Age of Empires 4 gets mods, ranked mode, hotkey improvements and more this spring

age of empires 4 Get content editors, mods, and more in the next major update this spring.

According to Relic Entertainment and World’s Edge, the first season (previously known as the Spring Update) will be the first major update of 2022, and it’s not far off. While no release date was provided, some content details were shared.

The update will be an entry point for the modding community as the content editor will be available. In addition to the editor, some internal mods and tutorials will be released to help modders get started. While the content editor will be released as a beta, it will still be available after the start of the first season.

The 1v1 Ranked Ladder is also rolling out with Season 1, along with improved hotkeys. With the latter, you can expect additional categories in the hotkey menu, rebinding hotkeys, the ability to turn control group exclusivity on or off, the ability to bind other commands to the “ALT” and “Shift” keys, and new Global hotkeys will let you quickly find idle villagers, cycle through buildings, and more.

Quality-of-life improvements such as global build queues, patrol moves, civilization random pickers in lobbies, and a full post-game map display are also on the way. MegaRandom, in-house created mods, new Art of War challenges, difficulty adjustments for various campaign missions and more are also on the list.

In Season 1, some balance changes are planned for the Abbasid, Chinese, and Holy Roman Empire civilizations.

Speaking of season two, plans aren’t locked in for now, but you can expect a more “complete list” as development continues. At the same time, updates to the Ranked Season Ladder are in progress alongside updates, fully remappable inputs are in development, a map voting system is being tested, greater control over map selection over time, and a player color picker Important customizations are being made.

The developers are actively investigating other future projects, some of which may land this year, and some may even be pulled into a second season, including observer mode improvements, taunts, cheats, and waypoint indicators.