I will freely admit that I am not the biggest Civilization fan. The series has some interesting aspects going on for it, but the general gameplay has never really appealed to me and therefore I tend not to play them. At the recent Nintendo Switch 2 Experience event in Melbourne, Civilization 7 for Nintendo Switch 2 was on deck and I figured that I would give it a go as it supported mouse controls. So how did it play? Turns out really well.

Now obviously Civilization 7 is already on Nintendo Switch and people have been able to play that game with the controller. The series came to consoles for the first time in a while on Switch, originally with Civilization 6, so 7 was just more of an extension on what was already on offer. What was really great about the new addition with Civilization 7 on Switch 2 is, as I said, mouse control mode. Having already played Metroid Prime 4, Nintendo Switch 2 Edition with its mouse offerings, I figured that it wouldn't be much different here. What I didn't expect was the variety in options for controls, because I assumed that the game would be one way or the other.

Thankfully, much like Metroid Prime 4, if you're playing Civilization 7 via the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, then you do get access to the mouse mode swap over. By that I mean if you're playing with the standard control layout with the buttons and sticks, all you need to do is just flip your Joy-Con 2 to the side to put it into mouse mode and it just works. What was quite surprising is that when I was setting myself up and I had to put the straps on as indicated by the Nintendo Rep, I accidentally put the left Joy-Con 2 down first and it put itself into mouse mode. Not even thinking about it and as I'm right-handed when I put the right one down, I was focusing on that. With it down, I tried to move it and I couldn't see the cursor on the screen moving and I was really confused. It turns out the game will auto detect whichever one you put down first as the mouse.

That is a great touch, because for those gamers who are left-handed, you won’t have to worry about telling the game you are, just place the left one down first and you are all set. As for my correcting the placement, all I had to do is literally take the left one off the mouse pad and the right one took over and became the mouse. There was no delay, there was no menu settings to modify, I picked it up the left one and I was good to go with the right. Playing the game honestly just reminded me of playing Civilization 5 on PC. I think it's the last time I played one on a computer. The mouse cursor was there; the right shoulder button becomes left click and the ZR button became right click. Other than that, it was just a mouse. What I found really fun about it was that, even though I'm horrible at the game and I wasn't too worried about, you know, establishing a colony or building a city, or researching or anything like that, is that I was still able to understand what was going on. Because I was just following where my cursor was going.

In past games like this on console, there's always been more of a reliance on radial menus and highlighting options with buttons and combinations of keys. This was just as intuitive as it is grabbing a mouse on a computer and navigating around your desktop. Now the general layout of all the UI is the same in the Nintendo Switch 2 Edition as it is in the standard Nintendo Switch Edition. But there's no giant button prompts that hover over the menus. There’re no buttons beside names or anything like that you need to worry about, because if you're playing with the mouse mode active, you just move the cursor over. I did pick up both controllers to turn off mouse mode and those options did appear again, so it's not one or the other.

Honestly, from everything that I played, I can see where the appeal will be for fans of the series. Being able to have a full Civilization experience at home or on the go and not lose progress will be a big deal for some, even if there is no cross-save functionality included. The game does offer cross-progression on other platforms, so I am sure the Switch 2 version will as well, I just have not been able to confirm. I am sure some folks will always prefer PC for the series, but from my limited time with the Switch 2 version, I could see this being a very close second.

Sid Meier's Civilization VII – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition will be available on June 5 via the upgrade pack. If you don’t yet own the game you can buy it in store or digitally and get the pack after that.