Rule the New World with Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization

2K Games announced today that Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization is currently in development at 2K’s Firaxis Games development studio. Conceived from the ground up to take advantage of the Civilization IV engine, Colonization will be available this Fall exclusively for the PC.

“We’ve received many requests from fans over the years to bring back Colonization and now seemed to be the perfect time to do that,” said Sid Meier, director of creative development at Firaxis Games.“The Civilization IV engine provided a fantastic foundation for a new Colonization experience and allowed us to create something great for both new players and long time fans of the game.”

In Colonization, players lead one of four European nations on a quest to conquer and rule the New World. Players will be challenged to guide their people from the oppressive motherland, discover the New World, and negotiate, trade and fight with both the natives and other nations as they acquire power and fight for freedom and independence.

As a complete reimagining of the 1994 classic, Colonization is a total conversion of Civilization IV contains all-new graphics and features that add more depth to the franchise along with new features, such as a brand-new interface, improved diplomacy options and the included modding tools.

The best thing about Colonization is that it does not require the original Civilization IV product in order to be played – which should help alleviate some of the shame you might feel conquering the Native Americans in the game.

For a list of game features, hit the jump.

Via: Press Release

Game Features

• Classic Game Design Rebuilt for the Modern Era: Usher forth a new generation of Sid Meier’s Colonization with gameplay built on the award winning Civilization IV engine, providing the beautiful visuals, famously addictive gameplay and endless fun that are synonymous with Sid Meier strategy games.
• Fight the Homeland and Establish a New Nation: Play as the English, Spanish, French or the Dutch and journey to a brave new world in search of freedom from your oppressive homeland
• Improved Diplomacy: Sustain peace and support your followers as you engage in advanced negotiations with natives, other colonists and the hostile homeland — Trade resources, gold and land as you build the foundation for a self sufficient and powerful colony
• Historical Figures Provide Adaptive Gameplay: Acquire founding fathers such as John Smith, Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams who will help guide your nation to freedom based on your gameplay style
• Brand New Interface: Both Civilization IV fans and players new to the series will feel right at home with an interface that Firaxis has built to be accessible and easy to navigate.
• Multiplayer Offers Endless Replay Value: Compete with friends from all over the world via the Internet and Play by Email modes or compete locally via the Hotseat and LAN modes, offering endless ways to conquer the New World.
• Detailed Tutorial Guides Players In Their Conquest: Civilization IV: Colonization will provide an enhanced tutorial that will help both fans of the game and brand new players on their way to ruling the New World.
• Mods and Community Tools: Players will have limitless options for modifying the game to suit their needs. Firaxis will ship the game with modding tools including a map editor using XML and Python.