CIVILIZATION VI: GATHERING STORM.

• Author: Shackford, Scott
• Position: VIDEOGAME - Brief article - Product/service evaluation

Climate change has come to the granddaddy of world-domination computer games in Gathering Storm, the latest expansion for Sid Meier's Civilization VI.

The good news is that the expansion's emphasis on the environment is not crafted with an eye toward lecturing or berating the players for having the nerve to grow, expand, and succeed as nations. The series has always had a strong emphasis on not just world conquest but also scientific progress, and that's how the game approaches global warming.

Players will, as they always have, build their way up through the industrial era, developing coal and oil as energy sources. In Gathering Storm, this results in the slow melting of the polar ice caps that can eventually result in parts of the coast flooding, destroying any developments in those areas. But it's not a hopeless scenario: By pushing scientific research, players can develop technologies to reduce their carbon emissions and protect the coastlines. (Unlike real-world politicians' Green New Deal, Gathering Storm grasps the role of...