Who knew a civilization in lockdown would have so much news? Monday I spoke about all that’s added to Twitch Prime during the previous week. Mike also spoke about Left Behind’s Animal Crossing music video. Tuesday, I spoke about touring France while crushing your plums, Dari spoke of the latest Paper Mario reveal, and Taylor covered Ubisoft suing over a copy-cat Rainbow 6 Siege game. Wednesday, WoW’s Shadowlands expansion pre-patch didn’t arrive like expected. Then on Thursday, we announced we’re looking for new writers. Also on Thursday we discussed that Ubisoft may also be teasing a return of the Scott Pilgrim game based on the movie, which is based on the comic books.

Let’s discuss this week’s Epic Games Store freebie, and my oh my, it is a free game and a half. This week it is Sid Meier’s Civilization VI, the latest in the long-running series about not going the way of flares on jeans. I’m glad 70s fashion died it was researching weapons too much. Civ VI does what it says on the tin, you embark on a journey of potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and blindly step toward the sun. No, sorry, that’s The Lion King. You develop a civilization from nothing, only to be bombed by Gandhi in twelve turns because you decided to lay Memphis next to Mumbai.

In short, Civ VI isn’t my usual type of game. It is something you are meant to take slowly while thinking about the next turn. Given I drink coffee like a fiend, eat sugar by the truck-load, and taste colors when I do so, I think I can see why I’m not the target. I do like it though, but my only other experience of the series comes from 2001’s Civ III and the superior Civ IV. I’ve spoken at length about my well-documented dyslexia, and the series isn’t entirely dyslexic-friendly. Between dyslexia possibly including ADHD, prolix tutorials in-game, and an abundance of repeating information to make sure I understand, I get distracted.

Civ VI brings a lot more to the table for accessibility though, either passively through design or aggressively through options. Part of the accessibility is being intuitive to the point where you don’t realize you are doing something. With previous Civ games, I’d just wander off to lick lamp posts, or do something else that is easy to understand without thinking too much about it. Civ VI has something that I can’t quite put my finger on. Whatever that thing is, it keeps me interested enough that I want to take the time and play, unlike many others in the series. So, if you’re like me, I’ve got some great news.

Our resident Civ VI player, David, is currently doing a tutorial series on Civ VI for anyone who may not be as familiar with the game. If anyone should have been writing this article, it should have been him. However, I’m sure his hatred of Epic’s storefront with glaring flaws would kill him first before downloading the Epic Games Store launcher. In short, I am an idiot. I’m not a Civilization fan and yet, I still enjoy it a little. This is by far one of David’s favorite games of all-time, and even with his hatred of Epic’s store (ignoring Steam’s issues), He is promoting the fact the game is free on Epic.

You can pick up Civilization VI for free until the morning/afternoon hours of the 28th. You are most likely in lockdown, so take Epic up on this offer and get a game David has put 480+ hours into. It is free and you’ve got the time, what is there to lose? Ok, other than Washington in the great battle of Scunthorpe vs Washington? There might be lizard people in Washington, but if you don’t have an STD or get stabbed in Scunthorpe, it is a good day.

Let’s move onto next week’s game. You might be asking yourself, “but, how? Epic is still doing this vault thing?” Yes, yes they are, and next week you become the vault hunter. Four of the games during Epic’s Mega Sale have leaked, two of said leaks have come true thus far. The next game on the Epic Games Store you’ll be picking up is the Borderlands: The Handsome Collection. This collection features the acclaimed Borderlands 2 and it’s prequel/Borderlands‘ sequel, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Yes, I am as confused as you are that the first game is not included in the collection, as it makes it quite incomplete.

Finally, I want to mention that late this week, we dismissed Dari. It wasn’t an easy decision, nor one we wanted to do lightly. However, it happened. From all of us here at Phenixx Gaming, we want to thank Dari for their work with us. We want to thank them for writing and developing along with us, and creating some great work. From all of us here, Thank You Dari for all you’ve done. We wish you all the best.

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