Civilization VI’s Upcoming Season Pass Revealed

It’s most assuredly no secret that I adore 2016’s entry of the legendary 4X strategy game franchise, Sid Meier’s Civilization VI. I bought the Digital Deluxe edition of the game in approximately February of 2017, a few months after its initial release, and I’ve never regretted that decision. As is tradition when it comes to Civilization titles, Civ VI has received a plethora of downloadable content in the form of two full expansions and several playable Civilization and Scenario packs.

You might recall that within the context of certain articles I’ve published here on Phenixx Gaming, I’ve lamented the idea that Civ VI is unlikely to receive a third major expansion. However, developer Firaxis announced yesterday that something akin to an expansion, but without the same weight (in my opinion,) will be coming to the game in stages throughout the next ten months.

You see, Civilization VI will be receiving what is essentially a season pass full of scheduled DLC releases. This season pass, officially entitled the “New Frontier Pass,” will reportedly set you back $40 when it becomes available for sale beginning on Thursday, May 21st, 2020. Each part of the pass will be released on a bi-monthly schedule once it starts later this month. It will be updated on that basis until it receives its final update sometime in March 2021.

Once it has received all of its scheduled updates, the New Frontier Pass will contain a total of eight new playable Civilizations, nine new leaders, various new game modes, new infrastructure, additional city-states, and quite a bit of what Firaxis simply calls “more new content.” The first three of these playable Civs are the Maya, Gran Colombia, and Ethiopia. The first two of these will be in the initial portion of the pass which will release this month, while the update that contains Ethiopia will be released sometime in July.

If you don’t want to buy everything that’s included in the pass, you’ll be able to purchase specific pieces of its DLC instead. However, I strongly recommend picking up the entirety of the New Frontiers Pass rather than going the piecemeal route. I say that primarily because PC Gamer reports that buying the entire pass at once will be slightly cheaper than buying all its DLC individually.

If cost isn’t a concern for you, though, then perhaps this additional small tidbit will convince you. Buying the complete version of the New Frontier Pass rather than getting its individual components will also net you new so-called “Persona Packs” for Catherine de Medici of France and American leader Teddy Roosevelt. These packs reportedly add new character models, new gameplay models, and updated agendas for these specific leaders.

That’s not all there is to know about these “Persona Packs,” however; according to the official Civilization website, these packs change certain aspects about the leaders they affect that aren’t related to the cosmetic and gameplay mechanics I just mentioned.

To elaborate, the packs will change President Roosevelt into “Rough-Rider Teddy,” who Firaxis says “excels at keeping the peace on his home continent,” and transform the Black Queen of France into “Magnificence Catherine,” who can “use Luxuries to overwhelm the world with Culture and Tourism.” I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I desperately want to see Theodore Roosevelt in a cowboy hat. I’m not sure why.

Before I sign off, I’d like to pass along a side note for your potential benefit, my friends. In case you weren’t aware, my esteemed colleague Keiran and I operate the official Phenixx Gaming YouTube channel. On said channel, for the past few weeks I’ve been uploading an entire beginner’s guide to Civilization VI. I’m currently almost finished covering the basics of the game with no expansions in the context of that video series.

After that portion completes, I’ll begin covering both Rise & Fall and Gathering Storm in detail. A new episode of the guide will be uploaded every other Tuesday, barring anything catastrophic happening in the near future, of course, until the entire guide is present on the channel. If you’re interested in watching that guide, you can check out the entire playlist right here!