Dawn of Discovery 'Venice' Expansion Dated

Those looking for more from the historical strategy game Dawn of Discovery (PC) will get their wish on February 25, as publisher Ubisoft has confirmed that is when the downloadable "Venice" expansion will be released in North America.

Among the additions: cooperative and versus multiplayer, a new "Venetian" setting, new items, new quests, new scenarios, and even a new kind of island, "the Volcano."

Plum old regular Dawn of Discovery PC

Alongside the expansion, publisher Ubisoft will also release Dawn of Discovery: Gold Edition as a digital download the same day, bundling the original game with the add-on. Pricing for the Gold Edition and the expansion itself have yet to be confirmed.

[UPDATE] Impulse now lists a pre-order for Venice at $19.99. [/UPDATE]

As for Europe, where the base game is known as Anno 1404, the Venice expansion is likewise due sometime in February. A breakdown of its contents follows below:

New Venetian setting:

The rich Dawn of Discovery environment is complemented with a new Venetian setting offering new possibilities of interaction:

• Build two new Venetian ship types: the small and big tradesman cog

• Develop secret cabinets, infiltrate your enemies and sabotage their expansion

Multiplayer:

Play Dawn of Discovery online in multiplayer mode:

• Choose to play versus or co-op to defeat the AI by combining your techniques

• Up to 8 players

New Challenges and Quests:

• Up to 60 new items and 300 new quests with two new types: trading race and ship boarding

• Discover and exploit a new type of island, the Volcano island

• New scenarios to face new challenges with new achievements, medals and crests

And should any of this have peaked your interest in Dawn of Discovery / Anno 1404, there's a downloadable demo over on FileShack that packs a few hours of gameplay.