The promised demo for Galactic Civilizations 2: The Dread Lords has now been released.
For those two people who have been living under a rock, on mars, Galactic Civilizations 2: The Dread Lords is Stardock's hugely successful turn based strategy game where you can play any of 10 pre-made races, or make your own custom race. The game uses a custom built 3D game engine, and each Planet (or colony) in the game is its own separate entity (unlike in the first game). Within a few weeks of the games release, several "Editors Choice" awards had already been bestowed upon GalCiv II, and the game had sold out at many retailers including WalMart itself. Adding to the aura surrounding the game was the whole Starforce controversy, which actually got some mainstream press from several large news sites and only served to increase the games awareness in the community. The demo allows 140 turns (about 3 years of game time) and clocks in at about 175 mb.