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Sometimes it works despite graphics that could charitably be described as accommodating to older computers, it’s thrilling to watch two massive armies smash into each other as you unleash a line of trebuchets on a heavily fortified castle.īut sometimes it just becomes a slog.

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The campaigns often feel more interested in funneling you through big moments than cutting you free to harry and conquer organically.

AGE OF EMPIRES IV RELEASE DATE SERIES

The two campaigns I finished devolved into a series of largely identical castle sieges, a feeling further enhanced by bland, empty maps that were just perfunctory backdrops for clashing armies. Joan of Arc and Genghis Khan were very different people, but AoE IV makes them feel like just two more units. The style is initially compelling, but once you discover that all four campaigns use the same detached narrator, the novelty wears off. They’re presented like playable History Channel documentaries: Each mission is introduced with live-action footage of weapons being prepared and modern cities being traversed by the ghosts of soldiers long gone. The bulk of AoE IV’s single-player offering comes from its 35 campaign missions. There’s still plenty of room for micromanagement, but, at least in theory, AoE IV is emphasizing smart tactics over raw clicking. Cavalry, for example, can hit harder by charging the enemy, while longbowmen can ward off those charges by placing spikes. While it’s possible for players to amass powerful defenses, you’ll also start trading blows much faster than it takes a standard AoE II match to really get rolling.ĪoE IV wants you to take a larger view of the battlefield, whether it’s planning your city’s layout to take advantage of special buildings, hiding your troops in stealth forests to ambush your foe, or firing off unit skills. New and returning victory conditions, including the elimination of key enemy buildings and the control of sacred sites on the map, encourage knockout blows rather than lengthy slogs. Your economy is easy to get rolling and requires far less babysitting than in AoE II, and your soldiers are generally smart enough to behave themselves and make reasonably intelligent decisions.

AGE OF EMPIRES IV RELEASE DATE UPGRADE

Gone too are the medieval vibes of AoE II’s interface AoE IV’s is simplified to the point of blandness-but it is easy to always tell what unit or upgrade you’re purchasing. Players can no longer micromanage their units away from arrow fire or trap raiders with instant walls, and archers can’t defeat the siege engines ostensibly designed to counter them by dancing around their projectiles. Gone are many of AoE II’s most byzantine features. However, much is left unexplained or quickly covered with tool tips-with the lack of a raid defense tutorial being an especially glaring omission.

Its four hefty single-player campaigns cover the years between the Norman Invasion of 1066 and the 1552 culmination of the Russo-Kazan Wars, while five economic and military tutorials offer a multiplayer crash course. The series returns to a medieval setting and launches with eight relatively varied civilizations, compared to the staggering 39 that AoE II has amassed. But Microsoft believes the games will complement each other, filling two different needs in the RTS community.ĪoE IV certainly feels like a modern take on AoE II, albeit with pinches of Total War and the more asymmetrical factions of AoE III, which sees some civilizations manage their growth in fundamentally different ways. It’s so beloved, in fact, that a small but vocal minority of its players have been rooting for AoE IV to fail so as not to split the fan base. Fans have been both clamoring for a new entry and worrying that a new entry won’t do the series justice.Īge of Empires IV feels like an attempt to capitalize on AoE II’s momentum while welcoming new fans to the series-and to a real-time strategy (RTS) genre that’s suffered a dearth of major releases-while sloughing off 22 years of accumulated nuances and oddities that have made AoE II both beloved by fans and intimidating to newcomers. Released in 1999, AoE II is now seeing tournaments with 75,000 viewers and $87,000 prize pools, thanks to a vibrant Twitch and YouTube scene, and the release of 2019’s Definitive Edition. That it even exists is partially because Age of Empires II has enjoyed a massive resurgence. Age of Empires IV is the first mainline Age of Empires game in 16 years, and a wait of that magnitude creates expectations.

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