Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition

A fitting remaster of the series’ best entry.

Yes, the venerable classic is being wheeled out again – not quite new, but definitely improved. It wears its two decades well, but the years are still there hidden beneath polish and new art and myriad tweaks. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition wavers between remaster and remake updating nearly everything from the art to the AI, but reverence for the original means that the changes, though broad and welcome, are somewhat restrained.

This remaster makes it easier to appreciate why the original had the impact it did. Finally, in 2019, Age of Empires 2 lets you tell your villagers to automatically reseed farms! No more returning from a war to find the fields fallow and my villagers twiddling their thumbs. This might be the most exciting change for me, the most boring man in the world. Quality of life improvements might not sound like much of a headline attraction, but Age of Empires 2 needed them just as much as the visual overhaul.

Unlike the first Age of Empires, armies are more manageable thanks to formations and improved pathfinding. They try to take the most efficient route and, while units can still get stuck when they’re blocked by their mates, you can switch formations to give them more room to move.

Melee brawls are brisk and, even with the otherwise helpful zoom feature, it can still be hard to decipher what’s going on in the scrum.

The three new campaigns, collectively known as the Last Khans, take a crack at spinning historical yarns through the deeds of historical figures. Mission intros and outros do all the exposition, but there are plenty of narrative moments and scripted sequences within the missions themselves.

While Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition undoubtedly goes several steps further than previous remasters, it also makes me even more eager for a different take on the classic RTS. You won’t find that here. This isn’t for people looking for something new; it’s for people who are already enamoured with the original game.

Verdict

A polished, wide-ranging update that brings the classic RTS into the modern age.