Never played the Civ series before, but I'm totally into strategy games. Recently got 200 hours into Pennon and Battle and kinda burned out now. The Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era which I'm hyped for isn't out yet, and there's nothing else in the strategy genre grabbing me. Was about to jump into Civ 7 but saw the mixed reviews... ugh.
Civ games at launch are often a bit of a mixed bag, and the games improve over time with patches and expansions. That being said, the game isn't even fully out yet, and early Steam reviews are notoriously unreliable and undifferentiated. For your first civ game, maybe look at earlier titles like Civ 5 or 6. They have aged very well, I still play 6 all the time.
