Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
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Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization is the third offering in the award winning Civilization IV series. A re-imagining of the classic Colonization game Sid Meier created in 1994, Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization is a total conversion of the Civilization IV engine into a game experience in which players will lead a European...
Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization is a strategy, turn-based strategy and turn-based game
developed by Firaxis Games
and published by 2K.
Released on September 23rd 2008 is available on Windows and MacOS
in 5 languages: English, French, German, Spanish - Spain and Italian.
It has received 1,375 reviews of which 1,192 were positive and 183 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.3 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 19.99€ on Steam, but you can find it for 3.85€ on Instant Gaming.
The Steam community has classified Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization through various videos and screenshots.
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Supported OS: Windows® 2000/XP/Vista
- Processor: 1.2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent
- Memory: 512 MB RAM
- Video: DirectX 9.0c-compatible 64 MB video card with Shader 1.1 Support or better
- DirectX® Version: Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization DirectX(r) version (included on install)
- Sound: DirectX 9.0 compliant sound card
- Hard Drive: 900 MB
MacOS
Recommended:
- OS: Mac OS X 10.5.8, 10.6.1
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU
- CPU Speed: 2.4 GHz
- Memory: 2 GB RAM
- Hard Disk Space: 1 GB free disk space
- Video Card: (ATI): Radeon X1600 Video Card (NVidia): GeForce FX 8600
- Video Memory: (VRam): 512 MB
- Multiplayer: Internet (TCP/IP) and LAN (TCP/IP) play supported. Internet play requires broadband connection.
- Media Required: DVD-ROM Drive
- Peripherals: Macintosh mouse and keyboard
- Supported Chipsets: ATI RADEON X1600, X1900, 2400, 2600, 3870 NVIDIA GEFORCE 7300, 7600, 8600, 8800, 9400, 9600, GT 120
- NOTICE: Apple original CPU’s only, CPU upgrades not supported.
- NOTICE: Intel integrated video chipsets are not supported.
- NOTICE: This game is not supported on volumes formatted as Mac OS Extended (Case Sensitive)
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
old but good game, also download the mod WeThePeople voor a nice colonization experience~!
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Played this game for the first time in 2025, and it doesn't look too shabby. It works flawlessly on a pc built in 2024 with Windows 11. The compressed video from the cut-scenes might look a bit dated, but the gameplay and gui is fine. But calling it a seperate game, is a bit of a stretch. It feels more like a scenario in Civ IV, than a standalone game. Much of the sounds and music is straight out of Civ IV. I wish they had made a remake of the original Colonization soundtrack from the Amiga, instead of the generic classical music though. As the original music really got you immersed. Another thing I missed from the first Colonization game, is the New World default map. This was the entire Americas, not just the Caribbean as it is in the Civ IV: Col. I guess they wanted it to be more timeline-correct, than trying to colonize the entire continent. But all in all it seems like a well made scenario. There's a bit of automation to help out moving goods between settlements and the old world. The units types are few, but they have the experience system from Civ IV to add a bit strategy and variation to your armies. Note: You must adjust your expectations for this game, as it is not Civ. Your goal is to fight for independence, not conquer the new world. And the Royal Expedition Force might surprise you the first time, feeling overwhelming. But you can easily prepare, and you also have a bonus to your troops. The AI is not very smart, at least not on the easier difficulties. It attacked my settlement first, losing all its troops. Then bombarded the settlement with the ships. It had two cannons left, which it proceeded to send to two other settlements and was easliy picked off. Was it worth buying? Yes. Will I play this more? Maybe one time more trying a different strategy, but not much more.
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Poor imitation of a worthy concept The original version is among my favourite games, but the remake honestly leaves much to be desired. It's incomprehensible even, as most of the changes remove major strategic elements and make the game look way more boring than it actually is! Had to dust off the DOS original and give it a go to see how many things have been left out for no good reason. That one had a great gameplay loop, true to Sid's vision: [quote=Sid Meier]A good game is a series of interesting decisions. We are talking about an over 30 years old game, how cool is that? Let's see what's been left out and how it clashes with this original idea. Original Remake You can choose which colonist you'd like from the three available when an immigrant wants to come. The colonist is picked randomly. You may hurry the one you want, just like in the original. The Fountain of Youth found in ruins allows you to bring in loads of colonists! No Fountain of Youth (nor Cibola for that matter) present :( Education needs teachers , who'll train available colonists. The cost of education stays consistent, but there's a period of slower production while the teacher is occupied. Education needs students , who'll learn from an available specialist with higher tiers costing gold. Education costs quickly increase permanently with each colonist trained! No borders; essentially anyone can move anywhere and attack whenever they wish to. You need a minimal defensive force even in times of peace. All-or-nothing diplomacy with no middle ground between brutal genocidal wars and total mind-numbing boredom. The crazy native AI can end your game instantly if they have a bad day... or they'll let you envelop them and pass the peace pipe as they disappear into the void with no trace. Boycotted goods can be paid off at a huge expense, allowing them to be traded again. Boycotted goods can never be traded for again! There isn't even Jakob Fugger to save your skin! Founding Fathers follow a relatively even arch. Majority of them is quite useful with relevant bonuses for their price and the stage they come in. There are only bells used for earning them, produced at town halls only. Everything about the Founding Fathers is all over the place! Now you have to collect multiple points that are given automatically for various actions with no feedback given. You also need bells to unlock a Father. It burns both of your points. Most bonuses also either come too late or are absolutely useless. Confusing and not very helpful at all! You can abandon settlements when the last colonist leaves (except after building a stockade for some reason). No way to abandon a settlement, unless it's razed by others. Captured settlements can be looted and the citizens taken away. If not needed, they can often be abandoned. You cannot examine captured settlements before deciding to capture or raze them. Capturing them permanently adds them to your empire. Pioneers use up tools and need to be refilled when they run out. Pioneers build improvements for cash (no self-sufficiency) and only need to be equipped once. Silver mines eventually run out of ore, forcing you to diversify. Silver mines never run out of ore and give a reliable source of income all game. You can haggle with natives, earning higher prices at the chance of risking angering them. No haggling. If you cannot pay up completely, you won't be sold anything. They'll also often give you offers that barely make you break even, making trading with natives a bit of a moot. Native settlements cannot be entered (you can speak with them, but cannot physically enter) and they'll block your path. Native settlements also cannot be traded with via ships, unless you've met them previously on land. Native settlements can be entered by any unit and can be used to "harbor" your ships, especially privateers. Horses can be bred automatically as long as you have at least 2 of them and enough food. No ranchers exist. Horses only can be bred at stables and it is not done automatically. New expert ranchers for this profession. Experienced troops become veterans, greatly increasing their combat abilities all around. During the revolutionary war, veterans can become professional colonial troops, further increasing their strength (and giving them a dapper look!) Experienced troops receive really weak promotions (inherited from Civ 4), but do not become veterans. Wounded units "demote", dragoons become soldiers, soldiers become colonists that need to be equipped again before they can fight. Losing units die and their equipment is lost for good. The King's forces become more vulnerable in nature, receiving negative defense bonuses, encouraging you to bait them into woods or mountains. This shakes up late game, where previously dangerous terrain becomes a deathtrap for your enemies. The King's forces receive no bonuses or maluses from terrain at all. You have to go toe-to-toe with them, so its a numbers' game. Plus many more minor changes not mentioned here. Too many to list... I could go on about how do they upset the gameplay, but veterans can figure it out. All these little changes up to something that results in a vastly different game from the original vision. Player agency is lost and previously rewarding mechanics are gone. Still, there are some positive changes though: great graphics for its age, better automation, support for modern OSes and modding... Most of the gameplay is similar to the original, but all these pointless changes make the concept look way worse for newcomers than it's actually is. Baffling. Why would I recommend it then? Well, it's an overused trope, but mods do solve lots of these issues I mentioned... hear me out: Civ 4's engine is easy to mod and as the source code for the game has been essentially released to us, numerous gameplay improvements have been added by us fans over the years. First with " The Authentic Colonization " mod laying down the essentials, then came " Religion and Revolution " greatly expanding it, then building upon of all its ancestors here's the " [url=forums.civfanatics.com/threads/we-the-people-mod-overview.636758]We the People ", each adding new features while staying true to the original vision of the game. Bit bloated, still an incredible effort put in by the fans. I even made my own submod for RaR back then, diving deep into the XML jungles, I liked the experience that much! Even if you are not very much into modding, this game is still a brilliant concept that's unlikely to be ever touched again. It's certainly worth taking a look just for the fact that it turns everything you've known about 4X games to its head and still manages to give you a cohesive experience with some edutainment sprinkled in. https://store.steampowered.com/app/327400/Sid_Meiers_Colonization_Classic Give the original DOS one a try first if you are captivated by the idea. Please do. The vanilla version of the remake is quite poor. Only buy it if you plan on trying a total conversion mod and wish to see this concept expanded upon. A unique 4X experience, but certainly not for everyone. Also you might be interested in [url=freecol.org]FreeCol as an alternative take on this classic game. Edit: I finished a whole vanilla game; way worse than I remembered. Like Half Life: Source. Same game as HL1, but so off... still keeping the recommended rating though.
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For me the best Colonization is still the original DOS game. But I can understand why people will not play a 640x480 game on a 42" screen .. . ^^ This version here doesnt´t reach the strategic depth of the original, bur if you give the T.A.C. mod a try you´ll get what I´m talking about. https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/mod-the-authentic-colonization-tac.440319/ Nearly the original regarding the strategy and the CIV IV graphics which still is ok for today. Highly recommended for all the oldies like me who loved the 1994 Micropose original.
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First off, the base game is boring and frustrating to play. With the mod "We The People" it is very fun. This game kind of feels like a prequel to Oregon Trail.
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Last Updates| Steam data | 08 April 2025 06:01 |
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| SteamSpy data | 11 April 2025 02:57 |
| Steam price | 16 April 2025 12:45 |
| Steam reviews | 14 April 2025 10:00 |
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Online players
241
Developer
Firaxis Games
Publisher
2K
Release
23 Sep 2008
Platforms
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