Master of Orion—the 4X sci-fi classic released for MS-DOS and Mac OS back in 1993—is being revived thanks to World of Tanks publisher Wargaming. Rather than continue the series following the less-than-well-received sequel Master of Orion III, Wargaming is rebooting the franchise and basing its effort entirely on the original Master of Orion.

As well as enhanced visuals, Wargaming is promising a rebuilt user interface, a new score from the composer of the original game, new voiceover by "well-known actors," and new tutorials. Argentine-based NGD Studios, a relative unknown in the development world, is handling the reboot, along with "key members" of the original development team. NGD Studios' output has included several mobile games, as well as a top-down shooter and MMORPG for Windows.

For the uninitiated, Master of Orion was an incredibly deep turn-based sci-fi strategy game. The aim of the game was to lead one of ten races to total domination of the galaxy through diplomacy, conquest, technological development, exploration, and colonisation. The reboot promises to stick the original’s roots, while also gently bringing the gameplay up to date. While Master of Orion isn't the first 4X game (games like Civilization and Reach for the Stars predate it), it is the game that inspired the coining of the term: Alan Emrich, writing for Computer Gaming World, called it an "XXXX" game, or eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate.











This time, there will be 13 races to choose from—including Alkari warriors, Gnolam traders, Meklon robots, and humans—over 100 solar systems with unique stars to explore, and nearly 100 unique technologies and over two dozen types of structures to develop. Sadly, Wargaming isn't giving out platforms and a release dates just yet, but given the series' and Wargaming's background, it's safe to say that a PC version is on the cards.

Wargaming picked up the Master of Orion IP in 2013 following Atari's bankruptcy proceedings. By that point, the IP hadn't been touched for nearly a decade, and many were keen to see the game revived. A few years earlier, developer Stardock expressed an interest in reviving Master of Orion, pitching a sequel to Master of Orion 2. Stardock ended up losing out to Wargaming in the bid for Master of Orion, but did manage to acquire the similarly celebrated Star Control, a reboot of which is in the works.