Considered the best Civ in the series
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 positive reviews
“THE BEST CIVILIZATION EVER MADE. There really isnt anything like it.”
Steam review · 85.4 h played ↗
Sid Meier's Civilization® III Complete
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 91%Very Positive · 91%Firaxis Games2006Turn-Based Strategy · 4X · Strategy
$4.99
Open on Steam ↗US Steam price, checked 2 h ago
The verdict
A beloved, simple-yet-deep classic 4X with doom stacks, huge maps and mod support. Skip it if you hate fiddling with .ini files, brutal cheating AI or random combat.
Great for
Nostalgic Civ fans and players who like streamlined, big-empire 4X with doom stacks and mods
Main risk
Won't run properly on modern PCs without fixes (resolution, crashes), and the AI plus RNG combat feel unfair
What players love
Timeless classic that holds up
Mentioned in ~1 in 7 positive reviews
“Amazing how playable this game is 2 decades later.”
Steam review · 202.4 h played ↗
Addictive "one more turn" gameplay
Mentioned in ~1 in 12 positive reviews
“1 a.m. – just one more turn, then bed 5 a.m. – okay, one more turn now, and then definitely bed”
Steam review · 158 h played ↗
Simple, streamlined yet deep mechanics
Mentioned in ~1 in 17 positive reviews
“they're simplified to make it fun to play, but they're woven together so each affects the other.”
Steam review · 1534 h played ↗
Doom stacks and huge maps
Mentioned in ~1 in 17 positive reviews
“Civ 3 has the biggest maps which is a differentiating aspect. Unit Stacks of doom!”
Steam review · 36.1 h played ↗
Great mods and scenarios
Mentioned in ~1 in 17 positive reviews
“Awesome game and with mods like CCM3 and the flintlock patch, even better.”
Steam review · 5814.7 h played ↗
What players complain about
Won't run well on modern systems
Mentioned in ~1 in 3 negative reviews
“It changed my desktop resolution from 1920x1080 to something small like 640x480”
Steam review · 1.4 h played ↗
Crashes, especially during cutscenes
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“The opening cutscene when starting the game will crash the program if it is not skipped with esc.”
Steam review · 32.6 h played ↗
AI cheats and is overly aggressive
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews
“I'm playing this one on EASY and every other AI has declared war on me despite me having a strong army”
Steam review · 45.3 h played ↗
Random combat outcomes feel unfair
Mentioned in ~1 in 12 negative reviews
“the random number generator (spearmen beat tanks, no, WARRIORS beating tanks)”
Steam review · 4.5 h played ↗
Steep learning curve, no tutorial
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 negative reviews
“There is no tutorial for this game IN game”
Steam review · 0.2 h played ↗
Dated UI and clunky tedious micromanagement
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 negative reviews
“forgot how awful and clunky the UI is. Just go play the newer Civ games.”
Steam review · 3.2 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Unsupported
Steam doesn’t list requirements for this game.
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