Civilization VI: Red Death is a free Battle Royale mode available now on PC

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Firaxis have released a new Battle Royale mode for their turn-based strategy game, Civilization VI, as a free update for PC users.

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by Liam Andrews

@pass_controller

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The multiplayer mode, called Red Death, pits twelve players against each other in a free-for-all race to escape a growing storm of radioactivity that’s engulfing the map. Players can choose from eight post-apocalyptic factions with their own perks and buffs, such as units that heal faster or are resistant to water, as they compete to be the last faction standing when the evacuation ship arrives.

As a free update, Red Death is available to all players who own the base game on PC. There’s no word on whether the mode will be making its way to other platforms.

​Faraxis also revealed details about the mode’s somewhat unorthodox origins:

​“The game mode began as a tongue-in-cheek April Fools joke from the Multiplayer Engineering Lead, Bradley Olson. He scripted the basic gameplay and added it to the game for an April 1 build, hoping the team would find it amusing,” reads the press release.

Unfortunately, nobody actually noticed a Battle Royale mode lurking in the game’s multiplayer. But, despite the rocky start, the mode was well liked by Olson’s fellow developers once they got their hands on it, and the original concept was soon expanded upon with features and extras before getting a post-apocalyptic makeover by the studios’ art team.

“Red Death came together in a different way than we usually develop scenarios and content for Civilization VI. While this is not the way a typical design comes to fruition, the on-the-fly creative collaboration coming from all the members of the team that led to this release was an incredible experience for all of us.”

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