Civ VII Developer Video - May 2026 | Test of Time Goes Live Tomorrow!

Almost release day! Our biggest update to Civilization VII yet, Test of Time, is currently planned to launch tomorrow, May 19 at 12PM ET.

In this video, Firaxis’ Ed Beach and Matt Owens walk through some of the biggest additions and changes coming in Update 1.4.0, including:

• The ability to start and stay as any civ across any Age

• The new Triumphs system replacing Legacy Paths

• A full overhaul of Victories

• The new Fractal Continents map type

• Several UI/UX improvements across the game

• A new free leader: Alexander the Great

• And much more beyond that

Before you jump in tomorrow, there are a couple things worth keeping in mind:

• Start a new game: Existing saves are not expected to play nicely with 1.4.0 given how many core systems have changed. We highly recommend starting a fresh campaign once the update goes live. If you’d prefer to continue older saves on PC, you’ll be able to access the Steam Legacy branch through Properties → Betas on Steam.

• Impact on mods: Mods will likely need some time to adjust to the update as well. If you run into issues after patching, try disabling mods first and give modders a little time to update their projects.

This update has been a massive undertaking, and one we’ve been especially excited to share because so much of it came directly from conversations with Civ players. A lot of the ideas, improvements, and priorities in Test of Time were shaped by community feedback throughout development, including feedback gathered through the Firaxis Feature Workshop (thank you, Workshoppers!).

We know there’s been a lot of anticipation around 1.4.0, and we genuinely can’t wait to see what kinds of campaigns, stories, and strategies players create once everyone gets their hands on it tomorrow. We’ll see you then!