I've been a fan of the civilization series since II. However I haven't played all of them due to being busy at different points in my life. Didn't play VI for example, but I did enjoy V, some of the DLC for it was good IIRC.
I'm concerned about the pre-order push, and that there is going to be a Switch version. But it does look like it could be good? No way I'm pre-ordering, but would like something to look forward to.
They got rid of too many of the management aspects of Civ which people may argue with me about but it was interesting seeing a youtuber comment on this because the stupid leader system they keep insisting on for example is like a side-game compared to having everything focused on the big map which is the main reason you even do a Civ game in the first place for that classic just one more turn gameplay.
Didn't like the changes they made to the cities at all with those stupid districts and they got rid of the original infrastructure building too replacing it with builders where you have to clicky on tiles constantly and there didn't seem to be any automation method making that part of the game extra tedious.
I know there was technically some woke stuff in there but it wasn't that blatant, Civ 6 was released awhile before they got into full swing with the DEI but that will probably change with Civ 7. Even if you ignore anything woke, it's another case of, these games can't stand on their own anymore, they're just not that great.
Games seem to follow two extremes as well with their monetisation these days, either they're all in on a live service or they spam DLC content which costs more than the actual game and that's why so many of them are making the base games free now.