Civilization VII gameplay premiere to happen at Gamescom Opening Night Live on August 20

The next installment in the Sid Meier's Civilization franchise was officially unveiled in June by 2K and Firaxis Games, but a key aspect was missing from that announcement: gameplay. That will soon be mended. Developer Firaxis today announced Civilization VII's first gameplay will be shown off at the Gamescom Opening Night Live showcase, with a deep dive following right after.

"Since we announced Sid Meier's Civilization VII back in June, the entire team at Firaxis Games has been delighted to see the excitement and passion shared throughout the Civ community," says the studio in a Steam update post. "We promised that your first look at gameplay would be coming in August, and now we want to provide some details on what you can expect."

The Gamescom Opening Night Live ceremony marks the start of the massive trade show. The showcase begins at 11:00 AM PT / 8:00 PM CEST on August 20, and amongst its various announcements and reveals will be the highly-anticipated gameplay trailer for Civilization VII.

Following the Gamescom presentation, Firaxis itself will kick off a showcase at 1:30 PM PT / 10:30 PM on August 20. This is where the studio will have "exclusive insights from the development team about this revolutionary new chapter in the franchise, including our vision for the game as well as its innovative new features." This will involve showing off over 20 minutes of new gameplay footage from the 4X strategy game.

Moreover, from August 21 through 25, Firaxis and 2K will offer Gamescom attendees Civilization VII to try out from a dedicated booth in Hall 6. The studio will also be presenting the game at PAX West in Seattle on August 31, showing development insights and other tidbits about the project.

Civilization VII doesn’t have a firm release date just yet, but it is slated to launch sometime in 2025.