Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition


Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a real-time strategy video game developed by Forgotten Empires and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is a remaster of the original game Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the original. It features significantly improved visuals, supports 4K resolution, and "The Last Khans", an expansion that adds four new civilizations based on Central Asia and Eastern Europe, and four new campaigns. It includes all previous expansions from the original and. It was released on November 14, 2019.

Gameplay

The core gameplay elements are shared heavily with the original but Definitive Edition builds upon it. The remaster includes new 4K graphics, new improved visuals for troops and buildings, the ability to zoom in and further out and a new spectator mode. It features a new campaign called The Last Khans and four new civilizations: Bulgarians, Cumans, Lithuanians and Tatars. It includes all previous expansions from the original and .
. Isgreen is the creative director on Definitive Edition and Beeckman is the co-founder of Forgotten Empires
Players can choose between the original AI, the updated HD Edition AI that was added alongside the HD Edition of the game, and a newer AI developed for the Definitive Edition. The original AI had to cheat to be competitive, while the new AI is advanced enough to not require any cheating. When the old and new AIs were pitted against each other in a test, the new one easily defeated the old one. Unit pathfinding is also supposedly improved upon. Players can shift-queue villager tasks. Farms now have the option to be replenished automatically.

Release

On August 21, 2017 at Gamescom, Microsoft announced Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition was in development by Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media and Wicked Witch Software. On June 9, 2019, Microsoft revealed the gameplay trailer at Xbox E3 2019. It released on the Xbox Game Pass in addition to Steam and the Windows Store on November 14, 2019.

Reception

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic with a score of 84/100 from 32 reviews. Windows Central's Cale Hunt praised the improved artwork, animations and quality of life additions but criticized the AI path finding and pointed out a need for further balancing.