Civilization: Beyond Earth (Patreon)

There's so much I really like about Civilization: Beyond Earth. I dig the return of role playing. I like the sweeping soundtrack that gives the game a sense of scale it doesn't really have. I like the idea of a return to some of Alpha Centauri's core mechanics. And I like revamping the winstates to be more about what's happening on the board rather than behind-the-scenes number crunching like older Civ games.But *so* much of this game is rote. It's cookie cutter Civilization V mechanics with a few tweaks to facilitate a couple of ideas it tepidly explores that originated in (and were done far better) in Alpha Centauri. It's a title that stands in adoration of both Civ and SMAC but has no real life or reason of it's own, and that's the great tragedy of the game.