Civilization 7 will receive its biggest update yet in 2027, developer Firaxis confirms. The Arc of Tomorrow update for Civilization 7 will finally add the long-awaited Atomic Age to the 2025 grand strategy game. Best of all, Firaxis announced that Arc of Tomorrow will come as a free update to all Civilization 7 players.
Coming two years after its original launch, the Arc of Tomorrow update is poised to breathe new life into Civilization 7 after the game slid to “Mixed” Steam reviews. Despite a history of free updates over the past two years, including the Test of Time update in May of this year, Civilization 7 hasn’t quite hit its stride yet. However, the introduction of the Atomic Age in the Arc of Tomorrow update stands as one of the most-requested features from fans, which could be enough to bring players back into the Civ 7 fold.
Arc of Tomorrow Announced as Major Free Update for Civ 7, Coming in 2027
Announced during the Civilization 7 PAX West panel, Arc of Tomorrow will finally bring a fourth Age to Civ 7. The Atomic Age is set to add the 1950s through 2050s as a playable era, giving players a glimpse into the near future as they lead their civilization to victory across a new frontier. Civ 7‘s Age mechanic allows the game to represent different eras of history in unique ways, changing mechanics and visual designs for civilizations as the Ages progress. Now the Atomic Age will give Civ 7 new period-specific gameplay, along with new Buildings, Units, and visuals.
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Civilization 7 spanish city Credits: Firaxis Games
Other gameplay features coming in the Atomic Age include:
- Expanded Nuclear gameplay, with new offensive and defensive options and Units, plus a fun twist on mutually assured destruction.
- Multilateral Agreements, allowing you and other leaders to collectively react to developing situations like a growing stockpile of nuclear warheads with calls for disarmament… or escalation.
- New empire management tools, like the ability to transform your own Settlements into new City-States, to have finer control over your Settlement Limit and ensure you always have a path to engage in enhanced City-State abilities.
- Enhanced City-State interactions & Proxy Warfare, allowing you to avoid all-out empire vs empire war by focusing your attention and resources into smaller City-State conflicts as proxies.
- Great Works of Film, where your Film Crews will hunt for the perfect filming location that differs depending on the desired genre, and gives variable benefits depending on the quality of Film produced.
- Manufactured Goods, allowing you to follow recipes that combine specific commodities to produce brand new, powerful resources like Enriched Uranium.
- New civilizations and leaders
Civilization 7 is currently free to play on Steam until September 10.
In addition to the free Arc of Tomorrow update, Firaxis has also announced the first paid expansion for Civilization 7. Titled Earthrise, this paid expansion takes the space race to a new level. The developer hasn’t shared specifics on what type of gameplay will be added in Civilization 7: Earthrise, but it will reshape how players interact with space throughout all four ages, eventually allowing them to launch missions across the solar system and establish a space agency to collect unique resources.
While Arc of Tomorrow and Earthrise aren’t releasing until next year, Civ 7 update 1.5.0 launches later this month. In this update, Civ 7 players will gain access to the True Start Location Earth map, allowing them to roleplay as their chosen civilization using map generation based on the real world. As a result, a different set of Civ 7‘s Natural Wonders will spawn in their real-world locations each campaign, and players will start their civilization where their real-world counterparts actually began.
As the Civilization franchise celebrates its 35th anniversary this year, the future of Civilization 7 is looking bright. The combination of free updates featuring highly requested additions alongside a new paid expansion is enough to make Civ 7 worth revisiting in the coming year.
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February 11, 2025
- ESRB
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Everyone 10+ // Alcohol and Tobacco Reference, Mild Language, Mild Violence, Suggestive Themes
