Thinking of today's announcement, the thing I'm most excited about (and did not expect at all) is the move back to Civ6-like starts.

Crazy, chaotic starts, occasionally shareable on the reddit subs, were one of the low-key best features of Civ6. Setting aside balanced starts for multiplayer and going back to that mechanic is going to add a lot to Civ7.

And yes, I know, UI fixes and hopefully an overall ground-up UI rethink hopefully. But I'm counting on modders to eventually do the best work in this area, so I've always known quality of life could only improve. The dual start is a pleasant surprise.