FreeCol 0.13.0

FreeCol is one of those open source game projects that seem to be in a perpetual development state. Be that as it may, FreeCol is thoroughly playable. Borrowing almost everything from the 1994 classic Sid Meier's Colonization, FreeCol puts you in control of a settler ship which can become the seed of a new nation or the mistake of the century.

The game of Colonization is a theme spinoff of Civilization. Here, instead of being a fledgling new culture, you will be haunted by the shadow of your home nation. You win in FreeCol by defying Europe, claiming independence and proving it on the field of battle.

The gameplay in FreeCol is very similar to other Civilization games regarding unit movement, natural resource distribution and functionality of cities. However, there are many differences which make FreeCol a different game. The fact that you start with a ship that can traverse the Atlantic and that you can deal in goods that are valued either by your friendly local natives or by mother Europe makes you experience being a part of an extended game world.

Once you begin a game, you will soon realize that your would-be-nation is helpless without further goods, people, and expertise from beyond the ocean. You will have to orient yourself and produce the type of goods that your nation would pay handsomely. Europe is your initial source for tradesmen, horses and, weapons as well as being the engine the grows your colonies. Conversely, local tribes can also reward you goods and training if you provide them with novel things. Slowly, you will need to balance the act of becoming self-sufficient, while further instilling the sentiment of liberty into the hearts of your subjects.

As you play, your European root country will begin tightening its control over you by increasing your taxes and growing its expeditionary force. As a final challenge to a FreeCol game, you will need to stave off your nation's expeditionary forces and prevent it from conquering all of your port cities. This is a daunting task unless you've carefully balanced growth and politics. But you can get extra help in the form of "founding fathers," which give you special abilities, and treasures that can be found by exploring various rumor sites.

Finally, FreeCol is not a game which you can just pick up and play. Learning the way in which population can be trained and used, as well as developing a sense of what you can and should do, can take a while, and you might go through several attempts before getting the hang of playing FreeCol.

Final Thoughts

FreeCol requires a lot of micromanagement, compared to it's higher scope brother, FreeCiv. However, the drama and personal struggles of a settler nation with ties to a sprawling empire can feel much more personal than building a civilization from scratch. As it stands in development FreeCol seems much more enjoyable than FreeCiv, at least when it comes to graphics and general gameplay.