It is the sequel to Civilization IV (2005), and was released for Windows in September 2010,[1] for Mac OS X on November 23, 2010, and for Linux on June 10, 2014.

The combat system has been overhauled, by removing stacking of military units and enabling cities to defend themselves by firing directly on nearby enemies.

It includes features such as international trade routes, a world congress, tourism, great works, nine new civilizations, eight additional wonders, and three ideologies.

The game starts with the foundation of a small settlement and ends after achieving one of the victory conditions—or surviving until the number of game turns end, at which point the highest-scoring civilization, based on several factors, such as population, land, technological advancement, and cultural development, is declared the winner.

[6] Each of the AI-controlled leaders has a unique personality, determined by a combination of 'flavors' on a ten-point scale; however, the values may differ slightly in each game.

Surviving an attack allows a city to recover a fraction (approximately 15%) of its hit points automatically each turn.

[12] Captured cities can be annexed, razed, or transformed into a puppet state, each option having distinct advantages and disadvantages.

At set levels this experience can be redeemed for promotions, which provide various bonuses for increasing their effectiveness, or to substantially heal themselves.

Instead, units can take partial damage, which can be healed at various rates depending on their type, location, and promotions earned.

[17] Prior to the 1.0.1.332 PC version of the game, civilizations were provided with an unknown technology after a set number of turns of uninterrupted peaceful relations.

Two additional city-state types (mercantile and religious) were added in the Gods & Kings expansion pack to complement new gameplay mechanics.

City-states play a prominent role in diplomacy among larger civilizations, as well as make specific requests and grant rewards.

Prior to the Brave New World expansion pack, the player was required to fill out five of the ten trees to win a cultural victory.

The player may focus on scientific research and become the first to assemble and launch a spaceship, winning a Space Race victory.

In the new culture system of Civilization V consisting of social policy "trees", the cultural victory prior to the Brave New World expansion pack involved filling out five of the ten "trees" and completing the Utopia project (reminiscent of the Ascent to Transcendence secret project in Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri).

[23] Since the Brave New World expansion pack, the player must control all original capitals (including their own) in order to win by Domination.

The player chooses a civilization and assumes the role of its leader, based on prominent historical figures such as Napoleon Bonaparte.

Six other DLCs were added: Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon, Isabella of Spain, Pachacuti of the Incas, Kamehameha I of Polynesia, Harald Bluetooth of Denmark, and Sejong of Korea.

[27] Teams working on different aspects of the game were located close to each other, which enabled the developers to solve some of the issues they were facing quickly.

[27] According to producer Dennis Shirk, the move to one unit per tile had a great impact on the game's core systems.

This forced the developers to create an entirely new AI system and caused the game's later eras to lose emphasis.

While Direct3D 11 was still in alpha stage, Firaxis decided to design the rendering engine natively for the Direct3D 11 architecture, and then map backwards to Direct3D 9.

As of November 21, 2012[update], the Windows and Mac OS X versions of Civilization V have had regular patches since being released, which included major gameplay alterations, numerous crash fixes, and other changes.

[42][43] 2K Games released Civilization V and its demo on September 21, 2010,[1][44] It is distributed through retail and the Steam content delivery system.

[51][52] Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar II was announced as a bonus civilization included in the Steam and Direct2Drive Digital Deluxe Editions,[51][53] and later offered for all on October 25, 2010.

[57] In late 2012 the developers released the source code of the core game part to support the modding community.

In many ways... the best representation of the series and certainly the most accessible for new and old players alike", adding that the "diplomatic model is anemic" and describing the AI as "fairly average.

[70] GameSpot praised the game's addictiveness, claiming it to be "yet another glistening example of turn-based bliss that will keep you up long past your bedtime".

[81] Despite the release of Civilization VI a few years later, they made the case that the fifth edition "arguably set the high water mark for the series".

[82] Lead designer Jon Shafer did reflect back on the project, and acknowledged criticisms of the game's AI, noting that the player's opponents "were completely enslaved to their gameplay situation, and as a result they appeared random", and that the AI "floated from one 'strategy' to another without any real cohesion behind [its] decisions.