Civilization V Special Ed outed

By Robert Purchese Published 9 July, 2010

Retail's answer to Steam's Deluxe box.

2K Games has whipped the curtain back on the Special Edition of Civilization V.

For 60 English pounds you'll take home a 176-page stiff-backed book of art, two CDs crammed with game music, a Making Of DVD documentary and five little metal Civilization V figurines. Don't try to eat those, they'll break your teeth.

This Special Edition is retail's answer to Steam's Digital Deluxe Edition. That contains exclusive maps, Babylonian leader Nebuchadnezzar II and the Making Of footage and soundtrack CDs.

The Digital Deluxe Edition costs £40 on Steam and can be pre-ordered now.

Sadly, we can't find any pictures of the Special Edition of Civilization V on any local retailers.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • HisDudness #1 2 years ago

    Ohh God please let this game live up to the quality of the series. This is the game that is pushing me back to PC gaming, will it run on a MacBook? Probably not...

  • Bitkari #2 2 years ago

    Do want.

  • hiddenranbir #3 2 years ago

    Yess! I was waiting for the retail special edition. All my CIVs are retail box worthy.

  • M4RV #4 2 years ago

    The original Civilization by Sid Meier was most likely the game that not only made me a fan of turn based strategy games, but also of PC gaming for the most part, but for some reason, I could never get around the series after the 2nd installment, with the exception of Alpha Centauri if you kindly open an exception; No idea why... Still, here's hoping for a quality game. :)

  • ircaddicts #5 2 years ago

    Will this version still need that spyware ridden POS called steam to play or not ? If not then I will but it.

  • cheeky_pete #6 2 years ago

    @ircaddicts

    Your idiocy actually makes me laugh. Steam, spyware ridden shit? Ha surely you jest by all means don't buy it the community will be fine without ignorant tools like you in it anyway.

  • DaemonSpawn #7 2 years ago

    This actually looks interesting, especially figurines. Plus, it's still a steam-powered game, no matter how you buy it, so playing with friends is as easy as inviting them through the friend list. And no patching problems at last.

  • Skurmedel #8 2 years ago

    I think I'll have this, only because I harbour an unhealthy affection to Civilization.

    Crap, looks like it's not available in my country.
    Edited by Skurmedel at 09/07/10 @ 16:21

  • Toothball #9 2 years ago

    I was recently infected with the curse of Civ 4 following the recent Steam deals. This copy does sound rather nice, but I think I'll stick with the digital one. Just trying to decide whether the digital special edition is worth it.

  • JayArr #10 2 years ago

    Sold.

  • DanWhitehead #11 2 years ago

    I read that headline as Civilization versus Special Ed, which seemed a bit cruel.

  • makeamazing #12 2 years ago

    I recently purchased the CIV series on Steam (great price)... only thing that i remember from the Amiga days, was that you could play a historical map setting (so it would be planet earth)... are you able to play that style in this game? (Havent found the option in the previous Civs on PC yet).

    Edit... LOL a minus 1 for what exactly... sheesh some users on this forum need to grow up.
    Edited by makeamazing at 12/07/10 @ 12:42

  • CrispyXUK64 #13 2 years ago

    hahahaha, who uses retail in this day and age?

  • Skurmedel #14 2 years ago

    makeamazing, you kind of can in Civ 4 (betting this game won't be radically different in this regard). Either you play a map with "earth like" placement of terrain, resources and civilizations, or you play one of the historical scenarios. I can't remember if such a scenario comes with Civ 4 but I'm guessing it is available as some kind of third party download. The mod tools in Civ 4 proved quite popular so I'm guessing they will return in some form in Civ 5.
    Edited by Skurmedel at 09/07/10 @ 17:58

  • kristo #15 2 years ago

    you can still buy pc games in shops? since when? must be some kind of new thing the kids are doing these days.

  • UncleLou #16 2 years ago

    Dust-collecting tat, or another leader in the game? Difficult decision. :p

  • Login Industry #17 2 years ago

    I still prefer my games in the DVD retail format. I like the hard copy manuals for one thing (though they're getting rarer nowadays, you young whippersnappers you!!) Don't think I'll be getting this if you have to have steam just to play the single player version. Shame, as it looked good.
    Edited by Login Industry at 09/07/10 @ 20:06

  • immateriaux #18 2 years ago

    I've very slowly, traditional civilisation speed slowly, being coming around to owning games on Steam. For twenty pounds less, I prefer the idea of maps and characters in game, than figurines so this news has me thinking of pre-ordering now on Steam.

    (and, though I've failed to capture the joy I had with the first Civilisation in any of the sequels, I'm hopeful this version will finally deliver)

  • mandella #19 2 years ago

    Looking at the new impressive visuals and new, more realistic combat system I drool at the mods we will surely see.

  • makeamazing #20 2 years ago

    @Skurmedel ah thanks... thought that was the case.

    I've also been buying alot on steam lately, but mainly discounted games. I cannot remember the last full priced boxed PC game i purchased. I think the next one is actually starcraft... (is that out?)... and i might pick this up boxed too :)

  • Gastrian #21 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • sanctusmortis #22 2 years ago

    Does this have a min spec yet? Wondering if it's totally out of my league or this PC just needs a GPU...

    Official pics at http://www.civilization5.com/#/community...
    Edited by sanctusmortis at 10/07/10 @ 12:07

  • Spekingur #23 2 years ago

    For some reason I really really like that box art.
    Almost feels like an 'oldie' box art.

  • darth_paul #24 2 years ago

    errrrr..... do we get a manual to? my CIV4 Complete edition didnt have one, just had a PDF file on the disc. Would be nice to have a manual

  • uzivatel #25 2 years ago

    @darth_paul: with the civilopedia thing, do you really need manual?

  • Caimbeul #26 2 years ago

    £60 Vs £40 hmmm?

  • CHAZBIGPOTATO #27 2 years ago

    Who remembers the rapper from the late 80s, Special Ed?

  • evilrobot #28 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 22:12:53 08-05-2012