Final DLC of Civ 6’s New Frontier Pass Announced

I absolutely cannot believe we’re already approaching the release of the final paid DLC pack in Sid Meier’s Civilization VI’s New Frontier Pass. The past ten months seem to have gone by at ludicrous speed. It truly feels to me like the New Frontier Pass was just announced yesterday, and yet here we are. However, we must now disregard how quickly time has passed because we’ve got some DLC to discuss.

Let me begin by saying there aren’t very many details about the last hurrah of the New Frontier Pass at the time of writing. We don’t yet have a concrete release date, for starters. However, despite the lack of knowledge about when Civ fans will actually be able to get their hands on this new content, Firaxis has provided just enough details to keep us looking forward to that day.

The final DLC pack contains one new Civ which, by definition, means there will be another new leader to take the helm of that nation. Beyond that, this pack also contains two new “World Wonders,” as well as an intriguing new game mode. According to a few members of Civilization VI’s development team, the new Civ that will be added to the game in this pack is one of the community’s most-requested Civs. The Civ in question is none other than Portugal, though we don’t yet know who will be tasked with leading this maritime nation.

The first of the two new World Wonders is known as the Torre de Belém. It provides its builder with several bonuses which are mostly monetary in nature. In the context of Civilization VI, this wonder grants international trade routes originating from the city in which the Torre de Belém is built an additional +2 Gold for every luxury resource at the trade route’s destination. It also provides +5 Gold per turn and +1 Great Admiral point per turn. However, bear in mind that this wonder can only be built on a Coast tile that is adjacent to a Harbor district.

Finally, upon completion of the Torre de Belém, all of your cities that aren’t on your home continent automatically receive the lowest Production cost building they can currently construct. It isn’t immediately clear whether this last bonus applies to any specific specialty Districts in those cities, or if all Districts in every city get their own lowest-cost building. I’m sure that will become apparent once the DLC releases, but I personally think Firaxis could have elaborated on this a bit more since we currently know so little about this new content.

The second of the pair of World Wonders added in this pack hails from Babylon. It’s known as Etemenanki, and its primary bonus comes in the fact that it grants +2 Science and +1 Production for all marsh tiles in the entirety of your empire. Additionally, it grants +1 Science and +1 Production on all floodplains tiles in the city in which this wonder is constructed. Its attached caveat is that it must be built on a tile of floodplains or marsh.

Our last discussion topic regarding the final DLC present in the New Frontier Pass comes in the form of what I think is its most interesting, yet potentially risky, optional game mode. This gameplay variation is known as “Zombie Defense Mode.” As I’ll bet you can guess just from its name alone, this new game mode sees players defending their territory against slain military units that have a chance to rise from the dead.

I say this mode is risky because, in my mind, there’s at least a slight chance that this mode won’t go over well if it isn’t entertaining, or (more importantly) is improperly implemented. That idea brings back memories of the game’s “Red Death” battle royale mode that was introduced quite some time ago. That’s a mode which, in my opinion, failed to impress me in every possible category. I really don’t want to see the New Frontier Pass besmirched because its final new game mode didn’t quite “stick the landing,” so to speak.

Then again, I think the chances that this mode will improve the reputation of the New Frontier Pass as a whole, are considerably higher than those that say the Zombie Defense Mode will be a flop. I suppose time will tell. For now, though, I’d love to hear your thoughts on what has been revealed about this new content thus far. Do feel free to sound off in this article’s comments if you’re so inclined. In the meantime, I’ll be waiting with bated breath until I have a new reason to take one more turn!