14 DAY TRIAL // Civilization: Beyond Earth will explore an area that the Civilization series steered clear from up until now, humankind’s future. Following a series of disastrous events known as The Great Mistake, man takes to the stars and is forced to find a new home.
The affinity system will play a major role in the upcoming strategy game, as it will shape the direction that civilizations evolve in. There are three different affinities, Purity, Harmony and Supremacy, each one with its unique traits.
The latest 2K blog post on the matter sheds some light on the Purity affinity, informing that it is focused on creating an ideal out of the humanity we know today. Opposing the other two affinities, each one exploring the changes that man will undergo in the future, Purity completely rejects any adaptation in favor of preserving the species’ status quo.
As such, Purity units and cities will hark back to the glorious past, featuring banners and sigils similar to the ones utilized by the great civilizations of old. Purity units will present no adaptations to the alien atmosphere, instead relying on bulky exosuits and sophisticated vehicles to survive.
Purity, at its core, is about pure strength. Their units are equipped with battle suits and their vehicles are heavily armored, making use of the pinnacle of technological advancements in order to hover over the terrain, being impervious to the environmental move penalties that ground units suffer from. The trade-off is that their bulky, floating fortress approach translates into slower overall movement.
Purity’s attachment to the old Earth is easily seen in the unit design, based off current military designs and using tan and dirt colors to convey Purity’s high regard of traditional Earth values.
In addition to this, the pageantry of medieval knights was also thrown into the mix for a more convincing and flavorful overall design, ending up with a great combination of the past and present of humanity, which define Purity’s core beliefs.
The other affinities will play a similarly crucial role in the paradigm that the player’s civilization will follow, with Harmony players seeing humankind embrace the new planet and splice alien DNA into their own genetic code in order to become adapted to their new home instead of changing it to suit them.
Supremacy on the other hand is tailored to players who want to radically modify the core elements of humankind, developing advanced technology that alters man through cybernetic implants.
Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth will be launched exclusively for PC sometime later this year, and Firaxis promised that it won't just be a clone of Alpha Centauri.