14 DAY TRIAL // Paradox Interactive has announced that it plans to release its East India Company strategy title on July 28 to the public, both as a digital download and as a boxed videogame. Development on the title has been handled by Finland-based Nitro Games and further details related to the gameplay were revealed at E3.
The core of the game is based upon the real life East India Company, which handled the interest of the British Empire in India and beyond in the XVIII century. Players will have to replicate history and even surpass it, by creating a huge trade-fueled empire protected through democracy, wisdom and, if necessary, naval combat. Players can take direct control of fleets in tactical engagements in order to make sure that their company manages to rule the seas.
Players can win the game in a variety of ways: they can complete all the missions in the campaign, make all the other trading companies go bankrupt or try to conquer the entire territory of the East Indies. If gamers so wish, they can play only focusing on trading, with not a single shot fired in the entire game. They can also choose the road of conquest and take over territories in the name of profit.
Nitro Games is promising a dynamic economy in which the moves made by players and by Artificial Intelligence controlled companies directly affect the prices of all the trade goods in the game. They are also saying that a wide variety of ships will be available, with 90 gun ships of the line being the most powerful.
East India Company is also set to offer multiplayer to gamers, with modes like “Domination” and the ironically named “Last Man Floating” making an appearance.