14 DAY TRIAL // Rise of Nations was a truly legendary strategy title when it was released, back in 2013, and Civilization 2 and Alpha Centauri’s Brian Reynolds did a wonderful job leading the title’s development.
The real-time strategy game was inspired by the entirety of human history, allowing players to play through 8 different stages set in various times of our past.
The premise was pretty simple, you started out with a single city in ancient times, then got busy gathering resources and researching new technologies until you had enough bombers and battleships to take over the world.
Since developer Big Huge Games released the game, there have been numerous voices expressing hope that maybe someday a new iteration of the cult classic might become a reality.
Microsoft, the original publisher of Rise of Nations, has announced the next best thing: it acquired the rights to the game and it plans to release a remastered version on Steam, at the end of the month, titled Rise of Nations: Extended Edition.
Rise of Nations: Extended Edition will include the Rise of Nations base game along with the Thrones and Patriots expansion, adding new wonders, nations, governments and campaign missions to the experience.
But what is perhaps the most notable aspect of the re-release is the fact that Microsoft is also planning on delivering some improved visuals, with improved water and textures, as well as full-scene anti-aliasing.
In addition to this, Rise of Nations: Extended Edition will come with full Steamworks integration, including trading cards, achievements, cloud saves and a ranked multiplayer ladder, as well as Twitch integration, making the venerable classic’s relaunch seem like more than just a play on many strategists’ nostalgia.
A secondary thing of note is that Microsoft now owns the rights to the Rise of Nations IP, following original rights holder 38 Studios’ liquidation auction, held in December 2013.
While the hopes for a Kingdoms of Amalur sequel are pretty much dead, since the IP failed to find anyone interested in picking it up, the fact that Microsoft now owns the rights to Rise of Nations and are putting a bit of work into this re-release makes it safe to assume that the company intends to gauge whether there is still enough interest in a sequel to warrant the investment.
Rise of Nations: Extended Edition will be launched in June on Steam, although a hard release date has not been yet disclosed. The page is already up and pre-orders are now open, for those interested in owning a piece of gaming history and maybe contributing to it also becoming a piece of gaming future.
