Sid Meier's Civilization II

A turn-based strategy video game set around several different historic civilizations.

83 29 February 1996

Strategy Turn-based strategy (TBS) 4X (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate)

Sid Meier's Civilization II is a strategy developed by MicroProse Software, Inc., released 29 February 1996 on PlayStation, Mac and PC (Microsoft Windows). The main story takes about 40 hrs to finish.

Verified 1 Oct 2026 Sources: IGDB , Wikipedia

What Sid Meier's Civilization II is

Sid Meier's Civilization II is a strategy game developed by MicroProse Software, Inc. and released in 1996. It was published by Activision. It is available on PlayStation, Mac and PC (Microsoft Windows).

The premise, in the publisher's words

Sid Meier's Civilization II is a turn-based strategy video game in the Civilization series, developed and published by MicroProse. It was released in 1996 for PCs, and later ported to the PlayStation by Activision.

Description from Wikipedia · source

How it plays

It is played from a bird view / isometric perspective. Its themes are 4x (explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate). It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component. Available modes: Multiplayer and Single player.

Where it sits in the Sid Meier series

Sid Meier's Civilization II is the second of 41 entries we hold in the Sid Meier series. It arrived 2 years after Sid Meier's Colonization. The next entry was Sid Meier's Gettysburg! in 1997. Its critic score of 83 is almost exactly the series average of 82. The highest-rated entry is Sid Meier's Civilization IV at 95.

See all 41 Sid Meier games in release order →

How it was received

Sid Meier's Civilization II holds a critic score of 83 out of 100. That places it above 80% of the 3,249 rated strategy games in our database, which average 72. Games released in 1996 averaged 70, so it scored 13 points above the year average. Player ratings track closely with critics at 85, across 179 votes.

How long it takes, and what that costs

The main story runs about 40 hrs. Completing everything takes closer to 200 hrs, roughly 5 times the length of the critical path.

What it launched against

Sid Meier's Civilization II launched on 29 February 1996, within three weeks of Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Pokémon Red Version, Kirby Super Star and Soul Edge. It reviewed better than 2 of the 4.

Released around the same time: Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, Pokémon Red Version, Kirby Super Star, Soul Edge.

Cheats and codes

We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Sid Meier's Civilization II yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.

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