Age of Empires: Definitive Edition

[Uberfrog]

This year's E3 has seen Microsoft announce a new remaster of the original Age of Empires, following on from the success of 2013's HD Edition of AoE II and its continuing expansions.

From the official announcement:

We have put a ton of cool new stuff in this 4K remastered version of our original game. Including all upgraded art assets, completely new narration throughout, and hundreds of new and rebuilt sound effects! The game will include single player and multiplayer modes, as well as a classic mode for when you just need to get the look and feel of that good ol’ AoE!

Players will experience Age of Empires at its best ever: the original base game along with the Rise of Rome expansion, all with enhanced gameplay and narration, 16 civilizations to explore and 10 campaigns to conquer.

Access to an Open Beta will be available to people who sign up to the Age of Empires Insider Program... no idea what that entails.

It looks like the finished game will only be available through the Windows Store... not sure how I feel about that, especially given how successful AoE II HD has been on Steam with Workshop support.

AoE II was one of the first PC games I ever played, and I have to say that even as a kid I vastly preferred it to the original, which I still played a healthy amount of.

It will be interesting to see if any of the "enhanced gameplay" will take in any of the improvements that were made in AoE II.

 

[civvver]

Idk I still think aoe2 sucks. Unless I'm doing something wrong, in combat any time you want your guys to all attack the same target and you click on it, they all move to formation before attacking and get roasted by archers while doing so. It's like attack move is the only good way to fight. The combat ai is really bad.