So Puebloan peoples (or at least their governments) really dislike being lumped together, which sadly prevented their inclusion in Civilization 5. A big Puebloan umbrella is a no-no, we need to pick one (my choice would be the Hohokam with their advanced irrigation systems) or more of them.
I also think it might be easier for the devs to justify creating a separate Puebloan architecture set if they aren’t only a single civ using it (I don’t want a situation where drastically different Puebloan and Woodland/Mississippian styles are Frankensteined together). I think there could be at least three civs in the general Southwest area:
- one of the Puebloan nations
- Athabascans/Dene/Dine (ancestors of Apache and Navajo who invaded/settled the region in the middle to late medieval period)
- someone in California (I forgot the names of peoples there but I remember at least two viable civs)
Edit: so the Californian civs could be the Chumash (with the Tobol boat as a naval UU) or Hokans. I’ve also found some of my earlier posts: