Weekly PC download charts: Players grapple with extreme weather in ‘Civ VI: Gathering Storm’

Image: Firaxis/2K Games via AFP Relaxnews

What will climate change look like, if allowed to continue, and how can we deal with it?

With talk of a Green New Deal in the United States, warnings that insect populations may die out with catastrophic effects for humankind, and school students striking in a call for large-scale government action in the United Kingdom, grand strategy game “Civilization VI” provides one way to answer those questions through a February 2019 add-on called Gathering Storm.

Following its first weekend of availability, Gathering Storm is currently the number one seller on the Steam and Humble download stores while, along with “Civilization VI”, it occupies three spots on the Fanatical chart.

Players can choose paths forward for their civilizations by leveraging real and conceptual technologies, negotiating with a World Congress on critical issues, and observing the impact of their decisions on the world ecosystem, developer Firaxis Games explains.

The simulation game churns out volcanoes, floods, and droughts, and storms that carry payloads of rain, sand, snow, and powerful winds.

A virtual thermometer also keeps tabs on global temperatures, modeling the effects of melting polar ice caps and rising sea levels should players not manage to rein in or offset their fossil fuel dependence in time.

Atmospheric physicist Simon Clark breaks down aspects of the game’s scientific accuracy in his video, “PhD reviews climate change in Civ VI: Gathering Storm.”

GOG’s current bestseller, “Frostpunk”, also examines extreme weather, though with humanity’s remnant trying to survive a new ice age, while popular Itch.io download “How to Be a Tree” takes a more comical approach to strengthening bonds with the natural world.

Steam*
1. Civilization VI: Gathering Storm
2. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
3. Grand Theft Auto V
4. Far Cry New Dawn
5. Astroneer
*Steam chart based on revenue rather than units.

Humble Store
1. Civilization VI: Gathering Storm
2. Far Cry New Dawn
3. Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom – The Prince’s Edition
4. Dragon Ball FighterZ
5. Far Cry New Dawn – Deluxe Edition

GamersGate EU
1. Jump Force
2. Sniper Elite 3 Season Pass
3. Ancestors Legacy
4. Strange Brigade Deluxe Edition
5. Resident Evil 2 / Biohazard RE:2 – Deluxe Edition

Fanatical
1. Rime
2. Civilization VI Gold Edition
3. Civilization VI: Gathering Storm
4. Civilization VI Gold + Gathering Storm
5. Yakuza Kiwami – Digital Deluxe Edition

GOG
1. Frostpunk
2. Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales
3. Foundation
4. Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Complete
5. BioShock Remastered

Itchio’s Most Popular
1. Shutdown
2. Filthbreed
3. Kibus
4. The Night
5. How to Be a Tree
JB

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