Age Of Empires 4 trailer shows off its medieval setting
English vs Mongols
Today's a big day for Age Of Empires. A revamped version of the second game launched this afternoon (and it's still jolly nice, our Nate said in his Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition review) then tonight we got a first look at the all-new Age Of Empires 4. It's set in the medieval era and ooh, I do quite like how that old cartoony look is being translated to modern 3D. Have a look for yourself.
Once again, it'll draw together civilisations from across the world to throw down in real-time strategy action. And... we don't know much about it. That trailer reveals the Mongols and the English but specifics of how 4 may or may not change the classic formula are a mystery. Age Of Empires 4 is being made by Relic Entertainment, the studio behind the Company Of Heroes and Warhammer 40K: Dawn Of War games, so it would almost seem a shame for them to repeat someone else's formula - but that is the whole point of sequels. Dunno.
Microsoft have opened a new studio to oversee their AoE efforts, which they tonight announced is named World's Edge. We do know that an Age Of Empires III Definitive Edition is also in the works, being made by Tantalus Media rather than the Forgotten Empires gang behind other recent revamps.
After years of Microsoft making empty promises about them being well into PC gaming, it is weird that this time they've seemed to really mean it. All their big new games are on PC as well as Xbox, they've revamped classics and are continuing them, their services like Game Pass are covering PC too... it's weird. Part of me still half-expects them to announce Age Of Empires 4 is actually an idle game for Facebook.