Sid Meier's Colonization

Sid Meier's Colonization
DeveloperMicroProse Chapel Hill
PublisherMicroProse
Designers
ProgrammerBrian Reynolds
ArtistBarbara D. Bents
Composers
  • Jeff Briggs
  • Ken Lagace
  • Roland J. Rizzo
  • Allister Brimble (Amiga)
SeriesCivilization
PlatformsMS-DOS, Amiga, Windows, Mac
Release
  • 1994: MS-DOS
  • 1995: Amiga, Mac, Windows 3.1
GenreTurn-based strategy
ModeSingle-player

Sid Meier's Colonization is a turn-based strategy video game by Brian Reynolds and Sid Meier. It was developed at MicroProse's Chapel Hill studio for MS-DOS and published in 1994. The game is themed around European colonization of the New World from 1492–1850. Ports were released in 1995 for Windows 3.1, Amiga, and Mac. American video game publisher Tommo purchased the rights to Colonization in 2015 and digitally published it through their Retroism brand.

Colonization has more developed visual design and handling than Sid Meier's previous game Civilization (1991), but the two are markedly different in terms of gameplay. Instead of building up a nation from scratch, the player manages the cross-Atlantic expansion of an established country. As the colonies become more self-sufficient, their relationship with the colonial power declines from being beneficial to harmful, and to win the player must ultimately declare independence and defeat the Royal Expeditionary Force in battle.