If Gandhi Isn’t There to Nuke Me in Civilization 7, What’s the Point?

A few days ago, 2K Games has unveiled and confirmed some of the Civ Leaders in its upcoming and long-awaited 4X strategy giant sequel, Civilization 7. It’s worth noting that this could still be a tentative list. There also have been some exciting and eye-brow raising changes. Among the announced Civ Leaders, however, a certain someone is missing: Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi, aka the Destroyer of Worlds and the Herald of Nuclear Winter.

Okay, let’s back up a bit. For reference, here’s the list of the Civ Leaders that are going to be present in Civilization 7:

By the way, Civ Leaders aren’t tied to Civs anymore. In any case, Ashoka seems to have taken the spotlight as a Civ Leader for an Indian civilization. There’s no Mahatma Gandhi in Civilization 7 so far (at the time of writing). Again, the list likely isn’t complete yet and the developers might announce more. Civilization 7 won’t be out until February 11, 2025, after all.

Still, the absence of Gandhi in Civilization 7 this early on is quite a cultural blow to the fanbase, given all the memories that apocalyptic warlord has imposed on our playthroughs.

Gandhi & His Nukes are a Staple of the Civ Series

In just about every mainline Civilization game, Gandhi has been present. Thanks to the nature of the Civ Leader AI, the early meme culture, and perhaps some bugs, in-game Gandhi has earned a reputation for himself as the complete opposite of his real-world counterpart while still retaining some performative semblance of his peaceful personality.

So when push comes to shove and you start encroaching on his in-game Indian borders, Gandhi might soft-speakingly threaten you to shove off or he will unleash hell. If he happens to be in the Modern era and has unlocked Uranium and Nukes, you’re in trouble as he’ll add that to his peaceful reasoning, leading to that funny interaction in the Civilization image above.

Over the years, this accidental caricature of Gandhi in the Civilization series has become a celebrated inside joke in the games’ community. Come Civilization 6, the Gandhi the Nuker has become a solidified unofficial part of the Civilization series identity.

Hence, it’s somewhat bizarre and worrying that he’s not included in the early Civ Leader roster of Civilization 7. Thankfully, there’s still a chance he might be unveiled later. But there might also be a chance that they’ve omitted Gandhi in the base release.

Civilization 7 is poised to introduce some rather dramatic changes such as the aforementioned Civ Leaders not being tied to Civs and Civ-swapping mid-game depending on the Era. Such change has worried some of the players.

I’m just hoping that Gandhi in Civilization 7 doesn’t become a casualty of that overhaul and experimentation. Half the fun in historical revisionism is when Gandhi pacifistically threatens you with nuclear annihilation.