This game doesn't focus the city micro management that Civ requires. I end up having multiple playthroughs which are never quite the same. this shakes up both the research tree and the unit tree. They have a great feature called secret tech, where the player gets to choose a specialized tech for his game. Which is why it perhaps doesn't get the attention from the gaming community it deserves - it's really hard to define. It's hard to explain game play - it is somewhere between a 4x strat campaign and xcom. There are many other much worse strat/tactical games out there that are far better known than this one unfortunately. I would 100precent recommend it - it's a secret gem. I can't help you with feedback regards PS4 controls as I play it on pc. I have not tried it on console, so I don't know how the controls are, but it will probably be ok, since everything is turnbased and in a lower tempo.

Mods are kinda like gear for you units and heroes and can drastically change the unit in different ways: like giving your regular grunt unit explosive shots, so all their basic attacks not only does AOE damage, but also set enemy units on fire. Both the race and the secret technology gives you access to a bunch of unique units, operations ('spells) and mods.

The strategic gameplay is fairly streightforward compared to Civ and other such titles, but the game still has lot of depth given the faction you play will be made up of two parts, a race and a so called secret technology, think of the latter as a form of class for your main hero.

All of the stratigic gameplay is basically there to facilitate the tactical gameplay. There is some strategic gameplay that is similar to Civ, but the tactical turnbased combat is the main focus of the game.

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