing for 2K. “Brave New World is destined to continue the strong Civilization lineage that already includes massive expansions such as Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword and Civilization V: Gods & Kings.”

Like the previous expansion, Brave New World focuses on fleshing out a particular mechanic: in this case, it’s culture. Rather than simply having to build wonders and keep building up your cities to expand your cultural influence, you now have a number of other options–options that even let you take over other Civilizations through cultural influence alone.

Build up your cultural influence enough, and you can end the game with a culture victory by taking over all other Civilizations.

IGN had the chance to check out an early build of Civilization V: Brave New World and chat up the developers. Here’s how the site described the new cultural options:

“You won’t convert a city to your civilization a la Civilization IV, but you can win by exerting majority cultural influence over all the other civilizations. You don’t simply do this building and wonders that generate culture, but by actively working to spread your culture one Great Work at a time.

“When you produce a Great Artist, or the expansions new Great Musicians or Great Writers, you can have them create a specific piece for you. You can then place this piece within buildings like museums or opera houses, generating points to bolster your civilization’s culture, as well as new tourism points that pressure the civilizations around you.”

Look forward to more Brave New World information in the coming months. In the meantime, you can learn more by hitting up the IGN link above.