If you’re a long-time 4X fan who’s always played Civ on PC, jumping into Civilization 7 on PS5 can feel like learning a whole new game at first. I spent my first three hours fumbling with controller shortcuts, missing turn alerts, and accidentally declaring war on city states because I pressed the wrong input. But once I adjusted the settings and learned a few console-specific tricks, it quickly became my favorite way to play the latest entry in the franchise. You don’t have to sacrifice depth or control just because you’re not using a mouse and keyboard, and this guide covers everything you need to know to start winning games on your first try.
Key Settings to Adjust Before Playing Civilization 7 on PS5
The default settings for the PS5 port work fine for casual play, but tweaking a few options will make your experience way smoother from the first turn. Controller Remapping is the first thing you should mess with, especially if you’re used to standard PS5 control schemes. The default layout uses X as confirm and O as back, but you can swap these in the settings menu if you’re used to O being confirm for other games. That small change alone cut my accidental menu exits by 80% in my first playthrough.
Turn Notification Pop-Ups are another non-negotiable adjustment. By default, the turn alert is a tiny line of text in the corner of the screen that’s easy to miss if you’re scrolling the map or checking city stats. Turn on the large pop-up and turn vibration alert, and you’ll never miss a turn even if you’re glancing at your phone between moves. If you’re like me and tend to zone out while planning your next expansion, these vibration alerts will make sure you never accidentally end your turn early without finishing all your actions. I once missed three turns in a row because I was watching a show in the background and didn’t see the tiny default turn alert, so this setting alone saved me from dozens of lost games.
Performance vs Quality Mode is the final big choice you’ll have to make early on. Performance mode runs at a steady 60fps even on medium maps through turn 300, with only minor dips when you zoom out to view the entire world map. Quality mode has sharper textures and more detailed city animations, but it drops to 30fps regularly in late game, and input lag gets noticeably worse. I recommend sticking to performance mode for all playthroughs unless you’re only playing on tiny maps for casual story runs.
Controller Shortcuts That Cut Down Menu Time by 50%
Most players don’t realize how many hidden shortcuts are built into Civilization 7 on PS5, because the game never explains them in the tutorial. Navigating 4X menus with a controller can feel tedious at first, but these shortcuts will shave minutes off every turn, especially in late game when you have dozens of cities and units to manage. I used to spend almost 10 minutes per late-game turn scrolling between menus to check production and research, but these shortcuts cut that time down to 2 minutes max.
- Hold L1 + R1 at the same time to pull up the quick save menu anywhere, no need to navigate to the main menu bar
- Press the touchpad once to jump straight to your capital city, double tap to see a full map of all explored territory
- Swipe left on the touchpad to view your current research queue, swipe right to see your production queue across all cities
- Hold Square while hovering over a unit to see all its available actions without opening the full command menu
Don’t ignore the touchpad functions – they’re easily the most underrated part of the PS5 port, and most players don’t even know they exist for the first 10 hours of play. If you’re playing multiplayer, these shortcuts also make it way easier to keep up with turn timers so you don’t get kicked for being AFK. I’ve played multiplayer lobbies where PC players complained about console players being too slow, but once I mastered these shortcuts I was finishing turns faster than most of them.
Console-Specific Strategy Adjustments for More Wins
The UI for Civilization 7 on PS5 is designed to be controller-friendly, but it still takes a little getting used to if you’re coming from PC. You don’t have to change your entire playstyle, but a few small adjustments will help you avoid frustration and win more games. Use the quick unit command feature for combat for early-game skirmishes against barbarians and small city state armies. The PS5 port has a built-in combat suggestion tool that calculates odds and picks the best move for you, which saves you from having to manually check every unit’s stats every time you get into a fight.
Just make sure you turn off that auto-suggest feature for late-game wars against other major civilizations. It doesn’t account for long-term strategy like holding strategic resource points or capturing cities with important wonders, so you’ll want to make those calls yourself. Stick to medium or small maps for your first 5 games if you’re new to console 4X play. Large and huge maps run fine on PS5, but the amount of unit management you have to do with a controller gets overwhelming fast when you have 20+ cities and 30+ units. Small maps let you learn the core mechanics without getting burnt out on menu navigation.
One of the biggest advantages of playing Civilization 7 on PS5 is the built-in split screen co-op, which lets you play with a friend on the same couch without needing two separate consoles or copies of the game. I’ve played dozens of co-op games with my roommate, and the controller shortcuts make it easy for both of us to manage our empires without passing a mouse and keyboard back and forth. Just make sure you turn on the turn vibration alert for both controllers, so you know when it’s your turn to act.
Common PS5 Port Issues and How to Fix Them
The Civilization 7 PS5 port is surprisingly polished for a launch 4X console release, but there are a few common bugs and issues that pop up for players. You don’t have to wait for a patch to fix most of them, either – there are simple workarounds for almost every common problem. Late-game frame drops are the most common complaint I’ve seen from other players. If you start seeing stutters after turn 300 on a large map, go to the graphics settings and turn off background animated city renders. That fixes 90% of performance issues without making the game look noticeably worse, and it only takes 10 seconds to toggle.
Controller input lag is another common issue, especially if you have other Bluetooth devices connected to your PS5. The Civ 7 port is really sensitive to Bluetooth interference for some reason, so if your button presses are taking a second to register, disconnect any extra wireless headphones, speakers, or second controllers you have paired. That fixes the lag 9 times out of 10. If that doesn’t work, try plugging your controller in with a USB cable, which eliminates Bluetooth interference entirely.
Missing DLC content is the third most reported issue for PS5 players. If you bought the deluxe edition and can’t access the extra civilizations, scenarios, or cosmetic packs, go to your PS5 game library, select Civilization 7, go to “Manage Game Content”, and make sure all DLC packs are toggled on. The default setting sometimes disables them for no reason after game updates, so you’ll want to check this after every patch. The devs release regular patches for the PS5 port to fix bugs and add quality of life features, so make sure you have auto-updates turned on to get the latest fixes as soon as they drop.
At the end of the day, Civilization 7 on PS5 is just as deep, engaging, and addictive as the PC version, as long as you take a little time to adjust the settings and learn the console-specific quirks. You don’t have to be a PC veteran to win deity-level games on console, and the couch co-op and split screen features make it a way better pick for game nights with friends than the PC port. Try out the tips we covered here during your next playthrough, and you’ll be building empires that stand the test of time before you know it.