More New Civilization VI DLC is Arriving Soon

The next piece of paid DLC that falls under the banner of Civilization VI’s New Frontier Pass will soon be upon us. I don’t know about you, my fellow Civilization fans, but it seems to me as though time has flown by in many respects since the last component of the New Frontier Pass was released. This time around, it appears that Firaxis has given players more advance notice about this DLC’s release date than usual, at least as far as I can recall.

This past Monday, Firaxis uploaded a four-minute video to the official Sid Meier’s Civilization YouTube channel. In this video, two members of Civ VI’s development team spilled the metaphorical beans in terms of what the fourth New Frontier Pass DLC will entail. Before we get to the pack’s actual release date, I’d like to briefly go over what this new content has to offer.

This pack’s main attractions (as usual) take the forms of a new playable Civilization and a new game mode to help keep things from feeling stale. The addition of a new Civ means there will be a new playable leader as well. The identity of that leader has not yet been revealed, but I can tell you that the newest Civ to be added to the game with this DLC is none other than Babylon. I readily admit that I’m not as well-versed in world history as I should be. Therefore, I can’t even hazard a guess as to who will lead this new playable nation. We’ll have to wait for the upcoming “First Look” video to find that out.

In the aforementioned video discussing Babylon as the next playable Civilization, the most notable thing that was said about how this Civ is best played is that “Babylon is going to be blinding you with Science.” I think that’s quite an interesting (and presumably deliberate) choice of words. It is one reason I’m excited for the release of this DLC pack as well. I’ve always been particularly partial to Civs who focus mainly on scientific endeavors, and it sounds like Babylon will certainly be no exception.

Let us move on to this DLC’s new optional game mode. According to Firaxis, this mode is known as “Heroes & Legends.” Another example of an intriguing choice of words on the part of Civ VI’s development team is their statement that the heroes introduced when this mode is toggled on are “like Great People on steroids, if Great People could be recalled and reborn to be used again and again.” Firaxis goes on to explain that “each hero has their own unique abilities based on stories from myth and history.”

Firaxis has officially named several examples of the heroes that can be recruited to your Civ’s cause in this new game mode. Of these, the two examples upon which I find myself fixated are Hercules and King Arthur. Players were granted a small taste of what these two specific heroes are capable of in the aforementioned video. That knowledge is also precisely why I’m growing increasingly enthusiastic about the prospect of having this new DLC in my hands.

I’ve kept you waiting long enough, folks. It’s high time I actually stated the planned release date for this new DLC. Firaxis has officially declared that New Frontier Pass DLC four will be released on Thursday, November 19th, 2020. As has been the case with all previous DLC packs, it should download automatically as an update for all current owners of the New Frontier Pass.

On a final note, I couldn’t help but notice that the next major DLC pack (releasing in January) will apparently contain one new playable Civ and two new leaders. One of these leaders will almost surely be in charge of the next new Civ. However, I’m exceptionally curious as to who the other one will be and which nation they will lead. Perhaps there will be a new leader for a more classic Civ to put a new spin on things. Alternatively, maybe this leader will create another Eleanor of Aquitaine situation in that they can be selected to lead more than one Civ. We’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, if anyone needs me I’ll be taking one more turn!