As of March 2021, the New Frontier for new wonders and civilizations to play (such as Gran Colombia, Portugal, Babylon, and Vietnam), and new updated agendas that the reflect previous leader's newly buffed strengths. New Frontier also includes several new game modes, each of which adds a new layer of challenge to the experience. Courageous players may opt to toggle on all the modes at once, creating a hectic match laced with a variety of features that radically impact the course of the game.
Owners of the Civilization 6 New Frontier receive eight new game modes that can be loosely divided into two categories: Modes that change the rules, like the Tech and Civic Shuffle or Civ 6's Dramatic Ages, and modes that add new content, such as Secret Societies or Heroes and Legends. The base game released in 2016 already underwent two massive updates with its Rise and Fall and Gathering Storm expansions, so the newly added material may feel exciting to some, but chaotic to others. There’s a reason the new game modes are optional.
What’s immediately noticeable about playing a match where all the modes are active is the amped up natural disasters brought on by Civilization 6's Apocalypse mode. Besides setting the disaster rate to maximum, this mode also adds two new disaster types - solar flares and comet strikes. Comet strikes are particularly deadly, raining down with the power of a nuclear bomb. They likely won’t hamper progress until late into the game, but the dangers added by the Barbarian Clans and Zombie Defense will pose a threat from the start.
Civ 6 Can Become A Complex, Chaotic Mess
Barbarians in Civilization titles are usually an early game nuisance, attacking warriors and pillaging trade routes. The Barbarian Clans mode adds more personality to these random barbarian camps scattered across the map, giving them unique units from factions that aren’t in the match. For new players struggling to pick a leader in Civ 6, however, this mode could prove useful; now barbarians can be hired as mercenaries to attack enemy civs. The extra muscle is handy when a civilization doesn't have a unique unit later on. If left alone, they will evolve into independent city states.
Civilization 6's DLC zombie defense mode piles another obstacle for players to overcome, yet they too can be turned into a boon given the right circumstances: Besides granting XP to troops through combat, zombies can also be hypnotized to attack other civs through a city project tied to the campus district. With both the Barbarian Clans and Zombie Defense modes enabled, the game puts much more emphasis on combat. For a civ whose strengths lie in diplomacy, culture, or religion, the excessive fighting can grind other priorities, such as great people and scored competitions, to a halt.
It may seem like the new modes intensify the struggle of Civilization 6, but that’s not always the case. Heroes and Legends grants powerful new units like Beowulf, Mulan, or Hercules that can make short work of zombies and barbarians. Secret Societies added with the Civ 6 Ethiopia Pack grant new gameplay bonuses and an updated list of governors. Monopolies and corporations grant the player significant perks to economy and yields.
While the new Civ 6 modes can be daunting at first, the reality is that they don’t inherently make the game more difficult, nor do they make it easier. Rather, they make it more complex. As new opposition rises to meet the player, the modes also provide more tools in response. The weight added by the new modes belies the freshness of choices now at the player’s disposal. A favorite leader can throw this weight around in different ways, leading to all sorts of new experiences in Sid Meier's Civilization VI that further the anticipation towards that one more turn.
