Grab Civilization: Beyond Earth for Mac for $20 today, down from $50

Civilization - Beyond Earth (teaser 004)

Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth has dropped to just $20 on the Mac App Store today, down from its regular asking priced of $50 a pop.

Developed by Firaxis and ported over to the Mac platform by Aspyr Media, Beyond Earth is a premium sci-fi strategy game set in the distant future in which a series of unfortunate global events have destabilized the world “leading to a collapse of modern society, a new world order and an uncertain future for humanity”.

A closer look at Beyond Earth

In Beyond Earth, you’re expected to create your own civilization in space by researching new technologies, colonizing other planets, building Wonders of the World, amassing armies to take on the other nations and more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc89IaktFDI

“As you embark on your journey you must make critical decisions,” reads the blurb. “From your choice of sponsor and the make-up of your colony, to the ultimate path you choose for your civilization, every decision opens up new possibilities”.

Key highlights

Developers listed the following features in release notes:

  • Seed the Adventure: Establish your cultural identity by choosing one of eight different expedition sponsors, each with its own leader and unique gameplay benefits. Assemble your spacecraft, cargo & colonists through a series of choices that directly seed the starting conditions when arriving at the new planet.
  • Colonize an Alien World: Explore the dangers and benefits of a new planet filled with dangerous terrain, mystical resources, and hostile life forms unlike those of Earth. Build outposts, unearth ancient alien relics, tame new forms of life, develop flourishing cities and establish trade routes to create prosperity for your people.
  • Technology Web: To reflect progress forward into an uncertain future, technology advancement occurs through a series of nonlinear choices that affect the development of mankind. The technology web is organized around three broad themes, each with a distinct victory condition.
  • Orbital Layer: Build and deploy advanced military, economic and scientific satellites that provide strategic offensive, defensive and support capabilities from orbit.
  • Unit Customization: Unlock different upgrades through the tech web and customize your units to reflect your play style.
  • Multiplayer: Up to 8 players can compete for dominance of a new alien world.
  • Mod support: Robust mod support allows you to customize and extend your game experience.

Here’s a gameplay video walkthrough.

Rising Tide

A ‘Rising Tide’ expansion for Beyond Earth was announced recently, due on the Mac, Windows and Linux in the fall of this year. Rising Tide adds more choices and diplomatic options, four new playable factions, among them the Al Falah, a group of nomad explorers descended from wealthy and resilient Middle Eastern states.

Civilization - Beyond Earth Rising Tide expansion for OS X teaser 002

Other notable additions include two new biomes including the Primordial world providing “an untamed biome rife with volcanic activity and indicative of a chaotic landscape still forming in the new world” and much more.

Civilization - Beyond Earth Rising Tide expansion for OS X Mac screenshot 001

You can find more about the expansion in my article here.

Availability

Beyond Earth is a massive 3.17-gigabyte download.

The game requires an Intel-based Mac with OS X 10.10 Yosemite or later. Make sure to check exact requirements on Aspyr’s website to make sure your Mac’s hardware is officially supported.

Civilization: Beyond Earth is localized in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish and Traditional Chinese.

Grab Civilization: Beyond Earth for just $19.99 in the Mac App Store.