SimulationStrategy
Galactic Civilizations IV
Give it 60 hours
Gets good by 60h then rated almost like by veterans
Started playing 81% of owners
Steam reviews 72% positive of 2,634
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 2 reviews are negative (56%); after 60h it's 1 in 6 (16%).
- The opening is criticised more than in 85% of games we track.
- Few early reviews, so this is a rough estimate.
- The game has no story achievements, so drop-off points can't be measured.
- 81% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 2,644 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 300 reviews: 101h for positive, 17.8h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (81.4% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
This game has no story achievements, so we can't tell where players quit.
All achievements (86)
story milestone ending side
- One Small Step... Colonize a planet 100%
- Master of One Give a Citizen a Worker Specialization 98%
- It Takes a Special Individual Recruit a Leader 97%
- Friend or Foe? Initiate first contact 96%
- Unleash My Power Used an Artifact 82%
- Our First Victory Win a Battle 77%
- Ensign, Initiate Sensor Sweep Investigate 15 anomalies 75%
- Veteran Crew Have a ship reach level 5. 69%
- Humble Beginnings... Play for 5 Hours 69%
- Ask Not What Your Empire Can Do For You Reach 30 Citizens 68%
- Talent Acquired Recruit 12 Leaders 64%
- Commodity Shopper We bought a resource 53%
- There Are Many Like It, But This One Is Mine Design a ship 51%
- Hyperspace! Travel through a stream between sectors 51%
- Commodity Peddler We sold a resource. 48%
- Designer's Choice Create your own custom civilization 48%
- Another One Bites The Dust... Destroy a Civilization 40%
- Commodity Seller We sold 10 resources 38%
- A Growing Empire... Own 30 Planets 37%
- Commodity Buyer We bought 10 resources 36%
- Credits Will Do Fine Treasury balance of at least 10,000 credits 32%
- Commodity Selling Guru We sold 30 resources 31%
- Commodity Purchasing Guru We bought 30 resources 29%
- Merchandising! Merchandising! Own at least 12 Trade Routes 26%
- Fleet Victory Destroy 15 or more ships and win the battle 26%
- Artifact Mastery Use 20 Artifacts in a game 18%
- If I Had A Nickel Every Time That Happened... Win in under 200 turns. 15%
- Time Is Relative Play for 100 Hours 14%
- We're #1! We're #1! We're #1! Win by Prestige Victory 12%
- The Retribution's... Retribution Rebuild the starship Retribution 12%
- War with the Unknown Wage war against a Civilization without researching Universal Translator 10%
- The Enemy of My Enemy Gain an ally 9.3%
- Galactic War Be at war with 5 factions. 9.3%
- I Came. I Designed. I Conquered. Win with a Custom Civilization 8.5%
- Humanity Across The Stars Win as Terrans 8.1%
- Conquistador Win by Conquest Victory 7.9%
- Professional Influencer Win by Influence Victory 6.5%
- I Didn't Even Wash My Hands Complete Galactic Challenge: The Plague 5.4%
- What Were You Expecting, An Award? Play a Multiplayer Game 5.4%
- That's No Moon... Build a Terror Star 5.3%
- Pirate Cleansing Eliminate 8 pirate bases 4.2%
- King of Kings Win a Gigantic size game 3.9%
- My Blue Skin Is Not Offputting! Win as Altarians 2.3%
- Relic Hoarder Control all Relics 2.2%
- Destroyer of Worlds Use a Terror Star 2.2%
- Flesh Is For The Weak Win as the YOR 2.2%
- We Talked Them Into Submission Win by Diplomatic Victory 1.6%
- Stood Against The Tide Complete Galactic Challenge: Against the Tide 1.1%
- It's My Time and I'll Do What I Want Play for 1000 Hours 1.1%
- Marginal Gains Spend an Optimization Slot. 1.1%
- I Speak For The Trees Win as the Baratak 1.1%
- Flawless Appearance And Execution Win as the Luxar Dominion 1.1%
- Navigate To Victory! Win as the Navigators 1.1%
- Business Is Business Adopt the Oligarchy government. 1.0%
- Portfolio Diversified Purchase your first Investment. 1.0%
- We're Soooo Noble! Win as Arceans 1.0%
- I Just Want To Swarm Win as the Festron 1.0%
- Size Matters Not Win as the Mimot 1.0%
- Prey No More Win as Torians 1.0%
- And They Said Crime Doesn't Pay Win As Xeloxi 1.0%
- Rule by Reason Adopt the Technocracy government. 0.9%
- YOR Dead Iconians Destroy the Iconians as the YOR 0.9%
- It Was... a Sphere Complete Galactic Challenge: The Orb of Draginol 0.9%
- Nothing Lasts Forever Complete Galactic Challenge: The Everwar 0.9%
- Two Words: Space Dragons Win as the Drath 0.9%
- You Were Delicious! Win as the Drengin 0.9%
- Never Forgive. Never Forget. Win as the Iconians 0.9%
- We Showed Them... THE WAY Win as the Krynn 0.9%
- A More Perfect Union Adopt the Federation government. 0.7%
- There's No Place Like Home Re-captured our lost homeworld 0.7%
- Diseased Domination Win as the Cosmic Contaminant 0.7%
- Everyone Has A Price... Win as the Iridium 0.7%
- Who Are You Calling Seafood? Win as the Manti 0.7%
- We Rocked Their Worlds Win as the Onyx 0.7%
- Naptime Is Our Superpower Win as the Phalenoid Advance 0.7%
- Welcome to the Fold Promote a colony to a Member World. 0.6%
- Eye See Only Victory Win as the Intueri Aggregate 0.6%
- All Others Perished Win as the Korath 0.6%
- Iconia Reclaimed! Recapture Iconia from the YOR as the Iconians 0.5%
- Long Live the Emperor Adopt the Imperial government. 0.4%
- Under New Management Promote a colony to a Vassal World. 0.4%
- Victory Is Mine! Win by Terror Star 0.4%
- Bragging Rights Win a Multiplayer Game 0.4%
- Sharp, Pointy, and Full of Stars Complete Galactic Challenge: Shard of the Mithrilar 0.2%
- That's Just Embarassing... Lose by your own Terror Star 0.1%
- As Did Alderan, So Goes You... Lose by a Terror Star 0.1%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.