The aim of Sid Meier's Civilization 6 is to claim victory over every other civilization in the world, and players have six different ways to accomplish this. They can prove their strength through Domination, they can spread their religion across the world, and they can even try to be the first ones to reach a brand-new planet. There are many ways that players can go about this, but only some of Sid Meier's Civilization 6 victories are actually fun to play.
With the amount of victory options that Sid Meier's Civilization 6 gives players, some of the victories were bound to be less engaging than others. Most players will likely get more enjoyment out of the Domination or Science victories, and the other victories will fall by the wayside. Some of these other victories are just too tedious or boring to really push for, but Sid Meier's Civilization 7 could change all that with a few tweaks.
Civilization 7 Needs to Make the Victories More Engaging
Out of the six victories in Sid Meier's Civilization 6, two are arguably the very best. Players will get a lot of thrill out of conquering their neighbors as they attempt to get a Domination victory, and pushing for a Science victory can lead to all sorts of wild shenanigans with technology. These victories often go hand-in-hand as players will see a significant boost in science as they take more cities, and they will want to focus their attention on science gains so that they can have the best units possible. This makes these two victories the strongest ones in the game, and the ones that most players will tend to aim for in every playthrough.
The other four victories in Sid Meier's Civilization 6 can be uninteresting to pursue. The Religion victory forces Civ 6 players to constantly spam religious units when they have enough faith, and then they have to combat other religions to become the dominant religion. While that could be fun, the slow spread of religion and the weakness of the units means that this victory can often become a slog. One wrong move and players can lose their religious lead, and the cost of these units makes this an even slower victory to achieve.
The Culture victory is a very passive Civilization victory that occurs when players attract enough tourists. They do this by creating Great Works, building World Wonders, spreading Rock Bands across the world, and so on. Most players will do a lot of these things naturally, but it can be pretty hard to actually achieve this victory. There are not a lot of special units or mechanics that go into this victory, and some players may just pass it by.
The last two victories are probably the least exciting or engaging of the victories in Sid Meier's Civilization 6. Many players will likely turn off the Score Victory as it is directly tied to games with turn limits enabled. It is granted to the player with the highest score if no victory has been achieved by the time the turns are over. The Diplomatic victory occurs when a player reaches 20 diplomatic points. Players can get these points through the world congress, certain Wonders, and various emergencies. This victory will often sneak up on players as it mostly goes unnoticed, but if other players do notice that another player is nearing victory then they can easily prevent it by taking away diplomatic points via the world congress.
Most of Sid Meier's Civilization 6's victories leave a lot to be desired. While Firaxis cannot go back and change these victories now, it could improve them immensely in the new Civilization game. The studio tries to reinvent the wheel with each new entry in the series, and one of the best ways to accomplish that would be by taking a long look at the victories. Each victory condition should feel like it is worth the effort to pursue it, and should offer a unique type of gameplay experience that ensures no two games are alike.
It will likely be hard to make all six victories as engaging as Domination and Science are, but it is not impossible. Every Sid Meier's Civilization game approaches these victories differently, and there is no reason that the seventh entry would change that trend. It will be interesting to see just what Firaxis does with the next chapter of the series, and hopefully it changes the core gameplay for the better.
Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is currently in development.