Firaxis Games’ Civilization 6 would be the last place you’d expect to have something like the old gods, but that’s what fans are getting with the upcoming Ethiopia DLC. Then again, since the game now allows you to have zombie and vampire factions, this seems only a natural progression.
As part of the game’s new Secret Societies option, which allows you to join sects for the entire game that work “in the background”, providing bonus and interesting touches to your civilization. The Hermetic Society, for example, allows you to see ley lines that grant adjacency bonuses, as well as build the Alchemical Society, a unique university-style building. There’s also the Owls of Minerva, who are your typical puppet masters that let you construct the Gilded Vault, a souped-up bank.
Things really get interesting with the Void Singers, a fanatical cult that worships the old gods, building weird obelisks and spreading madness throughout enemy cities. In other words, Lovecraft. Lastly there’s the Sanguine Pact, a militaristic society that’s full of vampires. Joining forces with them means you can recruit your very own vampire units, which get stronger when adjacent enemies die. When one of these units is defeated, it retains 1 HP and retreats. Eventually, you’ll be able to build vampire castles that let you teleport units in between them.
And in case you’re wondering where this all came from, keep in mind that Firaxis had started off June by implementing a Battle Royale mode known as Red Death in Civ 6. There, you had a post-apocalyptic scenario where you could also take on alien and zombie factions. In fact, the zombies faction (whose leader is a brain in a jar) is able to transform defeated enemies into more zombies, while the aliens have access to cloaking technology.
Civilization 6 is available on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, while the Ethiopia DLC arrives on July 23.