Caesar returns to PCs

After a seven-year hiatus, the Caesar series of Roman city-building games will be released for the PC once again. VU Games announced today that it will publish the game, currently in development at Tilted Mill Entertainment, in fall of 2006.

Players will once again manage the economic and political life of a Roman city, from the empire's home in Italy to colonies in such exotic locales as Spain, Britain, and Egypt. Caesar IV will feature more-detailed cities and more-intelligent citizens, as well as a redesigned combat system. However, the most notable change since the last game in the series will be the transformation to a full 3D graphics engine.

VU Games has also launched the official Web site for the game, where visitors can check out changes to the series, see in-game screenshots and a trailer, and read the community forum.

The first Caesar game was developed by Impressions Games and was released in 1993. The studio was sold to Sierra, which, in turn, was gobbled up by Vivendi Universal in 1998. Impressions, also the developer of the Pharaoh and Zeus city-building series, was shut down in 2004. Many of the studio's former employees now make up Massachusetts-based Tilted Mill.