Civilization VII: How Roman London inspired the upcoming game

The Civilization series has sold 70 million copies since it began in 1991 – with the last edition released in 2016.

The question of what direction developers Firaxis would take the next version of the game in has been a hot topic among fans.

I include myself in that group – my brother first introduced me to Civ II on our PlayStation back in the 90s, and I was recently slightly horrified to discover I’ve spent more than 500 hours playing the sixth iteration of the series.

For those that don’t know, Civilization is at times more like a board game than a video game. You move units around a map, placing down cities and developing them, while fighting others to conquer their land for your own.

Previous games in the series have locked players into playing as a particular leader and civilisation combination, such as Teddy Roosevelt and the United States, or Cleopatra and Egypt.

But the developers say this isn’t truly representative of how cities developed, where multiple different ruling groups leave their mark – just as they have with London.

In the new game, a player might start off as the Romans, building their own Londinium in what it calls the antiquity era.

But after progressing to the next stage – the exploration era in the game’s lingo – players might become the Normans and build over what came before.

The game’s developers drew inspiration from Ludgate, the site of the west gate in the former London Wall, and dug up more old maps to see how the area had changed 1,000 years after the Romans left London.

“London changes, and it grows, but you can see that core Roman encampment,” Mr Beach said.