Civilization 6: Gathering Storm Expansion Announced

2K and Firaxis Games have announced Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm, the game’s second expansion pack, is coming to PC on February 14, 2019.

The expansion introduces “an active planet where geology and climatology present unique new challenges,” as well as the World Congress, a diplomatic victory option, new engineering projects, a future era for Technology and Civics trees, nine new leaders from eight new civilizations, a variety of new units, districts, wonders, buildings, and more.

Available for $40 USD, Gathering Storm will have players develop advanced technologies while negotiating with the global community to influence the world ecosystem. Natural disasters like floods, climate change, droughts, blizzards, sand storms, tornados, hurricanes and volcanoes can destroy your creations, but are capable of refreshing and enriching lands some time after the destruction.

Resources are now consumed in power plants to generate electricity. Initially powered by coal and oil, they can eventually be powered by renewable energy sources. Choices pertaining to which energy source you use will directly impact the world’s temperature and can potentially melt ice caps and raise sea levels.

To combat this, you can create engineering projects like canals, dams, carbon capturing technology and more. Settlements in coastal lowland areas can be risky, but in the late game flood barriers can help protect these panels.

Each of the eight new civilizations introduced will come with unique units, buildings, improvements, districts and more. Two new scenarios were outlined: The Black Death, which deals with the infamous pandemic that hit Europe and Western Asia in the 1300s, and War Machine, a multiplayer scenario that pits Germany against France during the outset of WWI.

Though Civ 6 is also on iOS and the Nintendo Switch, only a PC version of Gathering Storm has been announced for a February 14 release. However, Mac and Linux versions of the expansion will be released “shortly thereafter.”

In our review of Civ 6 for PC, we called the game “Amazing” saying it would “go down in history as the most fully-featured launch version in the series.”

In our review of its first expansion, Rise and Fall, we called it “Good” saying its “new Golden Age and Governor systems add new and interesting decisions while Loyalty largely bogs it down.”

Colin Stevens is a news writer for Tech. Follow him on Twitter.