Developed and published by Blue Byte Software, the DOS version was released in Germany in April 1996, and in the United Kingdom and North America in August.

In October 1997, they released The Settlers II: Gold Edition, containing the original game, plus the Mission CD expansion, along with minor graphical enhancements and gameplay tweaks.

In 2007, the Gold Edition was ported to the Nintendo DS, under the title The Settlers and released in Germany in July, and the United Kingdom and North America in August.

In the single-player campaign included with the Mission CD, the player controls Octavius's great-grandson as he attempts to conquer the entire world.

To this end, they sought fan feedback from the first game and hired Thomas Häuser, who had worked on quality assurance for The Settlers, as the lead designer.

The original game received positive reviews, with critics especially praising the supply and demand gameplay, the complex economic system and the graphics.

The DS remake received negative reviews, with many critics arguing it tarnished the legacy of the original, citing unresponsive controls, a poorly implemented HUD, and, especially, game-breaking bugs.

[19] The basic gameplay revolves around serfs (the titular "settlers") who transport materials, tools and produce, and who populate and perform the requisite task of each building.

[29] For example, the player can control the distribution of goods by selecting how much of a given resource is transported to a given building, under six separate headings; foodstuff, grain, iron, coal, boards and water.

For example, if the player has built a bakery, and the building is still empty despite idle settlers in the headquarters, a rolling pin will need to be manufactured in the toolsmith.

[39] The game begins in the fourth year of the reign of Emperor Travianus Augustus Caesar, as Octavius, a captain in the Roman navy, is sailing his ship, the Tortius, through the dangerous "Sea of Storms" to the "Latonic Provinces".

Setting out to explore, they discover a gateway-like structure with a Latin inscription, "Consiste ut procederas" ("Settle down in order to make progress").

[47] As well as enhancing the graphics and sound effects, and increasing the complexity of the supply and demand-based gameplay, there were also certain aspects of the original with which Blue Byte had been unhappy, and which they hoped to address in the sequel.

[48] It was Blue Byte's desire to improve upon any aspects of the first game which they felt didn't work which led to Thomas Häuser becoming project manager.

In this capacity, he had made a list of possible gameplay improvements for the developers, who told him there was no time to implement his changes, as the game was almost ready for release.

Gameplay improvements include a more strategic battle system, which allows players to send out scouts, and utilise a stationary offensive weapon in the catapult.

Additionally, there is a story-driven single-player campaign, replacing the narratively unconnected missions from the first game, which simply got harder as the player progressed, without any kind of connective plot.

[46] Initially, the team took the concept of a single-player storyline too far, designing maps which placed tight limits on what the player could and couldn't do, and featured time-sensitive scripted incidents.

[47]Despite the team's efforts to make The Settlers II as good as they possibly could, speaking in 2006, Häuser comments that, as with the original game, there were elements with which he was unhappy: "Things like the help system.

[52] However, in April 1998, Blue Byte CEO and producer of The Settlers II, Thomas Hertzler, announced that the company would not be releasing any further titles on Mac, citing poor sales and lack of support from Apple Inc.: "We have recently reviewed the situation and feel that due to the small number of sales for The Settlers II on Macintosh, it would not be beneficial for Blue Byte to continue developing and publishing titles for the Macintosh.

[59] Players are able to swap which screen displayed what, whilst the game is completely touch controlled, with the DS stylus substituting for the mouse on both views.

[55][56][57] Although the idea of doing a straight re-release of the game initially seemed like a straightforward task, the implementation proved somewhat more complicated, due to the different architectures of a PC and a DS.

Her main criticisms concerned the notification system, which she felt wasn't entirely reliable when reporting on attacks, the "imposed arbitrariness" of where woodcutters work, and the absence of online multiplayer mode.

His main criticism was that he felt it was not overly different from the first title, writing "Blue Byte have not fundamentally altered the game in the same way that MicroProse did with Civilization II".

Although he was critical of the "indirect control" over combat, and felt that "diplomacy has not been implemented in the slightest", he praised the graphical improvements over the first game, the complexity of the economic system, and the story-driven single-player campaign, concluding "Settlers 2 is just as suitable for the patient casual player as for strategy experts - there is no more constructive, more relaxing strategy game".

[64] Arcane's Andy Butcher rated it 8 out of 10, writing that "as well as adding new buildings and resources, Settlers 2 also has improved graphics and supports multi-player games.

He also lamented the absence of online multiplayer, concluding that "the game is definitely not for everyone, but for those who think they're up to the challenge of lording over a sprawling empire, the Gold Edition is an excellent deal".

He was also highly critical of the bugs, citing a mission which couldn't be completed until the sound effects were turned off, and another which crashes when the player zooms in or out: "When it functions, The Settlers can be laid-back fun.

[77] The expansion features nine new single-player campaign missions in which the player again controls the Romans, this time under the command of Octavius's great-grandchild, as he attempts to conquer the entire world.

[81][82] In a 2009 review of Build13 for Linux Journal, John Knight wrote: "Widelands is a breath of fresh air in an extremely stale genre, whose roots ironically stem from way back in the past in RTS history.