Big Huge Games resurrected, returns to strategy genre

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning developer Big Huge Games had been resurrected by two of its original founders, and is already back at work on what it knows best.

Before it co-developed Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning and was subsequently shuttered in the fall of Curt Schilling's 38 Studios, Big Huge Games was known for Rise of Nations, and its core founding team were strategy veterans.

Two of those founders, Brian Reynolds and Tim Train, have reacquired the rights to the name for their new studio. According to GameInformer, the new Big Huge Games has partnered with Nexon to produce DomiNations, a new strategy title.

Said to cover "the sweep of human history", DomiNations has players ruling a kingdom as it progresses through the ages. Players choose one faction for the rest of their careers, and will build wonders, and make technology choices.

If it sounds a little like Civilization, don't get your back up - Reynolds also co-founded Firaxis. The game also bears some similarities to mobile hit Clash of Clans, apparently.

"We think of it as this developing new genre, and we have certainly taken some inspiration, but we don’t think anyone has done a ‘sweep of human history’ game in that genre yet,” Reynolds said.

The free-to-play title is expected on Android and iOS devices in 2015, and will support microtransactions to speed up build times. At launch, it will cover a period of history from very early human stirrings to the 1880's, with later eras to be added post-launch.

Big Huge Games was independent for the first eight years of its existence, before being purchased by THQ and later sold to 38 Studios. The majority of the team joined Epic Games after 38 Studios was shuttered, but the new developer, Impossible Studios, didn't work out. Some former Big Huge Game staffers later joined BioWare to work on Mass Effect.