TL;DR – Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is a pretty cool remaster for the original Age of Empires game. It has some impressive visuals, brings back hitherto demo exclusive content, reworks multiple campaign scenarios, adds a multitude of Quality of Life features and is generally the best way to play this game. I don’t have many complaints to make about it, although it must be said that pathfinding and the enemy AI are both sore-spots for what is otherwise a game that holds up fairly well. Generally most of the issues are faithful to the original, which makes this one a slightly tricky recommendation. If you don’t have any fondness for this game, then I’d recommend just playing Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition instead. If you already have that game and are an existing Age of Empires fan, then this is a great little game to pick-up.
With that out of the way, let’s begin;
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is not an RTS for the faint of heart. Not because it’s overly complicated or difficult to play, but more due to the fact that this is an extensive package. You see, not only are you getting all of the content from the original game. And all the content from it’s expansion pack. But you’re also getting new additional content. As a result, getting through it all took me around 50 hours. Which is quite a task, especially for more casual RTS players. On the other hand, those willing to embrace this game and deal with it’s drawbacks (such as a piddingly small max population) will have a good time. You’ve got a decent range of skirmish maps, plenty of campaign scenarios and of course a solid pool of civilisations to play as.
Unlike it’s sequel, I’d argue that Age of Empires: Definitive Edition does a better job of making each civilisation feel unique to play. This is because at the higher tiers of units, buildings and upgrades you’ll notice there are a lot of distinguishing factors between these civilisations. If you want to play as the Romans for example, enjoy having weak archers, no fire ships, lame towers and so-so cavalry. Want to play as the Carthaginians? Well your standard sword units are hopeless and so are your siege units. You don’t get to have everything as any civilisation, and I think this is a good thing.
Why do I think this? Well not only does it make each faction feel different and thus encourage strategy, but it also helps with the campaign scenarios. For me this is the meat of the game. While a lot of missions can be a bit of a grind they are generally pretty fun and varied. As mentioned above, one nice aspect of Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is the fact that you get access to the missions from the demos.
These were hitherto semi-lost, as you’d need to seek out and get those demos running on more modern machines. Not only that, but these missions were also hit and miss sometimes, and now they’ve been brought up to snuff. Ultimately there are over 60 campaign missions to play through. They offer a decent level of challenge while doing a good job of teaching you how to play. That’s not to say they’re all great of course! But the overall experience is pretty fun and has a nice difficulty curve to it.
What’s new?
As you’ll have noticed from the pictures, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is a pretty great visual upgrade over the base game. It’s not only the visuals that have been upgraded though. As there are myriad tweaks and changes under the hood to make everything more intuitive. You’ve got more hot-keys. The ability to automatically reseed farms. Notifications when you can move to the next age (essentially moving up to the next tier of the tech-tree). Improvements to pathfinding. New balancing tweaks. The ability to see technology trees while playing and a lot more. As a consequence, the Definitive Edition not only looks better – but more importantly it plays better too. Of course I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one or two things that frustrated me to no end during my time with what I otherwise consider to be a stellar game.
That fiendish AI
The first issue I have, and one that everyone will encounter, is that the enemy AI is an odd beast. Hopeless at macro-level decisions such as what to build or where to attack, but utterly insufferable at the micro-level. Enemy archers and siege units do a fantastic job of dodging shots and otherwise making a pain of themselves, with endless little hit-and-run actions. If you try to snipe an AI villager or fishing ship, they will drag it out and do their best to avoid every shot or hit. This is a game where villagers can quickly become some of the fastest units. Things are therefore a bit tedious when you are trying to focus on something.
As the AI is a literal machine, they can send a dumb little diversionary attack, while using a priest to convert a unit, while queuing up more units, sending villagers to repair damaged buildings and more all at the same time. You on the other hand are a feeble assortment of flesh and bone. So you will find the AI an irritating opponent at times. Fortunately it’s never too much of a struggle to outlast the AI, but my goodness can the near endless “you are under attack” notification sound become a source of frustration. The second big issue, which I think all players will also encounter is that improved path-finding is still deeply flawed. It’s no doubt better, but it’s still annoying to see your units clump up and get in each others way near constantly.
Back in MY day…
On the subject of annoyances, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition has a few that to it’s credit are authentic. You can’t build gates in walls, for example. Similarly fishing boats will gobble up every fish in one area, then need explicit orders slightly further afield (asea?). Generally speaking this a pretty faithful reproduction of the base game. With it’s strengths and some of it’s flaws being carried over.
Want to build a big army in your campaign battle? Too bad, here’s 50 population which gets you 50 units in total. Split between economy, naval and ground forces (further split between infantry, archers, cavalry and siege units). I’m not mad about these decisions because after all, it’s a remaster and they were part of the base game. I just mention them because the one person reading this will be more familiar with Age of Empires 2/3/4. Which all let you build gates, have smarter villagers and have bigger armies.
Final thoughts
And at this point I’ve kind of run out of things to say. I suppose I should quickly mention that the soundtrack is great and that the game is very fairly priced. Not only that, but it frequently goes on sale for around £3.74. Or $4.99 yankee bucks and for that price it’s an easy recommendation from me. Not only does this game generally play great, but it has tons of content and a nice presentation.
For existing fans of the series, this is either a faithful reproduction or the best introduction to where this series started. For RTS noobs, this is an easy to pickup and play game. Although it doesn’t quite have the same appeal as some of it’s successors. Ultimately I would recommend this game to anyone, although I would recommend Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition first. If you enjoyed that game, then give this one a shot too. You might just be surprised how well it holds up. Just don’t let the AI’s micro GOD skills get you down.