Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition News

Age II DE for the Labor of Love Award

Happy Autumn Sale everyone!

The Steam Award nominations for 2021 are underway and we’ve got a special request for you.
Age of Empires II has been in development for 22 years, from Age of Kings to HD Edition to today's Definitive Edition. In that time, we've learned and grown alongside our community and watched you do amazing things.

From the start, we wanted Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition to be a "Love letter to Age fans everywhere." We began strong in 2019 and have only gotten stronger, with 2 DLCs, monthly updates, new game modes, ranked map rotations, and no sign of slowing down.

That's why we're asking for your nomination for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition for the Labor of Love award, a special trophy bestowed upon a game that is long past its launch date but still lovingly supported and nurtured by its development team.

For us it is certainly a Labor of Love, and if you agree it would mean a lot to us if you would click the button above and give us your nomination.

Best wishes,

The Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition team

Join the Age of Empires II: DE Second Anniversary Celebration!

November is here and we are celebrating the second anniversary of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, and with an entirely new event for the occasion!

This year’s Second Anniversary Event is very special. Each set of challenges will unlock many rewards that you might have missed out on in the past. No More FOMO! So, get ready to unlock everything you never knew you wanted!

🡒 NEW REWARDS! Now through December 1 complete the in-game tasks within the time limit to unlock exclusive rewards!

Each of the following challenges must be unlocked in order and on separate days:

🔒 Sign into Xbox Live.
🏆 Unlock all Player Profile Icon event rewards from the first 3 months of 2020.
💾 *Required* if you want to save any rewards unlocked during the event!

Each of the following challenges must be unlocked in order and on separate days:

🔒 Train 20 unique units in any amount of matches.
🧱 Unlock all Mod event rewards from the first 3 months of 2020.

🔒 Construct 5 Monasteries in any amount of matches.
🏆 Unlock all Player Profile Icon event rewards from the second third of 2020.

🔒 Play an Empire Wars match in Skirmish or Multiplayer. 
🧱 Unlock all Mod event rewards from the second third of 2020.

🔒 Raze 20 Buildings.
🏆 Unlock all Player Profile Icon event rewards from the third 4 months of 2020.

🔒 Train 3 Militia or Men-at-arms before 15 minutes of game time.
🧱 Unlock all Mod event rewards from the third 4 months of 2020.

Keep It All!

Remember: if you sign in to Xbox Live during the event, you’ll get to keep all of the mods and profile icons you’ve achieved! Sign in, earn your rewards, and you're ready!

We hope you enjoy the Age of Empires II: DE Second Anniversary Celebration!

—The Age of Empires Team

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Event Wallpapers

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Huge Age of Empires 2: DE update adds co-op campaigns, gameplay systems, more

Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition debuted two whole years ago this week and, to mark the occasion, Forgotten Empires has launched a huge anniversary update jammed with a load of new content and changes. The RTS game's two-year anniversary bash is now live, and it brings new co-op campaigns, Quick Play vs AI matchmaking, a new player handicap system for custom lobbies, and a ton more besides.

The two new co-op campaigns are called Tariq ibn Ziyad and Tamerlane. The first features five missions, while the latter features six. There aren't any details on what these are exactly in the patch notes, with only the various mission names listed, but now they're live you can always go get stuck in if you're keen to find out, stat. It's worth noting these are still tagged as 'beta' for now as the devs are continuing to monitor player feedback and make changes to co-op campaigns.

The new Quick Play vs AI feature is a neat addition that does exactly what its name says - it lets you dive into the mode, which is designed to let you set up certain types of games and matchmake more easily and quickly, and battle it out against an AI-controlled foe rather than using the existing human multiplayer option. From the devs' preview in the patch notes, it looks like you'll get a choice of pitting two, three, or four against the AI, and you can set options for its difficulty - with the example given being 'extreme'.

Read the rest of the story...

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition — Update 56005

Welcome to another release filled with exciting updates, balance changes, and bug fixes for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition!

We’re pretty excited about making today’s build available to you. Here is a quick look at some of the changes coming with today’s update:

The Age of Empires II: DE Second Anniversary Event is going on now!
2 new co-op campaigns! Tariq ibn Ziyad & Tamerlane!
Quick Play vs AI matchmaking!
In-game tech tree preview feature!
Player handicap system for custom lobbies!
Regional trade cart skins!
Updated Arabia!
Balance changes focused on infantry units!
New cheat codes!

This is just a small taste of what is coming in the latest update. For a more complete list, please visit our site and check out our blog. Happy Gaming!

READ MORE HERE!

💬 DISCUSS: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Forum
🗣 JOIN: The Age of Empires Official Discord

Thanks again to our amazing community members, all of whom have helped to make Age of Empires what it is today!

—The Age of Empires Team

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         ◆ UPDATE 56005 ◆

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BUILD SPOTLIGHT

[hr][/hr]While there are plenty of notable fixes and features to which to look forward in today’s build, here are some of the big highlights coming with this month's update:

[h3]Age of Empires II: DE Second Anniversary Event[/h3]
[h3]🤍November 17 through December 1🤍[/h3]
November is here and we are celebrating the second anniversary of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, and with an entirely new event for the occasion!

This year’s Second Anniversary Event is very special. Each set of challenges will unlock many rewards that you might have missed out on in the past. No More FOMO! So, get ready to unlock everything you never knew you wanted!

🡒 NEW REWARDS! Starting November 17 through December 1 complete the in-game tasks within the time limit to unlock exclusive rewards!

Each of the following challenges must be unlocked in order and on separate days:
🔒 Sign into Xbox Live.
🏆 Unlock all Player Profile Icon event rewards from the first 3 months of 2020.
💾 *Required* if you want to save any rewards unlocked during the event!
Each of the following challenges must be unlocked in order and on separate days:
🔒 Train 20 unique units in any amount of matches.
🧱 Unlock all Mod event rewards from the first 3 months of 2020.

🔒 Construct 5 Monasteries in any amount of matches.
🏆 Unlock all Player Profile Icon event rewards from the second third of 2020.

🔒 Play an Empire Wars match in Skirmish or Multiplayer. 
🧱 Unlock all Mod event rewards from the second third of 2020.

🔒 Raze 20 Buildings.
🏆 Unlock all Player Profile Icon event rewards from the third 4 months of 2020.

🔒 Train 3 Militia or Men-at-arms before 15 minutes of game time.
🧱 Unlock all Mod event rewards from the third 4 months of 2020.
🡒 KEEP IT FOREVER!!
Remember: if you sign in to Xbox Live at any point during the event, you get to keep all the mods and profile icons you unlock! Sign in, earn your rewards, and enjoy!

This is just a small taste of what is coming in the latest update. For a more complete list, please visit our site and check out our blog. Happy Gaming!

READ MORE HERE!

[h3]:alertalert: DISCLAIMER[/h3]This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

For the latest updates and announcements, please visit our social channels.

Ranked Map Rotation – November 16

Here is the latest Ranked Map Rotation as determined by the developer picks and community vote. For the next two weeks, you’ll be able to pick from the new set of maps listed below!

Map pools as of: 6p Pacific (9p ET / 20:00 UTC / 22:00 CEST) on Tuesday, November 16 to Tuesday, November 30

👤 1v1 MAP POOL

This week's 1v1 Community Map Picks are in BOLD.

AFRICAN CLEARING

ARABIA

ARENA

ATACAMA

MEGARANDOM

NORTHERN ISLES

RUNESTONES

👥 TEAM GAME MAP POOL

This week's TG Community Map Picks are in BOLD.

ARABIA

ARENA

BLACK FOREST

FORTRESS

MEGARANDOM

MIGRATION

NOMAD

OASIS

RUNESTONES