What Millennia Brings To The 4X Strategy Genre

A cursory look at the landscape of the 4X strategy genre on PC will inform you that tactically-minded gamers have never had it better. The latest entry in what appears to be a genre in danger of overcrowding, Millennia from publisher Paradox Interactive and developer C Prompt Games nonetheless looks set to carve its niche with a variety of fresh mechanics and features that will entertain even the most stalwart of armchair generals.

A cursory look at the landscape of the 4X strategy genre on PC will inform you that tactically-minded gamers have never had it better. The latest entry in what appears to be a genre in danger of overcrowding, Millennia from publisher Paradox Interactive and developer C Prompt Games nonetheless looks set to carve its niche with a variety of fresh mechanics and features that will entertain even the most stalwart of armchair generals.

On the face of it, Millennia would appear to be a loving ode to the sort of sophisticated and long-form strategy beats that Sid Meier’s massively popular Civilisation games have long pioneered. Scrape the surface, however, and it’s clear that the title is also quite able to provide something unique to help elevate beyond it just a skilful take on what we’ve seen already. With that in mind, here is what Millenia brings to the 4X strategy genre.

With Ubisoft’s long-running, open-world shooter celebrating its twentieth anniversary this year, it can perhaps be a little too easy to assume that Far Cry has always existed in the form that it does now – a massive, content-stuffed first-person shooter that is emblematic of the studio’s broader approach to open world game design. However, it wasn’t always this way and it’s certainly the case that the latest entry in the series, Far Cry 6, is profoundly different from the very first instalment in ways that folks who are new to the franchise might not readily appreciate.

One of the more noticeable aspects of Millennia’s design that feels a touch fresher than some of its genre stablemates is how combat is handled. Chiefly, Millennia allows wannabe generals to combine multiple unit types on a single hex, creating some neat offensive and defensive synergies as a result. A good example of this would be meshing together long-range units, such as musket units or archers, with a sturdier defensive unit to ensure that in the event those long-range units are rushed, they can soak up the abuse and retreat. Brilliantly, after each skirmish, Millennia also provides a real-time action report which not only provides a broader view of the scrap but also provides a deeper and more granular level of insight into the effectiveness of your tactics thanks to a precise readout of damage, casualties and more.