Age of Empires fans had an appointment last night for a fan preview dedicated to the license. An event that is rich in information and has a lot more content than expected. Microsoft has indeed shared long minutes of the game and set an exit window for its next strategy title. Age of Empires IV will go on sale on Steam in Fall 2021 and is included directly on PC Game Pass.
Back to the Middle Ages
This presentation should be said at the least. Since its announcement, Age of Empires IV has been reluctant and fans have been waiting to find out more. Yesterday, Relic Entertainment reassured the crowd with long strings of particularly promising gameplay and content that promises to get rich.
For this new episode, the developers have chosen a return to the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages will indeed be the scene of our actions and the title will propose a total of four campaigns to be carried out during this period. The first of them will immerse us in command of the armies of William the Conqueror during the conquest of England by King Harold.
As with AoE II, players can also wage eight different civilizations from different eras. At the moment Relic Entertainment has lifted the veil on half of them: the Delhi Sultanate, the Mongols, the Chinese and the English. A choice that mixes the obvious with the surprising as the people of Mongolia represent the first nomadic civilization introduced into an Age of Empires!
New for Age of Empires
On the mechanical side, we don’t yet know exactly how this specificity is carried over into the game. However, we already know that it will not be possible to build fortifications with these people, so it is a safe bet that the Mongolian management will be very different from other troops. Should we expect particularly mobile buildings and thus very slow factions in their movements? It is undoubtedly to wait.
On the visual side, Age of Empires IV is surprising. Microsoft’s game is indeed particularly successful and many details are distilled in the sandstone of the decorations. Of course, these will evolve according to the campaigns and eras selected, but they won’t be the only elements of attention. The developers have paid particular attention to the historical aspect of the game and are introducing short documentation formats into this work. Also note that the sound environment is dynamic and special accents develop over time.
This Age of Empires IV therefore has everything to calm and seduce historical fans of the license. Better, it seems geared towards converting a new audience to the strategy on offer thanks largely to Xbox Game Pass. We have to wait now to discover the game in more detail and assess its qualities. But one thing is for sure, we’ll be hearing about Age of Empires IV again by then, if only to give a more detailed account of the naval battles that were barely illustrated yesterday.
