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Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword

Game overview

Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword

Sid Meier's Civilization IV®: Beyond the Sword is the second expansion pack for Civilization IV - the 2005 PC Game of the Year that has become a worldwide hit.

Strategy Turn-Based Strategy 4X Turn-Based Historical
Last tracked players
0
All-time peak
2,243
24-hour change
Unavailable
Steam reviews
96.6% positive
3,917 reviews · via SteamSpy

Delayed observation · last tracked . Values marked unavailable are not estimated.

About this game Read the full description
Sid Meier's Civilization IV®: Beyond the Sword is the second expansion pack for Civilization IV - the 2005 PC Game of the Year that has become a worldwide hit. The expansion focuses on the time periods after the invention of gunpowder and delivers 11 unique and challenging scenarios created by the development team at Firaxis as well as esteemed members of the Community. Beyond the Sword also includes ten new civilizations, sixteen new leaders, five new wonders, and a variety of new units that offer even more fun and exciting ways for players to expand their civilization's power as they strive for world domination.

  • Expanded Epic Game: Adds a massive increase of new units, buildings, and technologies to the epic game with a tremendous amount of effort focused on the late game.
  • New Game Scenarios: 11 new scenarios custom-designed by the team at Firaxis and some members of the Fan Community.
  • New Civilizations: 10 new civilizations, such as Portugal, Babylonians, and Netherlands and their associated unique units and buildings.
  • More Civilization Leaders: Sixteen new leaders, both for the new civilizations as well as additional leaders for existing civilizations, including Hammurabi of the Babylonians, Abraham Lincoln of the United States, and Sitting Bull of the Native Americans.
  • Corporations: A new game feature similar to religion allows players to found companies and spread them throughout the world. Each corporation provides benefits in exchange for certain resources.
  • Espionage: Now available earlier in the game, this feature offers players many new ways to spy on opponents, stir citizen unrest and defend government secrets.
  • Events: New random events - such as natural disasters and pleas for help or demands from their citizens - challenge players with obstacles that must be overcome for their civilization to prosper.
  • New Wonders: Five new wonders await discovery, including the Statue of Zeus, Cristo Redentor, the Shwedagon Paya, and the Mausoleum of Maussollos.
  • Expanded Space Victory: Winning the race to Alpha Centauri will now require more strategic planning and tactical decision making.
  • Apostolic Palace: The United Nations is available earlier in the game, providing a way to win a diplomatic victory earlier. In addition, new resolutions expand the available diplomatic options.
  • Advanced Starts: A major fan request, this new feature enables players to 'buy' components of a custom-tailored empire and begin play in the later part of the game, allowing one to experience many of the new features of the expansion in a shorter amount of time.
  • Advanced AI: The greatly-enhanced AI now relies more on smart play and less on handicap bonuses to remain competitive, providing a more consistent challenge throughout the course of the game, both economically and militarily. The ways in which the AI attempt to achieve victory have also been expanded.

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Take One More Turn in Civilization VI Take One More Turn in Civilization VI Why Sid Meier's name is on his games
System requirements Windows · macOS

Windows

Minimum

Minimum: Windows 2000 (plus Service Pack 1 or higher), Windows XP Home or Professional (plus Service Pack 1 or higher), or Windows Vista; 1.2GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor, 256 MB RAM, 64 MB video card with hardware T&L (GeForce 2, Radeon 7500 or better), DirectX 7 compatible sound card, 1.7 GB of free hard drive space, DirectX 9.0c (included)
Recommended: 1.8GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent (or better), 512 MB RAM, 128 MB video card with DirectX 8 support (pixel and vertex shaders), DirectX 7 compatible sound card, 1.7 GB of free hard drive space, DirectX 9.0c (included)

macOS

Minimum

Recommended:
  • OS: Mac OS X 10.4.11, 10.5.6
  • Processor: PowerPC G5 or Intel
  • CPU Speed: 2.0 GHz
  • Memory: 1 GB
  • Hard Disk Space: 2.5 GB free disk space
  • Video Card: (ATI): Radeon 9600 Video Card (NVidia): GeForce FX 6600
  • Video Memory: (VRam): 128 MB or higher
  • Media Required: DVD-ROM Drive
  • Peripherals: Macintosh mouse and keyboard
  • Supported Video Cards: NVIDIA GeForce 6600, 6800, 7300, 7600, 7800, 8600, 8800, 9400, 9600, GEFORCE GT 120, GEFORCE QUADRO FX 4500 ATI Radeon 9600, 9650, 9700, 9800, X600, X800, X1600, X1900, HD 2400, 2600, 3870
  • NOTICE: Intel integrated video chipsets are not supported.
  • NOTICE: Apple original CPU’s only, CPU upgrades not supported
  • NOTICE: This game is not supported on volumes formatted as Mac OS Extended (Case Sensitive) REQUIRES THE FULL VERSION OF Civilization IV for Mac OS X TO PLAY
Game details Languages, features & support
Publisher
2K
USK rating
12
Metacritic
86
Features
Single-player, Family Sharing
Languages
English, French, German, Italian, Spanish - Spain
Compatibility & accessibility Steam Deck, controllers & access features

Can I Play This?

Steam declarations and Valve's Steam Deck compatibility result. Missing data is shown as unknown, never unsupported.

Sources fresh
Native Steam builds
Windows: unknown
macOS: unknown
Linux: unknown
Steam Deck
unsupported
Valve compatibility test
Input
Controller support: unknown
Structured language support (5)
LanguageInterfaceFull audioSubtitles
EnglishYesNoNo
FrenchYesNoNo
GermanYesNoNo
ItalianYesNoNo
Spanish - SpainYesNoNo

Third-party requirements shown by Steam

Requires agreement to a 3rd-party EULA Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword EULA
Steam store page fresh · checked 2026-11-01 PCGamingWiki technical notes External link only; SteamIQHQ does not ingest PCGamingWiki content.
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Game Insights

Buy Verdict

Watch — $5.99.

Decent deal at 80% off, but might drop further. Watch for better opportunities.

▬ ~13 days until next sale

Value Score

Great Value — 85th percentile.

Price-to-player ratio ranks in the 85th percentile. Priced as Market at $5.99.

▲ Market pricing tier

Genre Benchmarks

Player Count Top 65%
Growth Rate Top 75%
Value Ratio Top 15%

Activity Heatmap

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Developer Analytics

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword worth buying right now?
Watch — $5.99. Decent deal at 80% off, but might drop further. Watch for better opportunities.
When does Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword go on sale?
Decent deal at 80% off, but might drop further. Watch for better opportunities.
Is Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword free to play?
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword costs $5.99 on Steam.
What genre is Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword?
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword is a Strategy game.
Who developed Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword?
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword was developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K.
What platforms does Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword support?
Available on Steam for Windows, macOS.

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