Empire Reborn

I have been a fan of the Age of Empire’s series since it launched in 1997. Having already loved WarCraft, I was obsessed with RTS games. Coming up with different strategies, and building an army of diverse units to counter whatever an opponent might have was like pure adrenaline to me. Mix in my love of history and Age of Empire became the perfect game, being one of the first series to explore the RTS genre from a real-world historical point of view. Having been absent from the scene since 2005 when Age of Empires 3 launched, this revival has been one that many fans have been waiting for with baited breath. Which makes me incredibly happy to say that are wait has not been in vain.

Age of Empires 4 is a massive game, in scope and content. Leaning even more into the historical aspect of the gameplay, the developers at Relic and World’s Edge have crafted a seamless and perfect blend between the gameplay and learning something along the way. The game opens with a very basic tutorial; if you have played these games before everything will seem very familiar. After learning the basics of fighting and collecting players are presented with the main menu. From there they are free to jump into multiplayer matches (I tried to find one for the review but was unable to) skirmishes, or the campaign; where Age of Empires 4 and history really meet.

MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: PC
Price I’d Pay: $59.99

Instead of taking one civilization on an epic journey, the campaign focuses on various civilizations from history at their turning points where they become worthy of history. Starting with The Normans in 1066 as they attempt to over throw the King of England and band England under one rule. From there The Mongol Empire, The Rise of Moscow and The Hundred Years War are all told in an epic and grand fashion. You see, AoE 4 includes 4K footage of the actual battlefields now, and they superimpose the CGI army on them and play out various scenes while the velvet voiced narrator teaches us about what’s going on. The sweeping and epic soundtrack and the 4K cuts of maps and different things; it’s the best of those shows on Discovery. My description isn’t doing it justice, seriously the cutscenes are hands down the best I’ve seen in years; dethroning my personal king of cutscenes: Blizzard Entertainment.

But as they say; the devil is in the details so it’s the gameplay that brings this amazing package together. Playing more like the beloved Age of Empires 2; AoE 4 is an RTS fan’s dream. Having 8 different civilizations to choose from ranging from the usual English, Chinese and French to the new kids on the block the Abbasid Dynasty and Delhi Sultanate there is something for everyone. Smartly, each comes with a difficulty level, ranging from 1 to 3 stars which is going to aid newcomers to series. And even a veteran of the series such as myself found it helpful; and I noticed a difference between the English and the Holy Roman Empire. Each of the civilizations have pros and cons, while some may give bonus to the materials, some may offer faster training units. All of the civilizations have units that are specific to just them, they will be available usually from upgrading your Age.

Each match will begin in the Dark Age where the civilization’s will begin their march toward dominance. Players will have access to the basic buildings such as farms, barracks and the like. But its really here that AoE 4 begins to deviate from the expected and in my opinion surpass it’s forebearers by light years. While it’s true the game has the typical 4 ages; the big difference is how and why each nation would want to progress. Veterans know that the old games were based on an upgrade system; and by upgrading to the next age players could produce harder hitting units. In essence it was a race to see who could out progress the other and then crush them. Well in AoE 4 not every nation reaches those goals the same way. So, while the English, who are the easiest and the most familiar nation playstyle wise will in fact follow that same pattern from older games, ones like the Rus, a civilization of hunters. As such they have access to unique technology in each age; and if a player is going after a navel approach then staying in the Feudal Age would be beneficially due to the buff on ships.

Perhaps one needs to take the fight to the land, well the Warrior Monks that they gain access to in the Castle Age can convert enemy units, stealing the army away from the opponent. This was where I found AoE 4 truly shining, instead of rushing through the ages as in past games the player has to consider if their opponent stopped at the second age then it may cause the player to have to rethink their strategy on the fly. That level of strategic thinking is just the thing I had been missing from my gaming life and I didn’t even realize it. Not to mention there are other things to think about, like the fact the Mongals have a mobile base; and get access to cavalry early. I haven’t quite gotten the hang of their play style but I can already tell its extremely aggressive and a lot of fun to play.

If you can’t tell, I really loved Age of Empires 4. If I had to complain it would be that while I love the depth and difference in each civilization; I would like to see more added. Perhaps one with an African/Egyptian flair. And that I wasn’t able to try out the multiplayer, but it does have a nice quick match system in place where the player can choose to queue up for multiple types of matches at a time. As I said above Age of Empires 4 is the perfect mix of old and new and I really think the legions of fans who’ve been waiting ever so patiently for 16 years for a new entry in this storied franchise will find much to love here.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.