Image: Relic Entertainment/Xbox Game StudiosĮvery civilization has access to basic units that form a nice trinity of counters: Spearmen counter cavalry, cavalry counter archers, and archers counter spearmen. Building up your cities and their technology is important, but the bread and butter of Age of Empires has always been the armies and combat. Players can also advance the technology of their cities and armies by constructing special landmarks that move them into a new historical age, with four total to advance through. To build their cities and armies, players have to gather resources, construct buildings, and create each individual fighting unit, all while trying to counter their enemies’ soldiers. The game’s main attraction is its competitive mode, which includes duels, team games, or free-for-all warfare with other civilizations, all of which can be played offline against AI or online with other players. They all start off with a town center and six villagers (up from the three in Age of Empires 2), with the goal of building a thriving city, complete with its own economy, and of course, its own army.

Each civilization comes with its own special bonuses and a few unique buildings and units for players to construct. Age of Empires 3 transitioned the series into the Colonial age, but AoE 4 returns to medieval times - just like the second game. In AoE 4, players select a civilization to play from the eight in the game. But it turns out that updating a 20-year old classic is actually a pretty great idea.

The new game from Relic Studios, taking over from previous franchise developer Ensemble, is more like a modernized remake of Age of Empires 2 than a sequel to the series’ third game. If it’s possible to play it safe with a real-time strategy game in 2021, then Age of Empires 4 is playing it safe.

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