Age of empire 4 gameplay: Age of Empires 4 ultimate guide: Release date, gameplay, and everything you need to know — Mitspielen — Vampire Live in München

Age of Empires 4 ultimate guide: Release date, gameplay, and everything you need to know

Age of Empires IV Gameplay Reveal
(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

Microsoft’s return to beloved PC gaming titles includes Age of Empires 4, a revival of one of the best real-time strategy (RTS) series ever produced. While the first three Age of Empires games have been remade and re-released as Definitive Editions, Age of Empires 4 is a new look at the RTS formula while still holding true to its roots. Here’s everything you need to know about Age of Empires 4.

Age of Empires 4

Now available!

Age of Empires 4 builds greatly on the series’ reputation that began in 1997. If you’re a fan of RTS games, world history, or both, this should be an easy recommendation. With dozens of hours of campaign play, eight unique civilizations, hours of live docu-style video segments, and a ton of maps for skirmishes, there’s no shortage of well-polished content to enjoy. Get it on its own or enjoy it through a subscription to PC Game Pass.

What’s new with Age of Empires 4?

(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

It was announced today during the Age of Empires anniversary broadcast that Age of Empires 4 is coming to Xbox in 2023. This announcement comes alongside the reveal that Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition is also coming to Xbox at a sooner date on January 31, 2023.

Details about the Age 4 console release are still sparse, but we do know a few things about the Age 2: DE version. A new tutorial has been created to help players adjust to controller inputs, though keyboard and mouse support will be included. There will also be a new in-game AI that can help with micromanagement. And, perhaps most exciting, crossplay will be available between Xbox and PC.

Age of Empires 4 Anniversary Edition and new civs

The Age of Empires 4 team announced at Gamescom 2022 that the game is getting two new civilizations on October 25, coinciding with the one-year Age 4 anniversary and the overall series’ 25-year anniversary. The Ottomans and Malians civilizations will be added to the game for free for all players to enjoy as part of the Age of Empires 4 Anniversary Edition.

The West-African Malians have a focus on economic strength with mining and gold investments, while the Ottomans bring the most devastating siege equipment yet to the battlefield with the Great Bombard siege unit. The Anniversary Update is expected to also include some new maps, as well as achievements and masteries for the new civilizations.

(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

Red Bull Wololo: Legacy tournament

(Image credit: Red Bull)

Red Bull and the Age of Empires team announced the return of the Red Bull Wololo: Legacy tournament, set to run October 21-30, 2022. The tournament will include competition across Age of Empires: Definitive Edition, Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition, and Age of Empires 4 titles. This tournament coincides with the Age of Empires 4 one-year anniversary and the 25-year anniversary of the series.

The tournament, in which games are played in a 1 vs. 1 fashion, is open to anyone who can make it through qualifiers running from June until September 2022. The same location that hosted the 2021 tournament, Castle Heidelberg in Germany, is the setting for the 2022 rerun.

Age of Empires 4 season one and two PUP

(Image credit: Source: Xbox Game Studios)

The Age of Empires 4 initial Public Update Preview (PUP) began on March 10 and continued until March 25, 2022 after a mid-run extension. This came on the heels of the Age of Empires 4 2022 roadmap reveal, which laid out Season One and Season Two plans.

Age of Empires 4 Season One, which was originally called the Spring Update, brought a beta version of the anticipated Content Editor plus mod support. This allows players to create everything from their own maps and scenarios to completely new experiences using the game’s engine.

Season One also kicked off the first Ranked Ladder where players go head-to-head with others at a similar skill level. There are six divisions to move through, each with three tiers. Rewards are available for players who participate and rank up during the six-week season.

A number of quality-of-life improvements were also included. Global build queue and the ability to «Patrol Move» units were introduced, and you can now view the entire map following a match. There’s a new Art of War to test your skills, and you can play MegaRandom maps.

Age of Empires 4 at Gamescom 2021

World’s Edge Creative Director Adam Isgreen introduced a deeper look at the game’s «Hands-on history» segments during the Xbox games showcase at Gamescom 2021. These live-action video segments, produced with help from Lion TV, are interspersed throughout the game’s campaign as a way for people to better relate to the history they’re playing. This is all part of the «humanized history» angle that the developers are attempting.

Isgreen mentioned that including this type of content in the game has been «insanely nerve-wracking,» though reception has been positive so far. You can take a look at the segment about trebuchets (embedded above) yourself; expect plenty more videos in the game, including those about castle building, falconing, horse taming, and even Mongolian instrumentation.

On Opening Night Live at Gamescom 2021 we were also treated to some new gameplay and a reveal of the final two civilizations expected at launch: Rus and Holy Roman Empire.

Age of Empires 4 at E3 2021

(Image credit: Source: Microsoft)

It was revealed at E3 2021 that Age of Empires 4 would release Oct. 28, 2021. This firmed up plans to release the game «Fall 2021,» which was previously the closest time frame we knew about. It was also revealed that mod support is expected «early 2022.»

Perhaps more exciting and relevant for a lot of PC gamers was a list of Age of Empires 4 minimum system requirements on the game’s Steam product page. An Intel Core i5-6300U CPU, 8GB of RAM, and Intel HD 520 integrated graphics are listed.

In an extended Xbox Showcase segment, Adam Isgreen and Emma Bridle of World’s Edge revealed further details about the game; you can check out the video above for the full seven-minute segment.

While we saw two new civilizations in the E3 trailer — Abbasid Dynasty and French — we received more information during this extended segment. The Abbasid Dynasty has a unique building called the «House of Wisdom» which can be upgraded throughout the game with different buffs that will aid economy and military. Their unique camel units also buff allied units around them, which developers hope will move players to include camels in all armies.

The French are more economy-based (great for a pocket boomer), with a unique landmark called the «House of Commerce.» Knights and Lancers are the focus for the French, and they’re directly involved in the «Hundred Years War» campaign centered around Joan of Arc.

We got a closer look at naval warfare in the extended showcase, with some sea-to-sea and sea-to-land fighting. Isgreen mentioned that player feedback definitely helped drive home the point that naval warfare is a key part of the Age series.

Age of Empires 4 fan preview event

The April 10, 2021, Age of Empires fan preview event gave us a whole lot of new information about Age of Empires 4. The event highlighted the (then) four known civilizations, we got more details about the campaigns, there was a closer look at art direction and gameplay, and there was a reveal of naval warfare.

Six members from the dev team took time behind closed doors following an advance viewing of the fan preview for an extended Q&A period to answer our burning questions. We were able to wring out a lot of information about the game from this session, which is detailed below.

I also sat down with World’s Edge Senior Executive Producer Michael Mann, Relic Entertainment Game Director Quinn Duffy, and Relic Entertainment Art Director Zach Schläppi for a more intimate Age of Empires 4 developer interview about how the game fits into the series and what we can expect at launch.

Age of Empires 4 release date

Age of Empires 4 is now available everywhere! The game requires about 50GB of space on your PC, though this will grow with updates and DLC. You can pick up the game through the Microsoft Store, Steam, or with a subscription to PC Game Pass.

If you’re new to the game, we have a couple of beginner’s guides to share. Our Age of Empires 4 civilization guide lays out what to expect from each of the eight playable civs, while our Age of Empires 4 tips and tricks are more generalized and will hopefully help you get your first win.

What is Age of Empires 4?

If you ask just about any longtime RTS fan what games rank at the top of the list, the Age of Empires series is likely what comes to mind. The first entry, released in 1997, focused on human history from the Stone Age to the Iron Age, while the second entry focused more heavily on the Middle Ages. Age of Empires 3, released nearly 15 years ago, moved ahead in time to the colonization of the Americas.

Playing the games involves micro- and macro-management of workers and military units belonging to historic civilizations. You must grow a small starting population, collect resources, advance through the ages, and defend against invaders while also planning your attacks. You can enjoy lengthy campaigns, skirmishes against AI, or multiplayer battles while alone or teamed up with friends. The games are relatively easy to pick up, but the best players employ in-depth strategies to get a slight edge on the competition.

(Image credit: Source: Microsoft)

Age of Empires 4 is a revival of the series that hopes to capture the old magic while offering something new to veterans and newcomers alike. As mentioned by Relic Entertainment Game Director Quinn Duffy, this is «a spiritual successor to Age of Empires 2.» The game spans medieval generations just like the second game, only on a larger scale. Campaigns aim to humanize our history through storytelling, not just through gameplay, but also through live action documentary-style cutscenes and narration.

The team wanted to push the borders of the Age series without stepping out of its bounds. There has been much work done with community members to ensure the game feels like it was built for Age players when it launches. Regular play sessions with a community council made up of series veterans has helped steer the game in the right direction.

Many RTS fans are also returning to Age of Empires thanks to celebrated Definitive Edition remasters that bring updated graphics, reworked mechanics, and overhauled campaigns. Be sure to check out our Age of Empires: Definitive Edition review, our Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition review, and our Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition review for some extra hype.

Who is developing Age of Empires 4?

(Image credit: Source: Microsoft)

The first three Age of Empires games (as well as other titles, like Halo Wars) were developed by Ensemble Studios, a team based in Dallas, Texas. After Ensemble was closed down in 2009 following the release of Age of Empires 3, it didn’t look good for a fourth title. The Age of Empires series was left to the community, which did its best to keep the games enjoyable and populated.

Thankfully, an internal development studio at Microsoft called «World’s Edge» — lead by Shannon Loftis — has been overseeing new Age content, including remasters of the first three games with help from third-party developers like Tantalus, Wicked Witch, and Forgotten Empires. In an interview with Windows Central’s Matt Brown, Loftis clarified that Age of Empires no longer belongs to one studio:

«Age isn’t ours anymore. We’re stewards, it belongs to the community, and it belongs to the globe,» said Loftis. «There’s no world in which a Redmond-centric game development studio is going to get the right global set of voices in. […] We have contracts; you know about three of our partners, Relic, Tantalus, and Forgotten Empires. We have others that we’re not talking about yet. But it is genuinely a global development team. All the teams work together to share assets, share ideas, and the legacy teams are working with Relic.»

Age of Empires 4 has been in development alongside the Definitive Edition remasters, with Relic Entertainment taking the lead on the latest entry in the series. According to World’s Edge Creative Director Adam Isgreen, this has helped with efforts to keep Age of Empires 4 feeling true to its roots while also standing out:

«We’ve learned so much with all of the launches. It’s been a real growing experience, but it’s unfair to say that it’s one way. We’ve learned things in the development of Age of Empires IV that we can even put into Age II. For example, the network technology behind the scenes is actually from Relic. All of the Definitive Edition games are now going to have Relic’s modern networking backend. […] It’s this great two-way conversation between the old games and the new one, about what we’re going to share and how we’re going to grow the games.»

Age of Empires 4 is built with Relic Entertainment’s proprietary engine that has been used in previous games, now in its fourth version. It has undergone a substantial overhaul over the course of the game’s development.

What is gameplay like in Age of Empires 4?

Our first glimpse of Age of Empires 4 gameplay was at X019. This quick glimpse included Pre-Alpha gameplay, but there were plenty of small details to take in. Adam Isgreen had this to say:

«Everything in that trailer is real; everything we show will be in the final game. We have wall combat working. That falcon is real, that’s gameplay; it’s a scout unit. But all that’s real, genuine gameplay, and nothing we will show won’t be in the game. […] That is why we waited so long, and what we’ll continue doing with Age going forward.»

Age of Empires 4 is a modernized version of the RTS that still feels like an Age game. Your villagers must collect wood, food, gold, and stone. There is still the rock, paper, scissors setup between troops that provides counters for ranged, mounted, and foot units. You’ll still need to research technology that benefits your civilization, and you’ll still need to advance your civilization through Dark Age, Feudal Age, Castle Age, and Imperial Age.

The Dark Age consists of herding animals, hunting deer (which looks like it can now be accomplished by a scout), building houses, collecting berries next to a mill, planting farms, and building palisade walls to defend against early aggression. Scouts look out for resources, relics, and the enemy. Villagers can still defend themselves, apparently with ranged or close-quarters attacks. And it looks as though monasteries will be a Dark Age building.

(Image credit: Source: Microsoft)

The Feudal Age sees stone and gold mining, further domestication of herdable animals (potentially akin to the renewable feature in Age 3), holy site capturing (on part of the Mongols), tower defense, razing of building with a new fire feature, trading, tax collection (on part of the Chinese), and further confrontations with the enemy.

Castle Age moves the game into heavy stone walls, siege equipment, massive armies, and thoughtful city defense. Castles are back and seem to be just as powerful as in previous games. And finally, Imperial Age sees the most powerful units of the game go head to head. Roads between buildings are paved, gunpowder units are present, and enormous armies lay siege to cities. Wonders make a return, allowing for a different sort of victory. Trebuchets take time to set up but do massive damage, and monks can still convert enemy units.

Despite a lot of familiar elements, Age of Empires 4 isn’t attempting to rest on the success of Age 2. It has plenty of new features to behold. Military units can now be assigned atop stone walls, and enemies can capture ramparts to rain fire down on a defending city. Pikemen can brace against cavalry charges, archers can create temporary fortifications, monks can convert entire areas of the battlefield, and units can hide in heavily forested areas to ambush enemies, whispering to each other while hidden. There won’t be hero units, but there will be support units that can bolster troops in battle. We saw this in the trailer with the Mongol Khan.

Battles will still consist of up to 1,600 units on a multiplayer map, with eight players each having a population cap of 200. Siege will play an important role in the game, allowing slower or defensive players a chance to hold out while they boom an economy. Aggression will almost always be beneficial, however, and the addition of a fire mechanic should get turtled players moving. This is, after all, a game about warfare.

(Image credit: Source: Microsoft)

Naval combat has made a return in Age of Empires 4. Developers have stated that they know how important it is to the fanbase, and we saw some glimpses of it during E3 2021.

Pathfinding, an RTS game’s chief concern, has been overhauled. Instead of the traditional move from point A to point B in the shortest way possible, Age of Empires 4 should introduce a far more realistic movement. Adam Isgreen explains:

«If you know real-time strategy games, behind the scenes, it’s been run by a find path solution called A* for a billion years, pretty much since its invention, with a few exceptions here and there. One of our big changes is moving to a more organic, more modern solution for find-path, which is called flow-field.»

Age-up mechanics — which apply each time you want to move onto the next age — have been tweaked and resemble more Age of Empires 3 than 2. Each civilization has a landmark choice to make when aging up, which will influence the playstyle through the rest of the game. For example, if you’re being rushed by an enemy early, you might want to choose a military upgrade on your move to the Feudal Age to defend your city.

What civilizations are in Age of Empires 4?

(Image credit: Source: Microsoft)

There are eight playable civilizations in Age of Empires 4, including English, Chinese, Delhi Sultanate, Mongols, French, Abbasid Dynasty, Holy Roman Empire, and Rus. More civs are expected in the future, with the Malians and Ottomans coming with the Age of Empires 4 Anniversary Update.

There is more of a focus on diversity and asymmetrical balancing in Age of Empires 4. There are still generic units and there’s still the triangle between pikemen, cavalry, and archers. But civs will differ far more than in previous games. For example, Mongols can pack up their entire city and move on to the next spot. They employ the stone resource differently owing to their nomadic nature. And while some civs will push the boundaries of the Age feel, others — like the English — will play a lot like Britons in Age of Empires 2. This is intentional and will give returning players a sense of familiarity.

Civilizations all have a sense of union between present and past, and it’s the civs that left a lasting impression on our world that have made it into the game. Not only will gameplay mechanics change between civs, but so will the graphics and artistic decisions. There is far more detail in Age 4 than in any other Age game, and it’s all historically influenced.

What are graphics like in Age of Empires 4?

(Image credit: Source: Microsoft)

Age of Empires 4 graphics are a bit of a departure from previous Age games, leaning more on playability than ever before. Art Director Zach Schläppi explained that the cognitive load had to be balanced carefully. There was a need to give players a «what they see is what they get» experience from the game. Passive upgrades are all visually represented in-game, and armor and weapon upgrades are visual to ease accessibility. Weapons are larger, colors are distinct, and buildings are easily identifiable thanks to a similar footprint across civs.

Individual units don’t need a ton of detail and so appear a bit more cartoonish, especially set against the incredibly detailed landscape with photo-realistic lighting. This game is beautiful, and it’s expected that it won’t falter on low-end machines.

As for individual civilization art, the through line of history first is still present. Textures change through the ages. Rooflines of buildings are altered, and as you progress through the ages you begin to see more intricate and ornate architecture. Even the lighting changes as you age up; the Dark Age is dank and gloomy and grim, with more light and saturation appearing as you approach the Renaissance.

Does Age of Empires 4 have a campaign?

(Image credit: Source: Microsoft)

Yes, Age of Empires 4 features a campaign with a focus on improved and humanized historical accuracy. Whereas a lot of civilization meta in previous Age games played somewhat similarly, there’s now a more significant emphasis on separating cultures. This is helped along by a new method of ensuring historical accuracy. Adam Isgreen explains:

«We went to Mongolia, learned about Mongols. We didn’t go to a professor here in London or someone back in the States. We went to the source to learn how those cultures operated because respecting them and doing them justice is so important.»

At launch there are four playable campaigns set in the Middle Ages. The Age 4 team took Age 2’s history and blew it up to a much larger scale. Campaigns are now divided into chapters spanning multiple generations, with hours upon hours of playtime.

(Image credit: Source: Microsoft)

In order to bridge the gap between game campaign missions and real-life history, Age of Empires 4 attempts to create a sort of interactive documentary. Film crews and documentarians collected footage on location in the places the campaigns visit. This footage is mixed with narration and a golden overlay that shows how these areas looked in the past and where your units would be standing if they were transported to the present. It’s an intriguing way to blend past and present, and with 28 of these historical segments unlockable through the game, it’s sure to teach a whole new generation of kids.

Who is composing the Age of Empires 4 soundtrack?

Music in the Age of Empires games has traditionally been epic, and many longtime fans of the series can hum the different tracks without any thought. Age of Empires 4 continues this tradition, bringing on composer Mikolai Stroinski to handle the music. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Stroinski composed the music for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

Each civilization has its own theme that expands as the player ages up. Units on the field speak appropriate languages that also evolve as you progress. For example, you won’t understand the English units in the Dark Age, but by the Imperial Age the words spoken will be much closer to the modern tongue.

What about community modding?

Mods are a huge part of the Age of Empires world, and many people still play modded versions of the old games instead of moving to the new Definitive Editions. Speaking with PCGamesN, Adam Isgreen agrees:

«I will tell you that one of the pillars of all of the Age of Empires games is mods and allowing people access to tools that allow them to build great content. We all believe that’s one of the reasons Age has lasted as long as it has — because the community has been able to support the game. We have no intention of stopping now with Age IV. It is an integral, huge part of Age IV and is showcased more heavily in some ways than any previous Age game.»

Age of Empires 4 mod support was added through the Content Editor, the tool that lets you create new content. You can create new handcrafted or generated maps, modify individual unit stats, and come up with your own game modes.

Age of Empires 4 system requirements

We now know some minimum PC system requirements for Age of Empires 4. The game’s Steam page includes an Intel Core i5-6300U CPU, 8GB of RAM, and integrated Intel HD 520 graphics.

If you’re interested in upgrading, be sure to have a look at our collection of the best graphics cards for some great options.

Is Age of Empires 4 coming to console?

Our sources now suggest that Age of Empires 4 is coming to consoles. A reveal in 2022 is likely, and there may even be a launch date later this year. It will definitely be on Xbox, but whether it’s also coming to competing consoles remains to be seen.

Does Age of Empires 4 include microtransactions?

No, Age of Empires 4 does not include microtransactions. In an interview with PCGamesN, Adam Isgreen explained that expansions and DLC «will be explored» while microtransactions are left off the table.

Age of Empires 4

Now available!

Cale Hunt is a Senior Editor at Windows Central. He focuses mainly on laptop reviews, news, and accessory coverage. He’s been reviewing laptops and accessories full time since 2016, with hundreds of reviews published for Windows Central. He is an avid PC gamer and multi-platform user, and spends most of his time either tinkering with or writing about tech.

Age of Empires 4 price, system requirements, and everything else we know

When is the Age of Empires 4 release time? Well we’ve got some good news and some great news. The good news is, we know it’s coming on October 28. The great news is, we know exactly what time it’s coming – thanks to an Age of Empires 4 release time map shared by Microsoft social accounts.

With the previous Age of Empires landing over a decade ago, anticipation for a new entry in the classic RTS game series couldn’t be higher if you placed it atop a saddled war elephant and marched it towards an enemy base.

We have rounded as much Age of Empires IV news as possible, so that you’re on the same page as us. Most recently we shared our thoughts from the recent technical beta, and various Age of Empires veterans have also weighed in on the discussion. The Age of Empires 4 system requirements have also been updated.

We’ll keep this article updated as and when new information comes to light, but feel free to let us know if there’s something important you think we’ve missed.

How much is Age of Empires 4?

You can pre-order digital copies Age of Empires IV for download on Steam and the Microsoft Store.

The Digital Deluxe Edition is only available via Steam, and costs $79.99 / £69.99. You get the base game plus a bunch of exclusive bonus digital content, such as monuments, coat of arms, and a soundtrack.

The standard edition is available on both Steam and the Microsoft Store for $59.99 / £49.99, and will also be available via Game Pass for PC, which will allow you to download Age of Empires IV for free.

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According to the Microsoft Store page, pre-ordering either edition gets you the upcoming Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition expansion Dawn of the Dukes for free.

Age of Empires 4 System Requirments

Here are the Age of Empires 4 system requirements:

	Minimum	Low	Recommended	Ideal
CPU	Intel i5-6300U AMD Ryzen 5 2400G	Intel i5-4460T AMD Ryzen 3 1300X	Intel i5-8400 AMD Ryzen 5 2600	Intel i7-9700 AMD Ryzen 5 3600
RAM	8GB	8GB	16GB	16GB
GPU	Intel HD 520 AMD Radeon RX Vega 11	Nvidia Geforce GTX 760 AMD Radeon HD 7950	Nvidia Geforce GTX 970 AMD Radeon RX 570	Nvidia Geforce RTX 2070 AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT
VRAM	N/A	2GB	4GB	8GB
Storage	50GB	50GB	50GB	50GB

Age of Empires 4 mods

Mod support is coming for Age of Empires IV, but according to the product page on Steam, it won’t be available until “early 2022”.

AGE OF EMPIRES 4 Release Times

Here are the Age of Empires IV release times, as posted on the official Xbox Japan Twitter account:

歴史を自分の物語に昇華させよう。『Age of Empires IV』が 10 月 29 日に Windows PC、Steam、そして Game Pass で登場！https://t.co/xDSdEhQZJQ pic.twitter.com/1fapAbp3Gh

— Xbox Japan (@Xbox_JP) October 20, 2021

8am PT
11am ET
4pm BST
5pm CET

AGE OF EMPIRES 4 Review

You can read our Age of Empires IV review to find out what we thought of the new RTS game.

You can also read our round-up of Age of Empires IV review scores from across the internet.

Age of Empires 4 release date

Age of Empires 4 released on October 28, 2021.

Age of Empires 4 civs

It’s been confirmed that there will be eight civilisations for Age of Empires IV at launch, drawn from medieval societies across Europe, Asia and beyond. The eight civs are as follows:

English
Mongols
Chinese
Delhi Sultanate
Abbasid Dynasty
French
Holy Roman Empire
Rus

Age of Empires 4’s civilisations are going to be more asymmetrical in their design. The English, for example will look and play more like traditional Age of Empires civilisation, where-as the Mongols will be feature more bespoke mechanics – such as migrating buildings – which will make them feel very different. The other civilisations are likely to be designed to fit different points on this scale, although there will be some commonality. For example every civ has a generic pike, ranged, and mounted units to keep that core combat triangle intact.

Civilisations are also meant to represent cultures at a more historically authentic level, as a way of recognising that different entities controlled the same parts of the world across history, even within Age of Empire IV’s medieval period.

As such, while the English and French perhaps feel ubiquitous with the countries they lend their names to, the Delhi Sultanate only controlled parts of South Asia for parts of the medieval period, and the Abbasid Caliphate was only one of the dominant powers of the middle-east. In response to player concerns over regional representation, Microsoft confirmed that future cultures and civilisations would be released post-launch to explore the same region from different angles.

Civ design also extends to the visuals and atmosphere as well. Architecture will evolve over time, but the language other NPCs use will also change to reflect how these societies evolved culturally during the rough time-period covered by Age of Empires 4.

AGE OF EMPIRES 4 campaigns

Age of Empires 4 will have four campaigns, consisting a total of 35 missions. The four confirmed campaigns are:

Norman Conquest (English civ)
100 Years War (French civ, we think)
Mongols
The Rise of Moscow (Rus civ)

Instead of focusing on the life of one historical figure, Age of Empires IV campaigns will span generations, covering multiple people, and will serve the historical context in a more documentary-style format.

According to Adam Isgreen there is going to be around three hours worth of footage that will supplement the campaign missions, a lot of it using live footage from real-world locations with superimposed graphics in the style of the game, but also other types of video content as well that they’re not talking about right now.

Age of Empires 4 Gameplay

The game will be fully 3D, with more realistic environments that show more pronounced elevation, and forests that will allow units to hide in for ambush tactics. The maps will also be procedural.

Units will be capped at around 200 per player. In an eight-player multiplayer match, this will mean you can have a maximum of 1600 units all fighting over the same space.

While the campaign will have hero-like units for narrative reasons, general skirmish gameplay will not feature hero units. The exception to this at the moment are the Mongols, who have a unit called the ‘Mongol Khan’ who acts similar to a hero-unit, but is not as strong as one.

The ages have been confirmed to be: Dark Age, the Feudal Age, the Castle Age, and the Imperial Age. Naval combat has been confirmed, and the ‘age-up’ mechanics from Age of Empires 3 have been incorporated into Age of Empires 4’s design.

Related: The best strategy games on PC

We’ll be sure to update you on any other Age of Empires 4 news regarding the release date, and anything else the developers decide to share.

There is a Russian spirit, there smells of Russia: Age of Empires IV review from Microsoft

Overview

There is a Russian spirit, there smells of Russia

Authors:

KOZIK

Editing:

Denis Korolev (SkyerIst)

Date:
25. 10.2021 12:05

twenty

popular emotions article

Platforms:

Developer:

Relic Entertainment

Publisher:

Microsoft Studios

Genres:

strategy

Microsoft prepared us thoroughly for the triumphant return of one of the oldest strategy series. Over the course of three years, wonderful re-releases of all three classic games came out with completely updated graphics, a bunch of changes in the interface and gameplay, and even generously supplemented with new story campaigns and civilizations. The legendary second part broke into the esports space with renewed vigor, continuing to this day to acquire new additions.

It was from the monumental Age of Empires ll that the developers of the fourth part in the face of two studios — Relic Entertainment and World’s Edge repelled. From the chirping of gunpowder guns and the roar of howitzers, we were again returned to the ringing of medieval swords and the whistle of Mongolian arrows to the drumming chorus of hooves.

The economy, degraded by the third part, has returned to its original depth: the peasants can no longer endlessly chop wood and pound a gold mine without leaving the cash register. You need sawmills for planks, farms for collecting food, and mines for storing gold and stone. There are four types of resources again: food, wood, gold and stone. Provisioning in the early stages again became a whole science with stealing sheep from an opponent, hunting, fishing, plucking bushes with berries and recklessly slaughtering a fleshy, but very angry boar. In the later stages, the fussing with food is automated by planting fields or building sheep pens to finally take the player off the economy and focus on combat. It was the slowness and depth of the early economy that was the highlight of the series, which got lost in the third game. The construction of the first farms and houses, the stretching of the palisade, the rhythmic blows of axes on wood, the ringing of a gold mine and the bleating of sheep gave the game some kind of unique comfort, somewhat related to the series from the first Stronghold. Fortunately, the developers have listened to the many years of community grumbling and returned this idyll to us.

The very first gameplay demonstrations of Age of Empires 4 inspired some skepticism about the visual component of the game. The fourth part really does not surprise at all graphically, slightly differing in appearance from the third part reissued a year ago. In addition, the developers have distorted the proportions a little, which is why buildings and trees look somewhat reduced relative to their actual sizes. Huge castles inspiring sacred horror from the second part went into oblivion, giving way to less impressive outwardly donjons. However, no one canceled the “castle-drop on the opponent’s face” tactic, because the deceptive appearance did not eliminate the destructive power of these buildings.

Nevertheless, the proportions and not the most presentable appearance of the game are more than covered by the work of artists, visibility and, importantly, the ability to comfortably drive spearmen across the fields on almost any “potato”. The author of these lines anxiously awaited the arrival of the fourth “Era”, having only an old laptop with a dilapidated Core i5 and Geforce GTX 1050 on board. Fortunately, the game flies perfectly at high settings, giving out an unacceptably juicy picture for such a dilapidated hardware. In terms of optimization, developers were inspired by DOOM 2016 , and the game really keeps the balance between beauty and performance as masterly as Doomslayer’s adventures before last. Even massive battles with hundreds of knights, dozens of mangonels and crumbling fortifications on the screen do not drop FPS.

The unit models and animations are hardly outstanding, however, unlike the nasty remake of Warcraft 3: Reforge , Age of Empires 4 feels like the hand of people who understand how RTS should look and feel. In the aforementioned Reforge, with a very high-quality graphics from above, everything merged into an indigestible mess, in which the devil himself will break his leg, what is happening on the battlefield. In the fourth «Age», on the contrary, what is happening is very clear. The alignment of forces is easy to read, the fighters stand out brightly against the background of a simply designed landscape and convincingly wave their swords. It was clearly not amateurs who were responsible for the color scheme; soft light green colors were chosen for the vegetation, from which the eyes do not get tired. I was pleased with the technical state of the project: unlike the remasters of the second and third parts, there was not a single bug, crash or freeze, and the network code did not cause a single gram of criticism.

In addition, the game pleases with small but pleasant visual details. The territory around the constructed buildings is changing — paths appear, plots with small gardens, bags and buckets of water, stretched skins next to the hunting lodge, stone tiles and bushes near the monastery … As usual in the series, with transitions to a new era, buildings are modified, and on models of fighters receive new uniforms after improvements.

What pleases me the most is working with sound. Never before have strategies sounded so convincing. That the sounds of nature, that the chaos of brawls came out excellent, you can close your eyes and easily appreciate the scale of the battle on the screen. Dynamic music and voice acting work for this. Music has always been the hallmark of the series, and the Age of Empires title theme has forever settled in the heart of any RTS fan. During the peaceful rebuilding of cities, calm melodies sound, and skirmishes with enemies acquire a more dynamic musical color. When the scale of the battle begins to exceed hundreds of souls, a majestic orchestra rumbles, and as soon as the enemy starts to smash your buildings and kill peasants, the most disturbing composition begins to play. There are also many musical themes that are unique to each civilization and convey their unique flavor.

I would like to talk about voice acting separately. Units got a lot of replicas for each situation. As usual, each civilization speaks its own language, and we were especially worried about the voice acting of Rus’. Back in the third part, the Russians pleased with their pure pronunciation without an accent, but here the developers got confused with the Old Slavonic flavor. Instead of “I’m going” on duty, your wards give out phrases like “I need to go as soon as possible, such is the order!”, And when sending the peasants to hunt, you will hear something like “I love to beat the beast.” They tried to give each nation some unique dialect and an unusual old accent, which works great for the atmosphere.

Project history

25.10.2022
Age of Empires IV Officially Coming to Xbox Series X|S, Mobile Age of Empires Announced From Microsoft’s Internal Studio
05.09.2022
Microsoft: The days of developing AAA games by studios alone are long gone
04/17/2022
Microsoft is giving three months of PC Game Pass to Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5 and Age of Empires 4 players
04/06/2022
Age of Empires IV Developers Launch Season 1 With New Content
03/05/2022
Xbox Game Studios games disappeared from Steam in Russia
view all

Speaking of Rus’, one cannot fail to note the fact that this civilization got a full-fledged story campaign “Rise of Moscow”, which tells how a great city grew from a small village under the yoke of Mongol invaders for three hundred years. Here we will take part in the construction of the first Moscow Kremlin, we will fight on the Kulikovo field, we will recapture Novgorod, we will “stand” on the Ugra River, we will capture the Lithuanian fortress of Smolensk, and at the end of the day we will finally squeeze out the Golden Horde in Kazan together with Ivan the Terrible.

Speaking of Rus’, one cannot fail to note the fact that this civilization got a full-fledged story campaign “Rise of Moscow”, which tells how a great city grew from a small village under the yoke of Mongol invaders for three hundred years. Here we will take part in the construction of the first Moscow Kremlin, we will fight on the Kulikovo field, we will recapture Novgorod, we will “stand” on the Ugra River, we will capture the Lithuanian fortress of Smolensk, and at the end of the day we will finally squeeze out the Golden Horde in Kazan together with Ivan the Terrible.

There are four story campaigns in total: we will conquer England for the Normans, help the Franks fight off the British in the classic Hundred Years War for the series, capture half the world for the Mongols and raise the Grand Duchy of Moscow. You are free to dive into any campaign, except that before that you need to complete a couple of training missions for the Normans. In each campaign, we are waiting for 8-9 tasks, between which videos are soldered. In the videos, the female voice of the narrator tells the player the historical background of the events taking place, while amusing videos with live actors are shown on the screen to the accompaniment of atmospheric music, reminiscent of episodes of historical programs. Often the game uses a curious trick — we are shown real objects today, but against their background, the golden translucent silhouettes of medieval soldiers are fighting. For example, we see a real shot of the Kazan Kremlin, but on top of it the ghosts of soldiers and siege structures drawn on the computer exchange a hail of arrows. A kind of spirit of history in reality.

The developers seem to like the golden silhouette visual trick, which is why they use it in the game itself. Now we see the ghosts of workers flickering on different floors during the construction of buildings, although they themselves are also hammering at the foundation with hammers. The same silhouettes are responsible for controlling siege weapons — a kind of compromise between the howitzer crew in the third part and the unmanned mangonels from the second.

According to the Testaments Starcraft 2 missions please with elaboration, variety and constantly changing the pace of gameplay. After a sweaty hour-long mission with rebuilding the base under the yoke of enemy attacks and taking the fortress, the game necessarily throws up some kind of relaxed ten-minute walk with the hero and a small detachment, and epic defenses are interspersed with some dashing robberies of trade caravans. You can fully taste the idea of each mission only on high difficulty, when you need to take into account all the features of the nation given to you and solve the tactical puzzle through a series of defeats and downloads.

In terms of gameplay, the fourth part relies heavily on the mechanics of the monolithic second part: there is an almost verbatim relocated economy and development system, the familiar structure of story campaigns, the same limit of 200 souls, the same trebuchets and mangonels throwing stones at the heads of English archers. .. But there are quite a few radical changes that turn the gameplay upside down.

For example, all siege mechanics have been heavily reworked. The fighters no longer intend to beat buildings with blades for a long time; throwing burning bundles from the third game has moved to Age of Empires 4. The damage from them is quite strong, therefore it has become much more difficult to defend, the tactics of building a wall of houses is no longer so effective. Buildings with a low margin of safety now catch fire and need to be repaired as soon as possible. The mechanics associated with stone walls have been completely reworked. From now on, it is allowed to place infantry on them, and the gates serve as an entry point. You can also attach towers with loopholes to the wall and even choose from several add-ons, like a cannon. The enemies rampaging under the walls can be poured with boiling oil, as in the notorious Stronghold. To help the assaulting infantry, they were trained to build some siege weapons right on the battlefield without the help of siege workshops. Fighters can make a battering ram and now an extremely useful siege tower, but for more advanced mangonels, trebuchets and cannons, you still have to get a workshop.

In general, in addition to the design talents of the infantry, many classic fighters have acquired interesting features. English archers learned to sculpt traps with stakes in order to endure a not very massive cavalry raid. Mongolian manguts, like their real prototypes, can shoot from a bow while riding, which is not given to ordinary horse archers. The men at arms have acquired knightly spears that break during a raid, but inflict huge damage. Over time, the spear is restored, allowing you to effectively break into the slaughter again. Warriors with crossbows and crossbows, which were previously only stages of development of standard archers, moved into a separate subclass. Self-firing guns shoot slower than bows, but ignore some of the armor, which makes them indispensable in battles with especially protected tin cans like armored men. Extremely situational scorpions have been replaced with similar-looking springalds that deal additional damage to siege weapons, making them much more useful and nasty.

The most controversial gameplay change in combat is the simplified ballistics. If in the second part it was really possible to dodge arrows with good microcontrol, now they always fly right on target, like in some Warcraft 3.

Visual overview

Addictive gameplay

Atmosphere — it envelops and absorbs

boy themes

Exclusive

Bleeding

This soundtrack makes you want to listen to holes

Popular series — this game already has millions of fans

Famous developer — we love and respect him

Replayability — can be played and replayed for many years

Epic that makes your ass vomit

Zhopozazhivin

Translated into Russian

Visual overview based on the main features of the game and
is
addition to the main review.

The system of transition to the new era has developed. In the second part, we simply accumulated the necessary resources, clicked on the “transition” in the town hall and waited a long time for the holiday. In the third, the choice of a ruler was added to this, which gave certain bonuses. Now, to update the era, you need to build a special historical building of your choice — a landmark that provides powerful bonuses. Let’s say, for the transition to the feudal era, Rus’ must create the Kremlin or the Golden Gate. The first plays the role of a powerful fortress, allowing you to fend off annoying lovers of “dark rush” (tactics based on attacks in the Dark Age). The Golden Gate, on the other hand, plays the role of a market with a slightly more favorable exchange rate. By the castle era, the choice will already be between the Trinity Monastery and the Higher Trading House.

There are now eight civilizations: Rus’, Franks, English, Chinese, Mongols, Holy Roman Empire, Delhi Sultanate and the Abbasid Dynasty. Of course, against the backdrop of the latest version of Age of Empires 2, where the number of nations has almost exceeded the fourth dozen, I would like to write “only 8”, but not everything is so simple. Given the bet on the uniqueness of each nation, it is much more logical to compare the game with such RTS mastodons as Warcraft 3 or Dawn of War, because the study of each side is impressive. Switching from some Franks to the Abbasid Dynasty, you will hardly figure out what to do in general to win. All have an impressive roster of unique units and traits, fighting philosophies, and ways to harvest resources.

The same Mongols, for example, do not know how to build walls at all, they do not need houses to increase the population limit, the population limit is immediately 200. Almost any of their buildings can be rolled into a cart and moved in a matter of seconds. Their mining and use of stone has little in common with other civilizations. On the site of stone deposits, the Mongols build a special building — an oboo, which, without the help of peasants, pumps out a resource and creates a useful aura around itself. All buildings located around the oboo can, for an additional «stone» fee, create two units at a time and make upgrades much faster. These mechanics force the player for the Mongols to lead a nomadic lifestyle, periodically moving the entire base to new and new stone deposits. In addition, adherents of the Golden Horde receive solid rewards for setting fire to enemy buildings, so they should be played extremely aggressively.

Naturally, we could not do without a detailed study of Rus’, which is also radically different from the same classical English. The passion of the Russian soul for forests and hunting degenerated into interesting features of civilization. Their unique building, the hunting hut, replaces the standard farms and generates gold based on the number of trees nearby in the area. Especially Russians in Age of Empires 4 love hunting, because the slaughter of wolves, deer and boars also brings some gold and even has a cumulative bonus effect, forcing the player to quickly settle all over the map near the forests. The Russians here are also big fans of wooden buildings, in particular the palisade and siege weapons, which translates into certain bonuses.

The boat is the unique and only sea unit of Rus’. It is versatile, and you can rebuild it into a fishing, combat, transport or merchant boat on the go. The Orthodox component of the issue is not ignored either — Russian monks not only can get many unique improvements in the temple, but also move on horseback, which makes them the fastest thieves of relics.

What is nice is that each era in Rus’ reflects a certain historical period and the influence of other peoples. The Dark Age smells of classic Slavic flavor with a touch of Norwegian barbarians. The feudal one is already saturated with notes of Byzantium, the castle one could not do without a piece of the Golden Horde, and the imperial one reflects all the greatness of the Moscow principality, referring to the times of Ivan the Terrible with bearded archers smelling of gunpowder.

But you really want to mention the glorious scientists and elephants from the Delhi Sultanate, the fireworks of the Chinese and the unshakable power of the Holy Roman Empire, but in this case the article will drag on to imperial proportions. The only important thing is that this time the nations are really well designed, both tactically and aesthetically. There was a place for European civilizations, and Eastern, and Arab. The only thing missing is the classic Native Americans for the series, but seeing how the past games in the series have developed rapidly, there is no doubt that the new “Era” will still have time to grow “fat”.

Comments
Forum

At release, Age of Empires 4 is an exemplary return to the roots of a great series and a great foundation for future expansions. Although the game looks graphically rustic for a 2021 AAA project, this oversight is more than compensated by the ability to launch a new “era” on almost any dense balalaika, solid work of artists, the best work with sound in the genre and competent development of monumental gameplay. The reverent attitude of the developers to the history of Rus’ deserves special praise, which, for once, received high-quality voice acting, a separate story campaign and features of civilization reflecting the national color.

Game completed on:

Correct topics:
no

Duration:
25 hours (campaigns only)

1-2
evil shit

3-4
not necessary

5-6
public catering

7-8
just right

9 9
very cool

10
masterpiece!

A look into the future of Age of Empires IV

Age of Empires IV premiered on October 28, and World’s Edge and Relic Entertainment are excited to see you play! As we have already said, on October 28 the project began, but this is far from its end. We are extremely grateful to our community for the love of the Age 9 series0178 for a quarter of a century. We are also grateful to our new fans who first joined us in Age of Empires IV . Our team will listen to your feedback as we continue to work together on the game.

Earlier this week we released the first official patch and it’s time to look to the future. Learn more about our plans for Winter 2021 and Spring 2022, as well as some feature requests collected based on your feedback.

Winter 2021

On Monday, November 15th, we released patch 7989 , which introduced fixes for Xbox account linking issues, Mongolian city center behavior issues, panning camera performance issues, and more . Even though this was a small and highly specialized patch, we are happy to announce that we are finishing work on a larger version, which we hope to share soon.

In Winter 2021, we’re going to be introducing thousands (literally) of balance changes, multiple bug fixes, and a few key features players have been asking for. Our team has been hard at work preparing this update, and we’re grateful for the community’s feedback.

Below are a few examples of what’s in store for you in winter 2021:

Turn on and view your in-game points!

Based on community feedback, we’ve decided to introduce scoring into the game for those who really care about this feature. We know that using it can significantly change the passage, so we give a choice. In the winter update, you will be able to enable and view in-game scores for each individual instance of multiplayer matches or skirmishes.

We have moved the Chinese Dynasty button and user interface to a less visible area of the screen .

You should now be able to see them in the lower left corner.

Ability to view the map after the battle .

We are working on providing this option. Starting with the winter update, you will be able to view the map panorama of the completed battle after the game ends. We plan to continue working on additions that will allow you to easily switch between the finished map view and post-game statistics in the spring 2022 update.

Winter update mini-map visual improvements /

We reduced the size of the icons, made sure the Wonders of the World icon matches its display in the interface, increased the size of the main city center compared to other points, and adjusted the colors of some resources .

In terms of balance and troubleshooting, we’ve got a lot of changes coming up that we’ll be sharing with you in an article as soon as the update goes live. But right now, we invite you to familiarize yourself with what the team especially likes.

The French ship Hulk will no longer rule the high seas.

Crossbowmen, spearmen and elite crossbowmen will pose a great threat to cavalry.

A significant reduction in the price of the Chinese civilization’s Repeater crossbow.

Fixes to the prelate squad so they can continue to inspire after being pushed back.

Adjustment to «Mongolian mobility» to ensure correct use of the speed modifier. Thanks to the community for bringing this to our attention!

Fixed persistent duplication of relics for Rus civilization.

Spring 2022

Like any project in the world-favorite franchise, Age of Empires IV offers many ways to immerse yourself in the passage. Whether you’re a history buff, empire builders and AI enthusiasts, or competitive players, we’re planning to introduce two new ways to enjoy the game in Spring 2022.0177 Age of Empires IV.

User-generated content and tools to bring your ideas to life

Don’t like making mods? Don’t worry, you can still enjoy the creativity of other players using their unique maps, mods and more. Thanks to this, you will definitely be able to write your own story in Age of Empires IV.

Spring 2022 will bring ranking seasons

For twelve weeks from the start of the ranking season, users will be able to compete with each other. Raise your rating and get exclusive in-game rewards based on your merit.

We can’t wait to share more details about the Spring Update. If you’d like to practice ahead of time, brush up on your knowledge with Art of War quests, campaigns, or battles against AI and other players!

In the spring of 2022, some improvements to the post-game map are planned to be completed, adding the patrol path you requested. In addition, we are looking into adding more features and troubleshooting based on feedback from the community.

What’s next

We’re committed to adding the features and changes outlined above, but also listening to our players. Your feedback and wishes will certainly be taken into account when shaping the future of Age of Empires IV .

We will continue to listen to the community as we plan our Spring Update. We are currently reviewing the following items:

Global Sequence

We know a lot of people have loved this feature in past Age projects, and would like to add it to Age of Empires IV .

On 19 декабря, 2022 By alexxlab

Sonstig