AMD has scored another win for their Mantle API, with upcoming title Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth to support it alongside DirectX 11. Previous Civilization titles, such as Civilization V, were reasonably CPU intensive, so the reduced CPU overhead and lower-level features of Mantle should help gamers run the game on entry-level hardware including AMD's own APUs.
Civilization: Beyond Earth is being developed by strategy game masters Firaxis Games, and looks like it makes use of a proprietary game engine similar to past titles from the company. How much performance can be gained from using Mantle in this title is unknown, but strategy games seem particularly well equipped to benefit from the API.
The game itself features familiar turn-based mechanics, and gives you the ability to explore space to colonize alien planets. You'll find yourself up against the environment and aliens native to the planets, before other humans eventually make planet fall, resulting in fresh and interesting gameplay that expands on what the Civilization series has offered in the past.
Beyond Earth will launch on all three PC platforms - Windows, Mac and Linux - in the fall of 2014, which is sometime between September and November for those of you outside North America. You can watch the game's trailer below.