Among the additions: cooperative and versus multiplayer, a new "Venetian" setting, new items, new quests, new scenarios, and even a new kind of island, "the Volcano."

Alongside the expansion, publisher Ubisoft will also release Dawn of Discovery: Gold Edition as a digital download the same day, bundling the original game with the add-on. Pricing for the Gold Edition and the expansion itself have yet to be confirmed.

[UPDATE] Impulse now lists a pre-order for Venice at $19.99. [/UPDATE]

As for Europe, where the base game is known as Anno 1404, the Venice expansion is likewise due sometime in February. A breakdown of its contents follows below:

New Venetian setting:
The rich Dawn of Discovery environment is complemented with a new Venetian setting offering new possibilities of interaction:

• Build two new Venetian ship types: the small and big tradesman cog
• Develop secret cabinets, infiltrate your enemies and sabotage their expansion

Multiplayer:
Play Dawn of Discovery online in multiplayer mode:

• Choose to play versus or co-op to defeat the AI by combining your techniques
• Up to 8 players

New Challenges and Quests:

• Up to 60 new items and 300 new quests with two new types: trading race and ship boarding
• Discover and exploit a new type of island, the Volcano island
• New scenarios to face new challenges with new achievements, medals and crests

And should any of this have peaked your interest in Dawn of Discovery / Anno 1404, there's a downloadable demo over on FileShack that packs a few hours of gameplay.