Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition

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]

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
Developer(s)Forgotten Empires[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)Xbox Game Studios
Director(s)Adam Isgreen
Designer(s)Bert Beeckman 
SeriesAge of Empires
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
ReleaseNovember 14, 2019
Genre(s)Real-time strategy
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Gameplay
Gameplay of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.

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]

Bert Beeckman (left) and Adam Isgreen (right) at E3 2019. Isgreen is the creative director on Definitive Edition and Beeckman is the co-founder of Forgotten Empires

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 released on January 26, 2021. The Lords of the West introduced 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

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

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 AI path finding and pointed out a need for further balancing.[17]

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

References
  1. Wright, Steve (June 19, 2019). "Aussie devs Wicked Witch, Tantalus working on Age of Empires 2". Stevivor. Retrieved August 28, 2019.
  2. Isgreen, 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. June 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. "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.
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