We're used to games offering extra missions or optional costume items as pre-order bonuses, but only Civilization can get away with giving you entire planets. The upcoming intergalactic strategy game will offer just that, for players who pre-order.
The Exoplanet Map Pack offers six new worlds on which to build your civilization, and rather interestingly each one is inspired by an actual planet observed by astronomers in real life, with a little fantasy twist to make them more fun.
Kepler 186f, for example, was one of the first Earth-like planets to be identified. In Beyond Earth, it becomes a lush forest planet ripe for colonisation. Similarly, Tau Ceti d is imported into the game as a water-rich planet covered in islands and offering lots of resources and diverse alien life.
For those who prefer a stiffer challenge, there's the arid world of Rigil Khantoris Bb or Mu Arae f, which is locked into a tidal orbit that ensures one hemisphere is baking desert, the other a dark frozen wasteland. 82 Eridani e has little water and is plagued by seismic disturbance, while Eta Vulpeculae b is a mysterious newly discovered world with unknown terrain. You'll just have to settle there to find out what awaits you.
Civilization: Beyond Earth takes Sid Meier's beloved historical nation-building game and expands it to sci fi dimensions. It's out for PC on October 24th.
