• Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition review — Gorgeous new look, more enjoyable than ever Age of Empires II, one of the most popular RTS games of all time, has been reworked a second time for.
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Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a real-time strategy video game developed by Forgotten Empires and published by Xbox Game Studios.^[1] It is a remaster of the original game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the original. It features significantly improved visuals, supports 4K resolution, and 'The Last Khans', an expansion that adds four new civilizations based on Central Asia and Eastern Europe, and four new campaigns.^[2] It includes all previous expansions from the original and HD Edition. It was released on November 14, 2019.^[3]

Gameplay[edit]

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition celebrates the 20th anniversary of one of the most popular strategy games ever with stunning 4K Ultra HD graphics, a new and fully remastered soundtrack, and brand-new content, “The Last Khans” with 3 new campaigns and 4 new civilizations.

The core gameplay elements are shared heavily with the original but Definitive Edition builds upon it. The remaster includes new 4K graphics, new improved visuals for troops and buildings, the ability to zoom in and further out and a new spectator mode. It features a new campaign called The Last Khans and includes four new civilizations: Bulgarians, Cumans, Lithuanians and Tatars. Four new campaigns were added for the new civilisations: Ivaylo, Kotyan Khan, Tamerlane and Pachacuti which is about the Inca civilisation and replaces El Dorado from the HD Edition (Lithuanians do not appear as a playable civilization in any campaign; however, they represent Poles in the Ivaylo campaign).^[2][4] It includes all previous expansions from the original (The Conquerors) and HD edition (The Forgotten, The African Kingdoms, Rise of the Rajas).^[2][5]

Players can choose between the original AI, the updated HD Edition AI that was added alongside the HD Edition of the game, and a newer AI developed for the Definitive Edition.^[6] The original AI had to cheat to be competitive, while the new AI is advanced enough to not require any cheating. When the old and new AIs were pitted against each other in a test, the new one easily defeated the old one.^[7] Unit pathfinding is also supposedly improved upon.^[8] Players can shift-queue villager tasks.^[9]Farms now have the option to be replenished automatically.^[10] A further expansion pack, Lords of the West, was announced on December 15, 2020 and is due for release on January 26, 2021. The Lords of the West will introduce two further civilisations, the Burgundians and the Sicilians, as well as three new campaigns, featuring Edward Longshanks, the Dukes of Burgundy and the Hautevilles.^[11]

Release[edit]

On August 21, 2017 at Gamescom, Microsoft announced Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition was in development by Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media and Wicked Witch Software.^[12] On June 9, 2019, Microsoft revealed the gameplay trailer at Xbox E3 2019.^[13] It released on the Xbox Game Pass in addition to Steam and the Windows Store on November 14, 2019.^[5][14]

Reception[edit]

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition received 'generally favorable' reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic with a score of 84/100 from 32 reviews.^[15]Windows Central's Cale Hunt praised the improved artwork, animations and quality of life additions but criticized the AIpath finding and pointed out a need for further balancing.^[17]

Notes[edit]

1. ^Additional work by Tantalus Media and Wicked Witch^[1][2]

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abWright, Steve (June 19, 2019). 'Aussie devs Wicked Witch, Tantalus working on Age of Empires 2'. Stevivor. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
2. ^ ^abcdIsgreen, Adam; Empires, Franchise Creative Director for Age of (June 9, 2019). 'E3 2019: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Launching Fall 2019, Beta Coming Soon'. Xbox Wire. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
3. ^Moore, Ewan (August 19, 2019). 'Age Of Empires 2: Definitive Edition Release Date Confirmed'. UNILAD. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
4. ^'Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition will release this fall'. PCGamesN. Retrieved September 1, 2019.
5. ^ ^abJune 14, Marshall Honorof |; Pm, 2019 05:50. 'Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Lives Up to Its Name at E3 2019'. www.laptopmag.com. Retrieved September 1, 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
6. ^White, Sam (November 12, 2019). 'Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition review – reverent treatment'. pcgamesn.com. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
7. ^Shea, Brian. 'How Age Of Empires II: Definitive Edition Hopes It Is Living Up To Its Name'. Game Informer. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
8. ^Calvin, Alex. 'Why Microsoft is investing so heavily in the Age of Empires series'. PC Games Insider. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
9. ^Ray, Bodhisatwa (November 21, 2019). 'Age of Empires II Definitive Edition Review: Price in India and review'. BGR India.
10. ^'Review: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition'. Hardcore Gamer. December 12, 2019.
11. ^'Pre-Order Age of Empires II: DE – Lords of the West, coming January 26th!' (in Lithuanian). Forgotten Empires. December 15, 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
12. ^Knezevic, Kevin (August 21, 2017). 'Age Of Empires 2 And 3 Remasters Announced'. GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved September 6, 2017.
13. ^Giret, Laurent (August 19, 2019). 'Age of Empires: DE launches on Steam with cross play support, Age of Empires II DE also coming on November 14'. OnMSFT.com. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
14. ^'Pre-purchase Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on Steam'. store.steampowered.com. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
15. ^ ^ab'Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition for PC Reviews'. Metacritic. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
16. ^Brown, Fraser (November 12, 2019). 'Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition review'. PC Gamer. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
17. ^'Review — Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a remake true to its past'. Windows Central. November 12, 2019. Retrieved November 14, 2019.

Hi there Age fans!

We’ve been watching some of your wonderful beta streams, and come to realize that no matter how good you are at the other Age games Age of Empires: Definitive Edition might take a little bit of getting used to! To help with that the best Age player on our team here at Microsoft Studios, Will McCahill, wrote up this list for you!

Good luck everyone, and have fun playing!!

A Quick Reference for Age II HD Players Who Want to Play AoE: DE

Key differences:
No starting scout – you only get 3 villagers. Use one of your villagers to scout at the start
No garrisoning – you can’t hide your villagers in the event of an attack
Loom – No equivalent early game upgrade in Age:DE, villagers are a little stronger though
Houses support only four population – Unlike Age 2’s five
No Palisade walls or equivalent – Walls cannot be made until they are researched at the granary starting in the Tool Age

Resources –

• Granary: can only accept food from Berries and farms
• Storage Pit: Accepts all wood, gold, and stone. Can only accept food from elephant, shore fish, crocodiles, lions and antelope.
• Town Center: Any resource can be dropped off at the Town Center
• Hunting: Gazelle (deer equivalent) spawn in larger groups and can be hunted efficiently
• Farms: Aren’t available until a market is built. A market can’t be built until the tool age. Cost 75 wood each (compare to Age 2’s 60 wood each)
• No Sheep or equivalent
• Berries – Are the same!
• Wolves – Replaced with lions and alligators. Villagers can kill lions and alligators 1 on 1 without upgrades if they throw the first spear (alligators are slow so you might want to micro your villager back a bit)
• Boar – Replaced with elephants. Elephants have high DPS but are slower than a villager enabling you to kite.
• Trees – Have a variable amount of wood. Generally, 40 wood per tree (compare to Age 2’s 100 wood)
• Blacksmith upgrades are at the Storage pit – Upgrades are available starting in the Tool Age

Stone Age – Dark Age

1. Drush – Clubmen are only slightly stronger than villagers. It is rare to be able to do any real damage to your enemy until the tool age

Tool Age – Feudal Age

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Johanna Von Orleans 2017

1. UpgradeCost – 500 food, same as AOE2
2. Market – Unlocked in the Tool Age (requires granary).
   • Required for farms
   • Has villager efficiency upgrades by resource type
   • Wood efficiency upgrade also improves archer range
3. Slingers – Strong anti-archer/anti-fortification unit that costs food and stone. Created at the barracks. Has no upgrade path meaning it’s strength peaks in the Tool Age. Generally used for rushes

Bronze Age – Castle Age

1. UpgradeCost – 800 food (no gold!)
2. Wheel – Critical upgrade from the Market that improves villager movement speed by 30% and unlocks chariots
3. Chariots/chariot archers – Very strong “trash” units in that they only cost food and wood to create. Chariots are created at the Stable. Chariot Archers at the Archery range
   • Chariot archers – upgrades for wood improve chariot archer range, other upgrades are at the storage pit
   • Chariots – Can be upgraded to scythe chariots (which are basically paladins with splash damage) in the Iron age
4. Swordsmen – Prior to Bronze, players have access to Clubmen and Axemen. Those units cannot be upgraded to Swordsmen. Short Swordsmen can be created at the Barracks starting in the Bronze age and have an upgrade path similar to AOE2 Militia.
5. Academy – Requires a stable. Strong and expensive infantry (Hoplite, Phalanx, Centurion) can be made at the academy
6. Government Center
   • If you are booming – this should be your first building in the Bronze age
   • Town Center – Government center is required to build a second town center (You can build them for just 200 wood! Much cheaper than AOE2)
   • Functions similar to a University
   • Logistics – Key upgrade for infantry focused civilizations. Makes barracks units cost only ½ of a population slot
   • Nobility – key upgrade for cavalry focused civilizations. Prerequisite to upgrade for scythe chariots

Iron Age – Imperial Age

1. Upgrade Cost – 1000 food, 800 gold, same as AOE2
2. Zealotry – Similar to the Spanish Supremacy unique upgrade and Loom, Zealotry greatly increases villager strength/combat capabilities. It also provides a speed bonus but reduces resource collection by 50%

And for those of you who learn best by watching, here are some good AoE Youtube channels to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6gvgy0LRMx_OF6yi6ccTtA

https://www.youtube.com/user/Resonance22Channel

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Tactics

https://www.youtube.com/user/ZeroEmpires

Age Of Empires Definitive Edition Strategy

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Johanna Von Orleans -