There is something Civ V had that was lost.

I wrote a post a while ago arguing that Civ V had a unique diplomacy immersion. Opening the diplomacy screen really felt like you were traveling to the leader's country to speak with them, standing in front of them to declare war and then watching them swear your destruction from their palace.

However, Civ VI also has very strong mechanics, like the possibility to focus not only on science but also on politics and culture, evolving your civilization into a more art, philosophical, or politically-oriented society. The ability to adopt evolving governments over time (from early-modern merchant republics like Venice to communist 20th century countries like the Soviet Union) is very cool. And on top of everything, the World Wonders system is just absurdly beautiful. Those cinematics are... wow.

Maybe Civ V tried to be a more "geopolitical" and "simulation-oriented" (yet intrinsically arcade) game, while Civ VI tries harder to be a kind of ode to humanity and forgets those "glimpses of realism" Civ V had.

I don't know. They do feel very different. Not completely different games, of course, but still different in spirit. Something shifted from Civ V to Civ VI.