Developed in Germany, the games cast you in the role of one of four competing cultures, as you develop your economy, industry and military across land and sea, in a bid for world domination.
Though our review of Settlers II (September 1996) chided the game for frustrating micro-management and the sheer complexity of the game's numerous options, it did develop a loyal following, particularly in the European market.
Now, a sequel is in the offing, set to be published by Blue Byte Software in the fourth quarter of 1998. Though virtually no features of the new game have been announced (and you can see from these early screen shots that much of the interface is still being worked on), one new feature promised is multi-player support.