Cultures (video game)
Cultures: Discovery of Vinland () is a 2000 real-time strategy and city-building game developed by Funatics Software and published by Phenomedia. It is the first entry in the "Cultures" series. Gameplay. "Cultures" is a real-time strategy and city-building game in which players manage the historical Vinland settlements of the Vikings. This includes constructing roads, handling the settlement's economy and training citizens in jobs such as blacksmithing. The ultimate goal is to gather shards of a crashed meteor that possesses magical properties. Development. "Cultures" was developed by Funatics Software, and was originally released in  Europe during late 2000. Its North American release occurred on July 31, 2001. Reception. Sales. As a city-building title, "Cultures" is part of a genre that tended to see success in European countries but "never seems to catch on in the States", GameSpot's Bruce Geryk wrote in 2001. "PC Games" billed it as a competitor to games such as "The Settlers IV" and "Anno 1503". Retailers pre-purchased 140,000 units of "Cultures" in preparation for its release, and sales expectations were high; Funatics' previous title, "Catan: Die Erste Insel", had become a sleeper hit. In the German market , "Cultures" debuted at #3 on Media Control's computer game sales chart for September 2000. It placed sixth the following month, before falling to 16th in November. Global sales of the game rose to 150,000 units by March 2002. Critical reviews. John Lee reviewed the PC version of the game for "Next Generation", rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "The gameplay may be plentiful, but Viking reputations will suffer." Sequels. "Cultures" was followed by three sequels: "", "" and "". The "Cultures" franchise became Funatics' most successful line, with combined sales above 700,000 units by 2018. Cultures (video game