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Sid Meier's Civilization® IV
With over 6 million units sold and unprecedented critical acclaim from fans and press around the world, Sid Meier's Civilization is recognized as one of the greatest PC game franchises of all-time. Now, Sid Meier and Firaxis Games will take this incredibly fun and addictive game to new heights by ad
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-08-31 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
51 of the 77 reviews raise this.
4 of the 77 reviews raise this.
“[i] I played the hell out of this back in high school on a cracked copy so my actual playtime is way off. [/i] First off - [b]listening to the main theme before starting a game is mandatory[/b]. It is that good. It is…”
3 of the 77 reviews raise this.
“[i] I played the hell out of this back in high school on a cracked copy so my actual playtime is way off. [/i] First off - [b]listening to the main theme before starting a game is mandatory[/b]. It is that good. It is…”
“If one were to review my reviews one might find that I have the highest of praise for Civ 3. Well, that may be so, but a reality I sometimes deny myself is that Civ4 is actually by far my most played civ game. I never…”
6 of the 77 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“Given as a gift by a friend, my kids have put more time into it than I have. Just can't get into Civ games, but I know it has a diverse fan base, and I'm glad it exists.”
“like the game, but prefer older format where i can follow and plan technology tree lines, this game doesnt have a leading tree, lot of "hidden techs, dont like it.”
“Just not having fun with it I guess. It seems gormless, and doesn't offer the information I need when I need it. I'm sure I am missing something, it is hugely popular, but I have to base my review on my own…”
3 of the 77 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“[i] I played the hell out of this back in high school on a cracked copy so my actual playtime is way off. [/i] First off - [b]listening to the main theme before starting a game is mandatory[/b]. It is that good. It is…”
3 of the 77 reviews raise this · 1 of them still recommend the game.
“Got this along with the 3 others (they are not DLC, but separate games that pretty much do the same things). This game will crash to desktop (CTD) once your game file gets around 2GB. [b]I cannot recommend this game to…”
“On the Steam platform, the game will often have a fatal error when saving. Pretty frustrating”
“so according to Civ fanatics Civ IV cannot run independently on win 10/11 due to Microsoft changing security policies - you have to buy the bundle with Beyond the Sword which is the only thing that will run - OK so too…”
Counted across 77 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 92.4% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“This is for sure one of my favorites. It's a great game to start with if you're new to the series. A bit more complex than it's predecessor (Civ III), but simpler than Civ V, this chapter introduces Religion into the game. Win a "Religious Victory" by setting victory conditions,…”
— a player, Steam review · 15 hrs played“Grew up playing this game. Ran it back last year with my brother and its as good as ever.”
— a player, Steam review · 27 hrs played“this game is helpful in my classes both because it leads me to new interests in social studies and reinforces what I learn from my teachers. Not entirely historically accurate but enough and lots of Geography, climatology, topography, resource allocation, technology, etc.”
— a player, Steam review · 77 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-09-04). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Strategy |
| Player tags | Strategy · Turn-Based Strategy · Turn-Based · 4X · Historical · Multiplayer · Singleplayer · Moddable · Grand Strategy · Classic · Addictive · Simulation (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Multi-player · Includes level editor · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English, French, German, Italian, Spanish - Spain |
| Official site | http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/home.htm |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: Windows 2000/XP, 1.2GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent, 256MB RAM, 64 MB Video Card w/ Hardware T&L (GeForce 2/Radeon 7500 or better) DirectX7 compatible sound card, 1.7GB of free hard drive space, DirectX9.0c (included) Recommended: Windows 2000/XP, 1.8GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent/better, 512 MB RAM, 128 MB Video Card w/ DirectX 8 support (pixel and vertex shaders), DirectX7 compatible sound card, 1.7GB of free hard drive space, DirectX9.0c (included)