Age of Empires IV showcased with Delhi Sultanate, Mongols and more; Steam listing up

Microsoft and game developer Relic Entertainment have showcased the latest around their iconic franchise, Age of Empires. The developer shared gameplay, new features, civilizations, and more in its Global Community Event called “Age of Empires: Fan Preview”. In addition, we also got to know the release timeline for the game for “Fall 2021”. Right after the event, the company also listed the game on the Steam Store for PC buyers.

As part of the showcase, Microsoft shared its vision of building on the formula that it introduced in the first three games. For some context, the last entry in the series was launched more than 15 years back in 2005. Ever since, Microsoft has launched new, updated versions of the first three games as part of “Definitive Editions”. The new game brings all the new features that have become a norm in the last 15 years including HDR, 4K resolution, and more. Here is everything new we got to know about Age of Empires IV during the Fan Preview event. 

Age of Empires IV showcase; details

The highlight of the upcoming entry of the Age of Empires is likely the addition of new civilizations. According to the announcement, the game will include eight civilizations at launch including Delhi Sultanate, Mongols, Chinese, and English. Delhi Sultanate and Mongols will be appearing for the first time in the game while Chinese and English are making a return to the game. The Mongols will include the ability to pack and move their buildings and towns while Delhi Sultanate will include war elephants. Besides this, we don’t know about the rest of the civilizations and the complete list of unique abilities of the civilizations.

Relic Entertainment has worked extensively to ensure that players can play with the civilization they like or switch the style depending on the map. Age of Empires IV will feature four campaigns which will serve as a story mode for the game. This means that players will learn history as they play the campaigns via a “BBC documentary” style. The company showcased one of the four campaigns based on Norman conquest”. Age of Empires IV will also come with some new game mechanics including “stealth force” to create ambush making “scout units” more essential to the game. The gameplay footage also showcased other elements like “wall combat”, “wololo” that turned enemy units into your units.

As part of the showcase event, the game developer noted that the upcoming game is likely a successor to Age of Empires II. Though, it will also include elements from AoE III such as aging-up and more. Relic will allow “Age Insider” members to take part in a closed beta of Age of Empires IV. These members will also get a chance to win an Age of Empires-themed Alienware Aurora R11 desktop with the Alienware 7.1 gaming headset, and a 25-inch gaming monitor.

Updates for Age of Empires II and III Definitive Edition

We also got to know that Microsoft will roll out updates for AoE II and III Definitive Editions. AoE II Definitive Edition is getting a new expansion called “Dawn of Dukes” with a future update packing co-op mode sometime later this year. The third part of the series is getting a new civilization called the United States. Game developer is working on adding African civilization to the game in the future. Finally, Relic noted that it worked with its “Community Council” to gather feedback during the development of Age of Empires IV and the upcoming updates.