Reception and Awards

Civilization 4 has a Metacritic score of 94, won GameSpot's Best PC Game of 2005 and the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Best Strategy Game, and sold over 1 million copies by Mar 2006 and 3 million by Mar 2008; its expansions score 84 (Warlords), 86 (Beyond the Sword) and 83 (Colonization).

Civilization 4 was one of the best-reviewed games of 2005: it holds a Metacritic score of 94 from 50 critics, GameSpot and IGN both gave it 9.4, it was named GameSpot's Best PC Game of 2005 and Best Strategy Game at the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Ninth Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, and it sold more than 1 million copies by Mar 16, 2006 and 3 million by Mar 2008. Its expansions scored lower but well: Warlords 84, Beyond the Sword 86 and Colonization 83 on Metacritic. Twenty-one years later its Steam reviews are still "Very Positive" for the base game and "Overwhelmingly Positive" for Beyond the Sword, and many critics and players rank it the best game in the series, as the sections below attribute.

Quick facts

Metacritic, Civilization 4	94 from 50 critics; user score 8.4
Metacritic, Warlords	84 from 37 critics
Metacritic, Beyond the Sword	86 from 28 critics
Metacritic, Colonization	83 from 32 critics
GameSpot and IGN	9.4 and 9.4
Top awards	GameSpot's Best PC Game of 2005; AIAS Best Strategy Game (2K, Mar 16, 2006)
Sales	Over 1 million by Mar 16, 2006; 3 million by Mar 2008
Steam reviews, Beyond the Sword	"Overwhelmingly Positive", 96% of 2,898 English reviews (Oct 21, 2026)
Steam reviews, base game	"Very Positive", 92% of 1,956 English reviews (Oct 21, 2026)
Grammy	"Baba Yetu", Feb 13, 2011

Launch reviews

Critics greeted Civ 4 with near-perfect scores in Oct 2005. IGN's Steve Butts gave it 9.4 on Oct 21, under the subtitle "6,000 years of fun packed into a single game", and opened his review with "the only reason to stop playing Civilization IV is to tell other people just how good the game is". GameSpot's Andrew Park also gave it 9.4, "Superb", on Oct 26, listing Leonard Nimoy's narration and the 3D world among its strengths and noting that the Pitboss server and the SDK had not yet shipped. Metacritic counts 50 critic reviews for a Metascore of 94, "Universal Acclaim".

Other outlets agreed. On Metacritic's critic list, GameSpy gave it 100, PC Gamer US 94 ("One of the most compulsively playable strategy games of all time"), Eurogamer 90 ("the best pure strategy game I've played") and Computer Gaming World 90.

Outlet	Civilization 4	Warlords	Beyond the Sword	Colonization
Metacritic (critics)	94	84	86	83
Metacritic (users)	8.4	8.6	8.9	7.4
GameSpot	9.4	8.6	8.5	8
IGN	9.4	8.4	8.9	8.7
PC Gamer US	94	84	93	84
Eurogamer	90	60	80	80
GameSpy	100	70	90	80

Source: Metacritic's pages for Civilization 4, Warlords, Beyond the Sword and Colonization, read Oct 21, 2026; GameSpot's reviews of Civ 4, Warlords, Beyond the Sword and Colonization; IGN's reviews of Civ 4, Warlords, Beyond the Sword and Colonization. PC Gamer, Eurogamer and GameSpy scores as Metacritic lists them.

The expansions

The expansions were reviewed as good additions rather than events. GameSpot's Jason Ocampo gave Warlords 8.6 on Jul 25, 2006, "Nearly nine months after Civ IV shipped", while Eurogamer gave it 60. Beyond the Sword did better: PC Gamer US called it "more of a director's cut of the fantastic original game" at 93, Game Informer gave it 95, and Eurogamer asked "The best Civ expansion ever? Yeah, why not?" GameSpot's 8.5 review liked corporations, which "essentially act like late-game religions", but listed "New espionage feature doesn't work all that well" among its negatives. The standalone Colonization scored 83 with critics, and GameSpot praised its "bargain price ($29.99!)" (GameSpot, Oct 3, 2008).

Awards

Civ 4 won most of the PC and strategy awards of its year. 2K's Warlords announcement of Mar 16, 2006 says GameSpot named it both PC Game and Strategy Game of the Year, lists Game of the Year awards from PC Gamer, Computer Games, IGN, GameSpy and GameSpot, and says it was "named Best Strategy Game in the Ninth Annual Interactive Achievement Awards held by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences". GameSpot itself called it "GameSpot's Best PC Game of 2005".

2K's own awards page listed more. Its Dec 2005 copy names IGN's Best PC Game, Best Strategy Game and Best Online Game of 2005, GameSpy's PC Game of the Year and PC Turn-Based Strategy Game of the Year, and Voodoo Extreme's Best Strategy Game (2K Games, archived Dec 24, 2005). Soren Johnson lists interviews he gave "on winning Game of the Year" to GameSpy in Jan 2006 and "on winning Strategy Game of the Year" to the AIAS in Jul 2006 (Designer Notes, Interviews).

The music won later. Christopher Tin's theme won the Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) on Feb 13, 2011, the first piece of music written for a video game to win a Grammy, after two Game Audio Network Guild Awards in 2007 (see Baba Yetu).

Sales

Civ 4 sold a million copies in under five months. "Since its October 2005 release, Sid Meier's Civilization IV has sold over a million units worldwide," 2K said on Mar 16, 2006, and GameSpot added that it had "never fallen off NPD Funworld's weekly list of top 10 best-selling PC games" since release (GameSpot, Mar 16, 2006). By Mar 2008 a Take-Two investor presentation said "Civilization IV sold 3 million units" and the franchise "has sold over 8 million units" (Take-Two, p. 16). The Complete Edition was still No. 19 on NPD's US PC chart in Sep 2009.

No later figure for Civ 4 alone has been published. As of Oct 21, 2026, Take-Two has given only franchise totals since 2008: the Civilization series had "sold-in more than 70 million copies worldwide" by Aug 2024.

Steam reviews today

Steam's players still rate every part of the game highly. On Oct 21, 2026, Beyond the Sword was "Overwhelmingly Positive", 96% of 2,898 English reviews, and the base game "Very Positive", 92% of 1,956; Warlords was "Very Positive" at 90% of 407 and Colonization "Very Positive" at 87% of 1,292. Counting every language, Beyond the Sword had 4,924 positive and 192 negative reviews. People still play it too: Steam counted 1,695 players in Beyond the Sword at 17:45 UTC that day. Where to buy it is on Complete Edition and Where to Buy.

Is Civ 4 the best Civ?

Many critics have called it the series' high point, as their opinion. GameSpot's 2014 history of the series said "we've reached the top of the mountain" with Civ 4 and called it "a masterpiece" that refined earlier designs "to near perfection" (GameSpot, Apr 13, 2014). Kotaku's Zack Zwiezen called it "the pinnacle of the series" in 2025, and TheGamer's ranking says that for many longtime fans it "is Civilization at its peak" (TheGamer, 2025).

Players split between Civ 4 and its successors. In PC Gamer's 2015 reader survey of 1,049 people, Civ 4 came second with 21.6%, behind Civilization 5; its fans cited Leonard Nimoy, unit stacking and the expansions, and the writer framed the split as "the no-stacking hex camp and the stacking square camp". On Metacritic's critic scores, Civ 4's 94 is the highest of the modern games, ahead of Civilization 5's 90, Civilization 6's 88 and Civilization 7's 80 (Game Rant, Feb 4, 2025). Sid Meier named Civilization 1 and Civ 4 as his two favorites in 2007, and Soren Johnson told PC Gamer "I feel like the franchise begins with Civ IV" (PC Gamer, 2020). The differences are on Civilization 4 vs 5, 6 and 7.

Frequently asked questions

What is Civilization 4's Metacritic score? Civilization 4 has a Metacritic score of 94 from 50 critics ("Universal Acclaim"), with a user score of 8.4. Warlords scores 84, Beyond the Sword 86 and Colonization 83.

How many copies did Civ 4 sell? Civilization 4 sold over 1 million copies by Mar 16, 2006 and 3 million by Mar 2008, per Take-Two. No later figure for Civ 4 alone has been published.

Did Civ 4 win Game of the Year? Yes. Civilization 4 was GameSpot's Best PC Game of 2005 and won PC Game of the Year awards from IGN and GameSpy, among others, and the AIAS named it Best Strategy Game (2K, Mar 16, 2006).

What did GameSpot and IGN give Civ 4? GameSpot and IGN both gave Civilization 4 a 9.4 in Oct 2005; GameSpot rated it "Superb", and IGN said the only reason to stop playing it is to tell people how good it is.

Is Civ 4 the best Civilization game? That is opinion: GameSpot called Civilization 4 "a masterpiece" in 2014 and Kotaku "the pinnacle of the series" in 2025, while PC Gamer's 2015 reader poll put it second, behind Civilization 5, with 21.6%.

What are Civ 4's Steam reviews? On Oct 21, 2026, Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword was "Overwhelmingly Positive" on Steam (96% of 2,898 English reviews) and the base game "Very Positive" (92% of 1,956).

Did Civilization 4 win a Grammy? Its theme did: Christopher Tin's "Baba Yetu", written for Civilization 4, won a Grammy on Feb 13, 2011, the first piece of music written for a video game to win one.