Game reviews by a guy who's only ever played Skyrim

Civilization

Civilization is an interesting departure from the mould of traditional games like Skyrim in a few ways. Probably the first thing new players will notice is that the first-person perspective has been abandoned in favour of a sort of top-down "bird's eye view", but this is just the beginning. Rather than controlling a single individual, given tasks by the various quest-givers around the world, you function as a sort of quest-giver yourself for your chosen nation, instructing its people on what projects to pursue and what battles to take on.

You also have more freedom to modify aspects of the game world by instructing various NPCs to create cities, roads, fortifications, etc., while at the same time the NPCs of other nations will be doing the same - often in ways that conflict with your goals. XP, skills, and ability cooldowns (ie. stamina and magicka) are still present (under different names) but Health has undergone the most radical change - at least on the surface; it's not immediately apparent, but your health points are actually represented by the number of cities you control. No more cities? You're dead.

Minesweeper

It may not have the fancy graphics or the deep story, but if you give it a chance you might find that Minesweeper represents the most distilled version of the Skyrim experience you're ever likely to play. Each encounter in Skyrim represents the possibility of two outcomes: kill or be killed. With each fight you gain skills and experience that will allow you to overcome future challenges. In the same way, each tile revealed is a new spell or weapon in your arsenal; each flag planted, a level up. It's all in knowing how to approach each situation and how dangerous each of the NPCs (represented in Minesweeper by simple coloured numbers) is - especially in combination with the other NPCs found in its vicinity. And just as in Skyrim, the careful (stealth) option is often the best course of action. Click at random and you're as likely to be blown up in Minesweeper as you are to be hurled off a mountain by a frost troll if you wander carelessly in Skyrim. The philosophy that the player should always be paying attention to their surroundings was clearly common to both games' developers.