They’re handy for sure, but it’s a long way from being a fashion revolution. If you’ve been playing the series since its inception, it’s like slipping on a well-worn, comfortable piece of clothing, while the improvements here and there basically amount to someone having added pockets to your outfit. Some players may be disappointed that Age of Empires 4 is so familiar. Balance will surely come through updates after the game is in more people’s hands. It’s hard to tell at this early stage how well the balance has been found between them, but whether you’re utilising the English, the Romans, or the Abbasid Dynasty they feel individually distinct while retaining that all-important familiarity. Relic has set out their stall with eight factions in Age of Empires 4, though there’s the promise of further civilisations being added via future DLC. This could have been an element that you’d bypass, but instead it feels utterly essential. Mixing modern day footage with super-imposed imagery of the past works fantastically well, and everything has the sheen of a high-quality documentary, with the related editing down to a tee as well. It helps that the storytelling and the additional material are provided with plenty of drama and excellent presentation. The Hands on History videos and documents feel integral to the AoE4 experience The four campaigns – Normans, The Hundred Years War, Rise of Moscow and the Mongol Empire – focus on a full time period’s events, taking you through multiple battles and generations as you experience history as it happened. Two of the most enjoyable new features in AoE4 are the campaign narrative and unlockable content that you gain as you level up. Be prepared to work for those victories though. You’ll also need to make sure you’re utilising all of their secondary skills at the right time, but the rhythm of attack and defence feels just right. A huge part of that is utilising Control Groups, and it’s a cinch to add units that you can then call on with a press of button. You’ll soon learn that you need the tightest of controls on your army to succeed, at least on Intermediate difficulty or higher. These aren’t things that are unique to AoE4, and the RTS genre as a whole has struggled with them for years, but don’t expect any remarkable solutions here. Relic and World's Edge used the second chapter as a founding stone to build a new iteration which is half nostalgic and half innovative, shuffling the cards but never too much, creating a game that is appealing for both hardcore fans and complete newcomers. Large armies will bump and jostle their way through environmental bottlenecks, pathfinding sometimes feels a touch loose, and if you allow it to happen battles can degenerate into messy melee with a little too much ease. Age of Empires IV marks the Year 0 of a new era for the saga. There are still moments where things don’t quite hang together. Building your settlements in AoE4 looks better and more naturalistic than ever.

Age of empires iv