Jan 24, 2011 20:01 GMT  ·  By

Paradox Interactive has held its annual convention during the previous week and the publisher, which focuses on strategy titles that occupy clearly defined niches, has announced a number of new games that appeal to the free to play interested crowd and its first MMO.

The massive multiplayer titles will be called Salem and will use just settled New England as the setting, with the player taking on the role of a colonist that has just arrived from the mother country and needs to find a place and a destiny in the New World.

Players will need to farm, craft and create items using alchemy and player versus player conflict will be important to the game, with character death being permanent and the player needing to create another avatar for himself.

The game will use the free-to-play model and will launch at some point during this year.

In addition to Dreamlords, Resurrection Paradox is also working on another free-to-play title, called Gettysburg: Armored Warfare, combining mechanics from first-person shooters and from real-time strategy, with a steampunk-based world where tanks and zeppelins are part of the arsenal of the Confederacy and the Union as they fight in massive battles.

Another free-to-play offering from Paradox is Hearts of Iron: The Card Game, a free-to-play browser based card featuring game that allows players to relieve a simplified version of World War II.

The game will include 120 cards and an editor which will allow each gamer to customize a deck for his unique style.

All the cards include vehicles, events, locations and commanders taken from real life and the game will use the Paradox Connect system, with a launch date set for the second quarter of the year.

Paradox has also announced a new expansion for Mount & Blade, called With Fire and Sword, and a maritime battle strategy, Naval War: Arctic Circle.