JoWood and World Forge have announced that Rise of Hellas, a strategy game set in ancient Greece,will be released next month.

From the press release:

You will fight alongside Alexander The Great and bring peace to the city states of ancient Greece. Put together an army and fight with your soldiers for wealth and peace, becoming more successful than Alexander The Great has ever been. But beware: It will not be just your enemies that will envy you!

World Forge is the developer behind last year’s Ancient Wars: Sparta, my pick for worst strategy game of 2007. I expect nothing from Hellas.

There are two things worth noting, though. First, it’s only been announced for a European release, which I suppose makes sense considering it did much better over there. (PC gaming in general is bigger in Europe, and historical RTSes are a huge genre.) Second, it’s a new publisher; Play Logic did the first one but it split with World Forge in a legal dispute last November over who owned the copyright to Ancient Wars. The publisher won, and World Forge was forbidden from using or exploiting their claim to Ancient Wars: Sparta.

So this isn’t Ancient Wars: Macedon, though it might as well be judging from the screenshots and engine description.