Age Of Empires 4

19-04-2021
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It sounds like civilisations in Age of Empires 4 will be both new and familiar, with some behaving as series veterans would expect in terms of their tech trees and unique bonuses, while others.

After more than 13 years in hibernation, the Age of Empires series is coming back for its fourth outing. In August 2017, publisher Microsoft Studios announced that Age of Empires 4 was alive and kicking, and that it was being developed by Relic Entertainment, the team behind Homeworld and Company of Heroes (which is a hell of a lot of pedigree).

It's not been until the tail end of 2019 that we've finally learned more about the game (and even then we'd still love to know more) but we feel like we can finally get excited about the next instalment in the Age of Empires series. Read on to find out everything we know so far!

[Update:A console version isn't out of the question. Read on to find out more!]

UploadsLicense.Key.Age.of.Empires.IV.29071.txt - Free download as Text File (.txt), PDF File (.pdf) or read online for free. Scribd is the world's largest social reading and publishing site. Age of Empires 4 is the first game in the series developed by Relic Entertainment – all the other Age of Empires games have been made by Ensemble Studios, which folded in 2009. If Age of Empires 4 starts earlier and finishes later than Age of Empires 2, the time period is the Middle Ages and should include the Dark, Feudal, Medieval, and Imperial Ages, but could also. After Age of Empires 3, released in 2005, it became the harbinger of a new series start 10 years later. AOE 4 was first announced in 2017, but no information has been leaked until the last months. It is necessary to congratulate Relic for this. After the release of the trailer, the issue that the players were most curious about was the release.

Cut to the chase

  • What is it? The latest installment to the historical real-time strategy series Age of Empires.
  • When can I play it? There's no release window just yet but it'll be late 2019 at the earliest
  • What can I play it on? Windows 10 PC is the only confirmed platform thus far

What is Age of Empires 4?

Age of Empires 4 is the latest instalment to the historical real-time strategy series Age of Empires, which began life way back in 1997.

Follow-ups to the original were released in 1999 and 2005, and there’s been a couple of spin-offs during that period, including two Nintendo DS titles and the popular Age of Mythology, which took inspiration from myths and legends rather than history. Aside from those DS games, the series is only on PC.

Age of Empires 4 is the first game in the series developed by Relic Entertainment – all the other Age of Empires games have been made by Ensemble Studios, which folded in 2009. Relic says it wants to “fuse historical context with deep strategic gameplay, and to bring this franchise back to the forefront of gaming and into the hands of its beloved community”.

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Age of Empires 4: release date

Age

Unfortunately, no release date has been announced for Age of Empires 4 – not even a rough one. It could be a way off though, because all we’ve seen of the game is a trailer filled with concept art in 2017, which suggests that at that point development was in its early stages. Even in 2019 the game still isn't far enough into development to give a rough launch window—we're looking at 2020 before some kind of announcement.

What platforms will Age of Empires 4 release on?

So far, all we know is that it’s coming to Windows 10 PC – so bad luck if you’re running an older version (although this could be a good excuse to upgrade). However, with Microsoft Studios as the publisher the door is open for a release on Xbox One.

Nothing is certain in that department but in an interview with Stevivor Microsoft's Shannon Loftis and Adam Isgreen said that while the team's 'number one priority is to make it work great with keyboard and mouse' they're still going to 'explore our options ... Once we have a wonderful PC game, then we'll start looking at other ways that we can show up.'

That's not a solid commitment to an Xbox release by any means but it makes it at least slightly more possible that we could see the game come to Microsoft's console further down the line. Don't expect, however, to see it on PlayStation or Nintendo Switch.

Age of Empires 4: trailers

XO19 finally brought us a gameplay trailer for Age of Empires 4 which showcased a beautiful and colorful Medieval world.

The announcement of the game was marked with a trailer – and it’s still the only one we’ve seen to date. It’s exclusively concept art for the game, depicting large scale battles between various groups. Check it out below:

Age of Empires 4: news and rumors

No to microtransactions, yes to DLC

In an interview with PCGamesN, Age of Empires 4's Creative Director, Adam Isgreen, has said that the game won't feature microtransactions. “The idea of microtransactions in a real-time strategy game isn't a thing,” he says, “DLC, expansions – all of that is things that we're going to be exploring for Age 4.” Any expansions will be worked on by World's Edge studio.

It will bring about some modernization

Age of Empires 4 may be set in Medieval times but in an interview with GamesRadar, Creative Director, Adam Isgreen, said that he and his team are looking at the game as 'a fresh start' which will allow them to 'modernize the series' and 'do things differently'.

That said, it won't be so different that it won't be immediately recognizable as an Age of Empires game—Isgreen made it clear that they want to 'do right by the players' and really keep the spirit of the series. But given its been 13 years since the last new game in the series a few things have had to be done to bring it into the age of modern gaming. According to Isgreen, they're 'doing things that no other RTS game has done before'.

Nothing has been revealed about the civilisations that will feature but there is some intense historical research going on to make those involved in the game more authentic.

Set in Medieval times

After missing E3 2019, Age of Empires 4 finally made an appearance at XO19 in November with a brand new gameplay trailer. This trailer confirmed that the game is to be set in the Medieval period and it looks set to be a more detailed and colorful game world than we've ever seen from the strategy series. We don't know which civilisations will appear in the game just yet, though the trailer does at least reveal the Mongols and the English. It could be worth intense study to glimpse hints for more.

News is coming

After Age of Empires 4 was announced at Gamescom in 2017, everything went somewhat quiet. Those who were hoping to see some kind of update during Microsoft's E3 press conferences for 2018 and 2019 were left disappointed too. However, shortly after E3 2019 in an interview with PC Gamer Phil Spencer confirmed that the game is still making progress and that more news will be revealed in 2019.

Spencer didn't give much away but he did say that Relic is making 'good progress' on Age of Empires 4 and that they'll be ready to 'talk about it more this year' when it's in 'the right context'.

When exactly in 2019 we'll hear more about the game isn't yet known but there's another Gamescom conference still to come, which would be the ideal place for Microsoft to make an update given the game was first announced there. We'll just have to wait and see.

Age of Empires 4: gameplay features

Previous Age of Empires games have focused on one period of history: Age of Empires 3 chronicled the European colonization of the Americas, for example.

However, judging by the trailer above, Age of Empires 4 could paint with a broader historical picture, with lots of empires from across time returning from previous games in the series.

In the trailer, you can glimpse Native Americans, British Redcoats, Romans and Japanese samurai. It’s possible that this could just be demonstrative of the art style and themes, but we’d be surprised if they didn’t end up featuring in the final game in some capacity.

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That said, it’s unlikely to break history by pitting armies from two eras against each other in the campaign, so expect a story that plays out over an extended timeline. And then perhaps the Romans could clash with the Redcoats in online multiplayer.

In terms of actual gameplay, we wouldn’t expect it to deviate too far from the formula that fans of the series know and love – it would be odd for the developer not to mine that ore of support. So, there will be the usual 4X fare (explore, expand, exploit and exterminate). However, the last Age of Empires game was more than 10 years ago, so we’re expecting some changes in terms of UI and mechanics.

Age of Empires 4: what we want to see

A sleeker UI

The Age of Empires games have always had decent UIs – most of the stuff you need is two or at most three clicks away and, generally, if you hover over a button you can find out what it does. But going back to it now, it looks a bit old fashioned, with a large box covering most of the bottom section of the screen, and can be overwhelming at first glance.

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If the series is going to attract new players (and the more the merrier) then the UI needs to be sleek and inviting. Age of Empires Online, another spin-off, might perhaps be a good guide: that game had much less on screen at any one time, allowing you to see more of the battlefield. Smaller, contextual menus that only appear when you click on certain elements would work well.

Revamped unit tactics

The Age of Empires games do boast military tactics, and the positioning and stances of your units can turn a battle. But largely, fights are won by the biggest army, and they are over quickly. We’d like to see tactics play a bigger role in battles, and for it to be easier to make small adjustments to groups of units so they do exactly what you want.

There’s hope here: Relic has a lot of pedigree in this field. Imagine Age of Empires with Company of Heroes-style unit movement when you got close to an enemy’s base. That’s not what Relic will be shooting for (this is about clashes of large armies rather than small strike forces, after all), but we’re confident it will be more finessed than anything else we’ve seen from the series so far.

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Multiple cities

Age of Empires revels in its smaller scale. You start with a town hall and build out from there, never really expanding beyond a single settlement. Rise of Nations, also published by Microsoft, could be a good yard stick for how the game should expand; in that game you could build multiple cities and combine them into large territories.

If you apply that to Age of Empires then you get multiple hubs of production: one town could focus on food production, and transport the finished product to another nearby town, which is itself churning out military units. Planning out the structure of your empire, rather than just a single city, would add another layer to the game.

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Historical real-time strategy (RTS) game Age of Empires III was released over 13 years ago. And while fans are still clamoring for more news on the sequel, Age of Empires IV, details have been leaking slowly about what might be coming in the upcoming RTS game. Here is what we know so far about Age of Empires IV.

What is the Age of Empires series?

The Age of Empires(AoE) is a series of critically acclaimed and popular RTS video games that focus on a number of historical events. The games were originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios.
The first title of the series Age of Empires was also Ensemble Studios’ first major release and one of the first history-based RTS games made. Comprising several titles and spin-offs, the series also been commercially successful with sales of more than 20 million copies.

What is Age of Empires IV?

In August 2017, publisher Microsoft Studios announced that Age of Empires IV would be developed by Relic Entertainment, the team behind Company of Heroes - the popular RTS game set during World War II.
The fourth new game in the series will be the first in the series that Relic Entertainment, rather than Ensemble Studios, is developing. Relic says it can’t wait to fuse historical context with deep strategic gameplay, and to bring this franchise back to the forefront of gaming and into the hands of its beloved community [1].

Age of Empires IV trailer

To date, there has only been one trailer released to announce the game. It features concept art and several battle scenes across historical periods between groups that include Roman legionaries, Spanish conquistadors, Native Americans, British Redcoats, feudal Japanese Samurai, and South American indigenous peoples.
While this seems to follow the timeline as well as nations and civilizations that were introduced in the first three games in the series, it’s not clear if this is a hint that these same civilizations will feature in Age of Empires IV. It could just be a round-up of previous games to serve as an enticing overview.

Age of Empires IV gameplay

The trailer didn’t reveal anything about the gameplay. Although it wouldn’t be surprising if Age of Empires IV does not veer too much from the much-loved and critically praised previous installments of the series.

The earlier games each focused on an exclusive period of history, with specific campaigns, and this game will likely do the same. Or it could provide a sweeping expanse of multiple epochs with a cross-pollination of campaigns. The gameplay will very likely have at least some changes related to features such as new units, resources, and tech trees as well as improvements to mechanics and UI.

When is the release date for Age of Empires IV?

Unfortunately, no release date has been announced officially (or unofficially for that matter) for Age of Empires IV. After Microsoft’s announcement at Gamescom in 2017, there was no other information about release dates, not even during E3 2018 or E3 2019.
Recently, however, Microsoft's executive VP of gaming Phil Spencer spoke to PC Gamer and confirmed that work on Age of Empires IV was moving along and that they’re “learning a lot revisiting Age of Empires and Age of Empires II,” receiving good insights from the series communities and larger player bases [2]: 'We'll talk about it more this year [2019]…we're making good progress with it.”
There may be more revealed at the upcoming Gamescom conference near the end of August 2019. We might actually have an official release date by then, or at least some good tidbits of information about the game itself.

What is the history of the Age of Empires series?

Original co-founders Tony Goodman and John Boog-Scott formed Ensemble Studios back in 1995, soon after which others such as Rick Goodman, Brian Sullivan, and designer Bruce Shelley joined.

Tony Goodman, who played Dungeons & Dragons in junior high school, had, in particular, remembered the talents of Bruce Shelley - the co-designer of Sid Meier’s Civilization, which pioneered the 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate) genre of strategy-based video games - and tapped him for his expertise. Goodman’s idea was to populate the nascent company with true gamers to see if they could build the greatest game the world had ever seen [3].

Merging RTS gameplay with history

While the RTS genre was growing, the team noted that there really wasn’t anything specifically historically based at the time. They wanted a game that played in the way that actual people played actual board games, with unique features such as randomly generated maps and a non-cheating artificial intelligence (AI) that would play by the same rules as its human opponents.
Games such as Command & Conquer and World of Warcraft, the granddaddy of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) world, inspired their focus and direction. What those games were not doing well would be the opportunity and sweet spot for Ensemble.
Age of Empires was thus borne from the idea of merging RTS gameplay with the historical and economic aspects of games such as Sid Meier’s Civilization.

What is the AOE series all about?

Age of Empires

Age of Empires, the first title in the series, was released in 1997. It revolves around events in Europe and Asia that range from the Stone Age to the Iron Age - or from ancient history to classical antiquity - a period that lasted nearly 3.5 million years and ended between the 8th century BCE and the 6th century AD.
In Age of Empires, you play as a leader of an ancient civilization, developing and advancing it along with a number of hunter-gatherers through four ages that include the Stone, Tool, Bronze, and Iron Ages. There are 12 civilizations based on prominent nations of the ancient world; the 12 are divided into four groups (Greek, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and Asian) and include Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Phoenicians, Sumerians, and more.

Gathering resources to advance

To win, and secure an expansive Iron Age empire, you’ll need to gather resources to pay for new units, buildings, and more advanced technology. The main types of units are civilian, military, and animal, including:
  • Villagers - collect resources, forage, farm, cut down trees for wood, construct buildings, mine for stone and gold, fish, and hunt
  • Infantry - swordsmen, bowmen, axemen, and hoplites, using melee, short-range combat to attack
  • Mounted - chariots, cavalry, war elephants, and archers (or on foot)
  • Priests - non-combat and healing capabilities
  • Siege - catapults and ballista
  • Nautical - fishing boats and transport ships
Advancing between the four ages occurs at the Town Center - one of the most important buildings in the game - where villagers are created and several units are supported. Your ability to build multiple Town Centers is unlocked by constructing a Government Center during the third age (Bronze) of the game.
Each advancement equips you with new technologies, weapons, and units. And each civilization has its own unique technology tree that shows available buildings, units, and technologies for that specific civilization. Certain technologies, for instance, might be found in one civilization but not another (just as in real life).
Technology, in particular, plays a very important role in the strategy within Age of Empires. As a civilization progresses through the ages, technology becomes progressively more expensive. Accordingly, collecting necessary resources to obtain them also becomes increasingly complex.
Empires
Technological advances include things like faster resource-gathering (economic), enhanced armor (military), and stronger buildings (infrastructure).
In 1998, an expansion pack entitled Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome added the Roman Empire in addition to three other playable civilizations including Palmyrans, Macedonians, and Carthaginians.

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

The next title in the Age of Empires series, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, was released in 1999 and is set in the Middle Ages - from the Dark Ages to the Imperial Age - which lasted roughly 1,000 years from the 5th century to the 15th century.
It features 13 playable civilizations from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East including the Celts, Goths, Vikings, Persians, and others.
Five historically-based campaigns available include Genghis Khan's invasion of Eurasia, William Wallace fighting for the Scots, and Joan of Arc’s battles for the French. Like in its predecessor, players in Age of Empires II gather resources to construct towns, build armies, and vanquish foes.
Expansion pack with strengthened AI
The expansion pack to Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings was released in 2001. This title, Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, adds scenarios and new campaigns covering the Spanish conquest of Mexico, Attila the Hun, and the Battle of Agincourt as well as five new civilizations that include the Aztec and Maya.
It features 26 new technologies, 11 new units, new gameplay modes, and new maps. Perhaps the biggest update was the addition of enhanced scripted artificial intelligence (AI) of villagers and siege weapons.
Villagers now start gathering resources automatically when they build resource-gathering structures and sites, spread out evenly instead of tilling the same patch. And siege weapons do not engage in “friendly fire” if the attack is likely to damage allies. Subsequent versions of games in the Age of Empire series use this smart AI upgrade.

Spinning off the original game

In 2002, a spin-off game, Age of Mythology, is set in the same period as the original Age of Empires, but focuses on mythological elements and legends of Greek, Egyptian, and Norse culture rather than historical events. Although it shares many gameplay elements of its progenitor, it features one campaign only.
It tells the story of Arkantos, an admiral of Atlantis who is sent on a quest to regain favor from Poseidon, god of the Atlanteans. On his journey, he travels through all three realms - Greece, Egypt, and Norse lands - where he’ll meet among others Ajax, Agamemnon, and fellow consummate traveler Odysseus at the Trojan War.
This spin-off then spun off another expansion, The Titans, in 2003. Arkantos’s son Kastor leads fellow Atlantean survivors on a quest to free the Titans, a newly introduced mythological race, from the nefarious abyss of Tartarus.

Age of Empires III

The third title, Age of Empires III, released in 2005. Taking place when Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings ended, it encompasses the discovery of the New World and European colonization of America: a time period of 380-plus years between approximately 1492 to 1876. This title features eight civilizations to play, including British, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German, Russian, and Ottoman.
While there are 12 different tribes of Native Americans, they’re not playable - although you can form an alliance with them by building trading posts at their camps.
Age Of Empires 4
Coming home
One of Age of Empires III’s most significant innovations is the addition of the “Home City.” This unique feature sends you free units, resources, and upgrades regularly throughout the game. Functioning as a powerful second city that’s separate from the game, it’s comprised of five main buildings from which you can choose your “cards” (or bonuses) and customizations.
The Home City can’t be attacked or destroyed, and it moves with you between games. In this way, this feature has been compared to a role-playing character itself. You can also name it whatever you’d like.
New cutting-edge graphics effects
Another important feature that this game proffers is an updated graphics engine based on the first physics engine to be used in an RTS game. The engine enables new (at the time) high-end graphical features such as the bloom effect in high-dynamic-range lighting, which allows much more natural-looking scenes involving sunshine and heat.
Bloom lighting reproduces the imaging effect of real-world cameras, providing the illusion of how intensely bright light seems to spill over beyond its natural borders when looking through a camera capturing the scene.
The new engine also enables events that behave more realistically rather than using pre-created animations. For instance, a tree could actually be knocked down if a stray cannonball hit it.

Age of Empires III expansions and Age of Empires Online

Age of Empires III had two expansions that quickly followed in 2006 and 2007, The WarChiefs and The Asian Dynasties, respectively. The first adds new content, including increasing the game’s number of Native American tribes from 12 to 16 as well as new gameplay features such as enabling the use of stealth to allow certain units to remain undetected by enemy units and buildings.
The second follows the rise of Asia during the same period of European growth as Age of Empires III and its first expansion. It also adds three new civilizations including Indian, Japanese, and Chinese, and six new native civilizations including, among others, the Shaolin, the Zen, and the Jesuits - in which monks replace explorers.
Adding a free-to-play installment and focusing on the Greek and Egyptian civilizations, Age of Empires Online was released in 2011. This new approach features a persistent online capital city that exists and grows even if you’re offline, as well as a level-based system that lets you play at your own pace [4].

Expansions and spin-offs from 2012 to 2016

Between 2012 and 2016, the series released a number of expansions and spin-offs including:
  • 2013 Age of Empires II: HD Edition - features the original game and the expansion The Conquerors, as well as updated graphics for high-resolution displays
  • 2013 Age of Empires II: The Forgotten
  • 2014 Age of Mythology: Extended Edition
  • 2014 Age of Empires: Castle Siege
  • 2015 Age of Empires II: The African Kingdoms
  • 2015 Age of Empires: World Domination
  • 2016 Age of Mythology: Tale of the Dragon
  • 2016 Age of Empires II: Rise of the Rajas

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition

A little more than 20 years after the original, a new internal studio named Forgotten Empires released Age of Empires: Definitive Edition in 2018, which is a remastered version of the original game. It features support for 4K resolutions, updated graphics, remastered sound and music, and a smoother user interface (UI) experience.

Both Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition and Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition are slated for release in late fall 2019 and 2020, respectively. They’ll be released on Steam in addition to the Xbox Game Pass for PC and the Microsoft Store.

Do I need to play them all in order?

It probably makes sense to play the original game of each spin-off, and playing the very first title from 1997 would give you an immediate feel for the game. But one of the wonderful things about the Age of Empires series is that you can jump in to any of them without needing to have played all of the major titles and the various spin-offs. Just choose the time period of history that you’re willing and able to explore, and game away.

Age Of Empires 4

[1] Relic; Age of Empires IV
[2] PC Gamer; Age of Empires 4 is 'making good progress', and Microsoft will talk about it later this year
[4] GameSpot; Age of Empires III Q&A

Age Of Empires Free Download Windows 10

About the Author: Jolene Dobbin is a contributing writer for HP® Tech Takes. Jolene is an East Coast-based writer with experience creating strategic messaging, marketing, and sales content for companies in the high-tech industry.