Sid Meier's Civilization VI is set to release its New Frontier Pass DLC, containing a new game mode, wonders, and civilizations, on September 24, 2020. Since its initial release in 2016, Civilization VI has had a number of expansions enhance and diversify both its gameplay and world, and these updates have consistently done just that. In keeping with this sense of dynamism, the previous Rise and Fall, Gathering Storm, and Red Death expansions introduced various new mechanics, modes, and leaders with which players could experiment.
Rise and Fall introduced the Loyalty Pressure and Dark Age mechanics, Gathering Storm, created something of a weather and climate change system, and Red Death gave fans something of a turn-based battle royale mode. The latest two expansions, bundled within the New Frontier Pass, has already offered buyers an impressive amount of new content since its announcement in May of 2020. The first of these two included an Apocalypse mode, forcing players to deal with unrelenting natural disasters seeking to devastate all manner of cities and empires. The second expansion showed itself to be more of the cloak-and-dagger sort, offering a new Diplomatic Quarter in cities, as well as the addition of all-new Secret Societies that gave players the chance join a shadowy organization with hidden agendas.
According to a Firaxis developer update, the latest iteration of the New Frontier Pass will include plenty of new updates and content for players to delve into. First, the expansion will bring Byzantium and Gaul as playable civilizations. While Byzantium is slated to focus more on military and religious conquest, Gaul appears to come with cultural and production boosts tied up with a plucky fighting force. In addition, two new world wonders are making their way into the game. The Biosphere can aid a civilization in boosting science, power, and tourism, while the Statue of Zeus grants free military units as well as a boost in production to anti-cavalry units.
Finally, this third New Frontier expansion will introduce a new game mode: Dramatic Ages. This optional mode essentially creates scenarios where civilizations will always enter either a Golden Age or Dark Age, depending on whether or not the player is meeting certain criteria. Additionally, the risk for having cities rebel during a Dark Age, as well as the bonuses from a Golden Age, are increased in way to make the gameplay much more high risk and less likely to allow players to "game" the system to avoid any particular pitfalls.
These new additions can for sure create gameplay that is much more intense, or at least as intense as Civilization VI can be. While developers did announce the civilizations of Byzantium and Gaul, they seemed to go out of their way not to name the particular leaders of these factions. A Constantine the Great or Justinian might make sense for Byzantium, however, the only Gallic leader that would be deserving of a berth in this roster would Vercingetorix, who rallied Gallic tribes against the Roman Empire in an ill-fated resistance. Whoever the developers go with is anyone's guess, but the new game mode and gameplay updates will be sure to inject a fresh feel to an already well-established game.
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Civilization VI is available now for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, iOS, and Android.
Source: Firaxis, Sid Meier's Civilization