Age of Empires 4: The Final Preview
The first word that comes to mind after playing about a dozen hours of the Age of Empires 4 stress test is “familiar.” In almost every respect that matters, it’s more like a remake of Age of Empires 2 with modern graphics and a much better user experience, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. There are some small tweaks, like being able to hide units in the woods. And the design of the four factions I played, at least on a macro level, reflects more modern sensibilities than the august ancestors of Age 4. But, for better or worse, Relic clearly doesn’t risk much to alter the basic formula. here.
To be fair, the four playable factions in this version were among the most mainstream in Age of Empires 4. The English, specifically, have been designed to feel more familiar to traditional players. We still haven’t been able to get our hands on the Mongolian nomads or the versatile Rus, who can mix things up a bit more as expected.
Same age, different empires
Of the available factions, the Chinese were probably the most distinct and my overall favorite. Your support unit, the Imperial Officer, can be used to passively increase your gold income by collecting taxes that slowly accumulate on all of your base structures, or by directly supervising specific buildings to increase your production. You’re limited to four at any given time, which means it never became a micromanagement nightmare, and I really liked how I could take a very direct hand in how you used them, or just let them wander and do their thing. It’s a mechanic that rewards investing your attention, but doesn’t punish you harshly for forgetting it exists.
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Both the Abbasids and the Holy Roman Empire encourage very dense urban centers. For the former, each building connected in an unbroken chain to its main technology hub, the House of Wisdom, contributes to unlocking the Golden Age, boosting its economy significantly. In the case of the latter, landmarks can be built that increase the durability of all structures in your radius and your city centers even have an emergency repair capability that will restore some health to nearby buildings without having to use villagers. .
Hard upper lip
On the contrary, the English seem more apt to play in band. Their longbowmen have a greater range over other archers, their strongholds act as a combination of barracks, archery range, and stable, and units close to any of their defensive structures will gain a temporary attack bonus whenever an enemy falls. approach a certain radius of the structure. . They definitely feel more like a classic Age of Empires 2 faction, with a great ability to project map control, but nothing especially unique in terms of cheap gameplay.
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The army roster for each faction is fairly small and straightforward, with a few types of melee infantry, a few different ranged troops (including gunpowder units in the Imperial Age), cavalry, and a good variety of siege weapons. Each one also has at least one unique unit, like the Chinese Zhuge Nu, which trades the armor piercing of a normal crossbowman for a higher rate of fire. There are some other minor differences as well. The English and the Holy Roman Empire have access to heavy infantry before the other factions, to model their Germanic style of shock warfare. But in return, the Abbasids can investigate the phalanx, making their spearmen more competitive against other types of infantry.
War not so total
When these units gather on the battlefield, it’s time to party like it’s 1999. You’re still limited to 200 residents, divided however you like between civilians and soldiers. Units are trained one at a time, with the exception of a late building for the HRE which can build five. This scale felt epic and compelling as a kid playing on a Pentium, but after decades of Total War, these battles often feel more like skirmishes. I found myself wishing that perhaps they had at least made the base military unit a squad of a few fighters rather than an individual, to give the illusion of greater greatness. The graphics are definitely nice, but they’re not going to blow your mind in this day and age, especially the drive models, which are just plain underwhelming.
From what I’ve seen so far, how you feel about Age of Empires 4 will largely depend on how interested you are in a very polished and faithful reimagining of a 22-year-old RTS. That is not to say that I was not amused. I definitely smiled while ambushing using high ground or defending the Great Wall of China with fire and steel. And no wonder how bloated Age of Empires 3 looks by comparison, as it tried to cram too many ideas at once. But there are very few things that feel really new here. Maybe when I get my hands on the Mongol hordes, all of that will change.
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