Faith has played a significant role in the Sid Meier's Civilization series for a longtime, and that will likely continue in Sid Meier's Civilization 7. Since its introduction in Sid Meier's Civilization 3, religion has been expanded upon greatly. There is an entire victory dedicated to it, a whole new belief system to manage, and numerous units whose sole purpose is to spread faith across the world. Its introduction has added a whole new layer to Sid Meier's Civilization, but the feature is still far from perfect.
Religion in Sid Meier's Civilization pales in comparison to its real world counterpart. Most religions work the same, there is only one way to spread it across the world, and many players will see it as just another currency. The feature is not quite there yet, but Sid Meier's Civilization 7 could get it there. With a few tweaks and changes, religion could become so much more than just another system.
Faith in Civilization Explained
Currently, faith in Sid Meier's Civilization is just another currency that players will acquire. Certain buildings and districts will give players faith gains, and certain government policies can significantly boost these gains. Religious City-States will also give players faith, certain Wonders help boost gains, and Religious Alliances give both parties more faith. Pretty much every civilization will earn faith the same way, and some leaders will earn more based on their various bonuses.
After players earn a certain amount of Great Prophet points, they are able to obtain a Great Prophet and create their own religion. They can add a couple of bonuses to their religion, and then their primary goal is to spread the religion to as many civilizations as they can. They do this by using their faith to purchase missionaries, apostles, gurus, and inquisitors. Each unit offers different abilities for religion spread, and they will become increasingly more expensive as players buy more. Players that are aiming for a Religion Victory will spend a lot of time buying these units, spreading them across the world, and spamming the spread religion button.
The only other feature of religions is the ability to expand abilities via an apostle. Each religion can have four different beliefs that provide bonuses to the civilization in charge of that religion. Every religion have the same pool of bonuses to choose from, and each civilization upgrades their religion in the same exact way. Besides the different names and bonuses, every religion works exactly the same.
Faith Should Be More Fluid
Religion can be a pretty boring Civilization victory to pursue, and the system seems to be pretty basic. It is easy to learn how to use it, but most veteran players will stick with the same exact bonuses every time. There is just not much variation with the system, and it can be very tedious. While it may take some work, Sid Meier's Civilization 7 could finally make religion interesting.
In real life, religion is far more complex that it is in Civilization. There are many different religions across the world with their own belief systems, and there are also numerous offshoots of other religions. These religions all work differently, believe in different things, and spread across the world in different ways. Some of them are similar to each other, but there is far more variety between faiths than what Sid Meier's Civilization religion allows.
Sid Meier's Civilization 7 should expand religion in all sorts of new directions. Each religion should feel unique and distinct from each other. They should all come with different challenges based on who is leading it or the bonuses that players selected, and there should be more ways to spread it across the world. There could be different goals based on the faith, different ways to earn a Religious Victory, new rules depending upon the civilization that was chosen, and a plethora of new gameplay options to make the system far more engaging.
There is a lot that Firaxis could do with religion in Sid Meier's Civilization 7. The feature feels very bland right now, any sort of variety and not being particularly engaging. However, it has the potential to be so much more than that. If it truly emulated the real world, then it could be one of the most engaging aspects of the series, with players having more of a reason to engage with it.
Sid Meier's Civilization 7 is currently in development.