Other new features include the ability to mine large asteroid belts, new planets that are impossible to colonize without specific technologies, and a bundle of new espionage and diplomatic options. You may now build agents and place them into other empires as well as your own to play the role of counter-spies. The spies can offer up a slew of info on another empire and using these is going to be a huge part of the game.

Dark Avatar, even in this pre-finished state, is proving to be a lot of fun and unless the wheels fall off or the balance isn’t what it needs to be, it looks like a no-brainer for fans of GalCiv II. The game is being distributed as a digital download as well as packaged inside the Galactic Civilization II Gold Edition and it should be ready to go in about a week. - William Abner