I do know a man whose solely recreation is Age of Empires 2. He is been enjoying it for about 25 years. He does not have a gaming PC, does not have a wider curiosity in gaming, and after I as soon as talked about Age of Empires 3 he mentioned “oh yeah I heard they made one other one” and that was the tip of the dialog.
AoE 2 followers do be like that: Why hassle with one other videogame when perfection has already been achieved? And the venerable 26 year-old technique title continues to have an unbelievable afterlife, enabled partially by 2019’s Age of Empires 2: Definitive Version, and issues are actually not slowing down.
The most recent patch notes for AoE 2: DE are among the many most gargantuan I’ve ever seen. The builders themselves admit they’re “legendarily lengthy”, however the “cherry on prime” is that they will quickly be “releasing one of many largest updates Age 2: DE has ever had!”
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Some 20 hours in, I can say that Civilization 7’s age transitions are the sequence’ most radical and disruptive mechanic but
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Civilization 7’s ‘first main replace’ tweaks steadiness and fixes some UI points, however do not count on an overhaul
How lengthy? They simply preserve going, and the one method I might consider to summarise was to focus on the entire thing and do a phrase rely: 8229 phrases. So let’s roll. The subsequent replace will arrive “mid-April,” and the headline options are as follows:
- Bug fixes primarily based in your suggestions!
- New Visuals for Castles, Elite Distinctive Models, Monks and Monasteries!
- Expertise Tree UI updates!
- Stability modifications!
- New Maps!
- New options and content material to assist:
- Random Map Scripting
- Situation Editor
- Modding
We then go into a complete host of bug fixes and settings tweaks. The visible overhauls introduce 25 new citadel visuals throughout civilisations, and each elite distinctive unit now has completely different visuals in comparison with their non-upgraded counterparts: “With Teutonic Knight helmet crests, Samurai banners, or Janissary hats, defeat your opponents with extra model than ever.”
There is a bunch of animation enhancements throughout all models, together with improved syncing of the animations and assaults themselves, together with new assault animations for infantry that might be randomly shuffled with the prevailing ones. The know-how tree format has been reorganised “for higher readability and extra environment friendly use of area,” with up to date wording and higher descriptions, and there is new choices from the principle menu to go straight into the editor and different options.
Pathfinding tweaks and new attributes jostle for consideration amongst unit fixes, together with the amusing “Sheep and Turkeys can not obtain unintentional velocity increase after ungarrisoning from gurjara Mills.”
There’s a fully huge record of steadiness modifications to particular person models, which for everybody’s sanity I am simply going to hyperlink fairly than reproducing, after which we return to the massive theme of those patch notes, which is China.
A brand new state of affairs, “Xie An”, is free for all house owners of the Victors and Vanquished growth, wherein “the Xie clan defends the Fei River from the northern warlord Fu Jian who has designs to overcome all of China.” This may allow you to infiltrate enemy camps with spies, bribe enemy generals, fund a rise up, “and even misdirect the enemy military” together with your crafty methods.
“The Chinese language at the moment are listed as an Archer and Gunpowder civilization and are receiving an enormous replace to their models and bonuses” say the notes, adopted by a listing of latest additions and civilisation bonuses. Developer World’s Edge is in tease mode concerning the recreation’s subsequent growth and, given the main target right here, betting on historic China can be smart.
There are then actually tons of of phrases on modifications to herdable animals (please do not ask), and huntable animals, whereas within the Northern Isles the devs have “mounted boars typically failing to generate.” Forest spacing and the quantity of water on maps now scales extra appropriately, relics are distributed extra evenly, there are much less inaccessible areas, and oysters will not block shore fish from spawning, which was apparently a factor.
There are a complete bunch of latest timber, amongst which Sinophiles might observe the Lush Bamboo,
Asian Pine, Peach Blossom, and Asian Maple. There’s additionally a “Panda Rock” which is a rock that pandas prefer to climb on. There’s additionally a brand new fowl, the Pink Topped Crane, which is usually referred to as the Manchurian crane. And a brand new map: Nice Wall.
“It’s been a minute since we’ve supplied some ideas and teasers towards the whole lot that’s occurring with Age 2: DE, and the final time we did we had been in the course of launching Chronicles: Battle for Greece,” writes World’s Edge.
“However let’s not bury the lede… For anybody that was questioning once we’d be again with one thing new for our aggressive gamers, that is our love letter to you. We wished to offer you a while to digest all of it and get hyped whereas we end up the work on considered one of our largest updates ever!
“We additionally talked about that there’s an thrilling new growth coming to Age 2: DE! We even supplied a few pictures to offer you a chance to sleuth and debate what we’re cooking up. It’s been enjoyable for us to see what everyone is guessing at! We’re not but able to share the total particulars, so preserve your eyes peeled for a future announcement with a whole breakdown of the whole lot included within the new growth.”
China. It is China.
“The subsequent growth for Age 2: DE will embody FIVE model NEW Civs, all playable in Ranked Multiplayer. Sure, you learn that appropriately. 5! Is that each one the DLC consists of? Nope. We’ll be following up quickly with extra particulars […] it’s our absolute privilege and pleasure to have the ability to develop this recreation and franchise for you! We like it as a lot as you do, and we’re glad you’re right here!”
Evidently the dev staff indicators off in the one method you are legally allowed to finish AoE 2 patch notes: “Wololo!”
Suffice to say that AoE 2 followers are cock-a-hoop about this replace, with some declaring it “one of the best replace ever” and others reaching for the phrase “absolute cinema.” Builders Forgotten Empires and World’s Edge have set a rip-roaring tempo of expansions for the Definitive Version, with six launched up to now (together with 2023’s Return of Rome, which introduced over each civilization from the unique AoE).
PCG’s technique king Fraser Brown says that although the Definitive Version “wavers between remaster and remake” it is “one of the best model of one of the best Age of Empires recreation by a large margin.” And an unbelievable 26 years after the unique launch, it simply in some way retains getting higher.
