Fans of Civilization have waited almost a decade for the latest installment in the cult video game series.

Now it turns out that the theme of the passage of time is quite fitting: the inspiration for Civilization VII, which will be released in February, is the transformation of the British capital from Roman times to the present day.

And it all started with a map of Londinium – as the Romans called London.

“Londinium looked like any Roman frontier town, with an amphitheatre, baths, and a rickety bridge leading to the south side of the Thames,” noted the game’s lead developer Ed Beach when he showed me the following map – used here courtesy of Encyclopaedia Britannica.

“But I wanted to see how it evolved and how it changed as London grew and prospered.”

The lessons learned from these changes will form the core of the new game.

Since its inception in 1991, the Civilization series has sold 70 million copies – the last edition was released in 2016.

The question of which direction the developers at Firaxis would take the next version of the game was a hot topic among fans.

I count myself in that group too – my brother introduced me to Civ II on our PlayStation in the 90s, and I was recently slightly horrified to realize that I’ve spent more than 500 hours on the sixth installment in the series.

For those who don’t know, Civilization is at times more like a board game than a video game. You move units around a map, building and developing cities while battling others to conquer their lands for yourself.

In previous games in the series, players had to take on the role of a specific combination of leader and civilization, such as Teddy Roosevelt and the United States or Cleopatra and Egypt.

However, the developers say that this is not really representative of the development of a city in which many different ruling groups leave their mark – just like in London.

In the new game, the player can start as a Roman and build his own Londinium in the so-called ancient world.

But after reaching the next level – the Exploration Era in the game’s jargon – players can become Normans and build on what came before.

The game’s developers took inspiration from Ludgate, the site of the western gate of the former London Wall, and dug up more ancient maps to see how the area had changed 1,000 years after the Romans left London.

“London is changing and growing, but you can see the core of the Roman camp,” said Beach.

The map, produced by Layers of LondonPart of the UK’s Institute of Historical Research, it shows that the River Fleet still flows – but many of the Roman-era buildings are no longer there.

“Everything is built over with the buildings you would expect in a medieval or Renaissance city,” Beach said.

“We have inns, we have taverns, we still have religious buildings on the east side of the wall, but now it’s St Paul’s Cathedral, the very first version of it before it burned down in the Great Fire of London.

“And we see that the river has been diverted a little bit so that they can build a prison to hold and keep some of these evildoers from the Middle Ages in check.”

This difference formed the basis of the new game – it built on its predecessor and created distinctly different eras.

Finally, the developers jumped back in time to the Victorian era to see how the Ludgate area had changed again.

Other significant changes can be seen on this map, reproduced with permission from the National Library of Scotland: the River Fleet is no longer visible after it was relocated underground for sewage disposal in the mid-19th century.

“After the prison was completely replaced, the needs of the industrial revolution required a railway line to go there. Ludgate station is exactly where the prison used to be,” said Mr Beach.

“With the exception of St. Paul’s Cathedral, all buildings that once served religious purposes have now been largely destroyed.”

This third phase of change – called the “Modern Era” in the new game – solidified the concept for the developers.

Using London as an example, players could play as the Romans, then the Normans, and finally the British – building a growing England that extends beyond the capital.

But while the major style change may be exciting for some, hardcore fans of the series may be concerned about how much things have changed.

This new addition is part of a series of other changes that will be significant to fans – but won’t make much sense to people who haven’t played the game.

The game’s developers tell me that computer-controlled civilizations will behave more intelligently. They list the seemingly endless changes as if they were checking off a list – each civilization has its own unique civic skills to discover, units can now cross rivers, and there are no more builders.

There are expected changes – such as a graphical overhaul that gives the game a modern look – but also unexpected ones – such as changing the heads of state you play as to include important historical figures who did not lead their countries, such as Benjamin Franklin and Confucius.

Hatshepsut, one of Egypt’s historical female rulers, is now playable. The game’s narrator – Game of Thrones and Star Wars actress Gwendoline Christie – adds extra dignity to the visual upgrade.

But not everything was taken directly from a fan’s wish list.

Roads will still be built automatically by traders, which has long been a sore spot for some players. There are some changes to the game’s interpretation of religion, but it still sounds to me like players will be managing missionaries on the map in detail.

Big promises about improving AI are well received, but without seeing the final product, it’s hard to be convinced.

The change between the ages seems to be linked to crises such as barbarian invasions, civil wars and epidemics. However, how exactly this will work is unclear.

Mr. Beach said it was developing a “cool cycle that you go through three times in the game we’re releasing here at launch” – a phrase that, I told him, sounded suspiciously like Firaxis might consider adding more cycles and empires in the future.

He wouldn’t agree to that.

One thing seems certain, however: this kind of reset button between eras means no single player can rush ahead and gain an unassailable lead at the start of each game, which fans will really appreciate.

We’ll find out when the game comes out next year.