Age Of Empires IV’s quirky documentary cutscenes are a miracle

I played the new one Age of Empires IV this week and for all the good work that has been done to bring a classic game into a modern era, the best The thing about it is the bits that happen while you’re not even playing.

The game was developed by Relic, and if there is one thing Relic knows about them Homeworld Days when it comes to vintage RTS games, the gameplay is only half the fun. From Westwoods Command and conquer to blizzards Warcrafto The in-house back catalog, repetitive, hyper-focused mechanics of the genre meant that early on in its story, developers quickly realized that players deserved a break between missions, a little narrative tidbit.

And so it is here, in this game that was released in 2021 but has the spirit of a game released in 1998. In these fictional games, relief would come in either FMV or animated cutscenes, but in Age of Empires IV we are spoiled with something more elaborate.

In a wonderful review, the game’s single-player campaigns are preceded by video cutscenes throughout. If you haven’t played the game, then you probably feel a creeping sense of fear now as memories of underfunded documentaries that you saw in school, the way shields are made of cardboard, and big battles are at five Filmed fighters.

Instead of trying to tell the story of the campaign, these cutscenes are documentaries instead. And good ones too! They’re short, sharp, beautiful to look at, and most importantly, they give us great insight into the technology and tactics you use in the game.

As an example, here is a collection of the cutscenes from the game’s Norman campaign that is around 40 minutes long and, if you see it that way, can really only be mistaken for a very cool little documentary on chain mail and siege tactics.

Plus, while playing on PC, I had the option to watch these in 4K and they looked splendid. Anyway, that’s all, just wanted to say thank you to Relic, it was a lovely treat, and to all of the other developers out there working on historical focus games, more of that please!