Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition News

Age of Empires 4 review - return of the king

Real-time strategy games have never really gone away, but the past decade has seen their glory much diminished from the heady days of StarCraft's peak. Age of Empires IV arrives like a long-lost claimant to the RTS throne - one whose titles have since been absorbed into neighbouring kingdoms. Whether there's room left for a demanding, macro-driven series like Age in the modern landscape is very much an open question, but one thing is clear: this is Age of Empires almost exactly as you remember, and some more besides.

Given the backlash Relic faced a few years ago over its experiments with Dawn of War 3, it's perhaps not surprising that this time out, the studio has hewed much closer to the established order. Age of Empires IV feels almost shockingly like Age of Empires II. Each bark from a selected worker and thud of a battering ram against castle masonry feels just how I remember in Age II, albeit filtered through more than two decades of nostalgia.

For readers new to the series - and there should be quite a few of you given it's been 16 years since the last numbered entry - Age of Empires is a historical real-time strategy series about building and defending a settlement. In a standard game, you'll extract resources and invest them in structures and soldiers, which you'll then use to knock down whatever your opponent is building. There are other paths to victory as well: you can win by controlling all of a map's sacred sites for a set amount of time, or by building and defending a wonder.

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Age of Empires IV Shortcuts Revealed

Queue up some Archers, get those Farms quickly constructed, and find that dang Idle Villager who’s just been hanging out taking up space. Today we’re excited to give an early look at some of the key Shortcuts you’ll need to help build up your village, manage your army on the battlefield, and in general help you become a better player with Age of Empires IV.

You can see the list below, helpful to keep open as an extra tab or to print out and stick on your wall for even easier referencing (we recommend double-sided tape). We should also note that should you choose to mess with a good thing, all these keys are remappable in Age of Empires IV, allowing you to update and adjust as needed for your optimal gaming experience.

Complete List Here

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1466860/Age_of_Empires_IV/

Age of Empires IV Achievements Revealed

On October 28, one of the most acclaimed and iconic real-time strategy game series will return with the release of Age of Empires IV, ushering in a new era of kings, queens, empires, and heroes. Age of Empires IV invites players to make history their story with eight unique civilizations and four epic campaigns that cover nearly 500 years of history, from the Dark Ages all the way through to the Renaissance.

In true Age of Empires style, you’ll harvest resources, construct massive cities, assemble epic armies, and lead your troops to battle across land and sea as you’re immersed in a highly detailed historical setting. You can also hop online and experience a robust multiplayer feature set, competing against skilled players online or cooperating with up to seven of your friends across a variety of PVP or PVE modes.

And what better way to show off your strategic prowess than with achievements! Shared here today is your first look at every achievement you can unlock in Age of Empires IV - save for some of the most secret achievements you’ll have to discover for yourself (no spoilers here). Learn new skills in the Art of War challenges and earn the title of “Record Breaker” and +10 to your Gamerscore by receiving five Gold medals. Emerge victorious from battle against A.I. to test your strength as a strategist and earn one of four achievements, based on the difficulty level of the A.I. Or challenge yourself as the French to win a match without producing infantry for the “Who Needs Infantry?” achievement for 20 points. In all there’s nearly 90 achievements here for you to unlock – which ones are you going to go for first?

With innovative new ways to expand your empire across vast landscapes in stunning 4K, Age of Empires IV is set to bring real-time strategy to a new generation of PC gamers. We hope you’ll join us October 28 when a new age dawns with the release of Age of Empires IV.

Achievements List

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Check out this fan-made spreadsheet with detailed Age of Empires IV unit stats

We're less than a month away from the launch of upcoming RTS game Age of Empires IV, although gamers were treated to an initial taste during the recent open beta a few weeks ago. For our part, we quite enjoyed what was on offer, and we look forward to getting our hands on the full game at the end of the month.

In the meantime, fans are not sitting idle, and one industrious player - TurnSpender - has pulled together their own spreadsheet that offers minute detail on all of the units, buildings, techs, and pretty much anything else you could think of that was available during the recent stress test. While these values are undoubtedly subject to change - and many have probably already been tweaked as a result of the second wave of feedback - seeing everything laid out in detail is already fuelling the theory-crafting ahead of Age of Empires IV's launch.

TurnSpender posted the spreadsheet on the AOE4 subreddit, where other RTS fans are already analysing the data. Another user - Ubles - has posted a lengthy reply with some very notable observations, such as how hardy scouts are relative to their cost, and how crucial spearman upgrades can be.

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Six strategy games like Age of Empires

Let's talk about games like Age of Empires. Ensemble's classic set a gold standard in RTS game design that has had few competitors, most of which hail from contemporary challengers such as Command and Conquer or Starcraft. Since these halcyon days, no newcomer has really managed to topple these titans from their gilded thrones.

Even the creators of Age of Empires were reluctant to challenge the series' own legacy, with a fourth game finally coming later this year in October, 16 years after the release of Age of Empires III. If you can't wait for Age of Empires IV and are looking for something similar, we've thrown together a quick guide on five strategy games that we think are pretty neat, and follow the same formula.

We've not included titles such as Command and Conquer or Starcraft II, because while these games are RTS titles they are also very informed by their respective settings and differ in key ways. Age of Empires is first and foremost an historical strategy game, so with only a couple of exceptions we're looking at RTS games that also use this as a starting point.

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