How to play Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on Mac (M1, M2 and Intel)

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on Mac

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a real-time strategy video game that is part of the Age of Empires series. The game is a remaster of Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings from 1999 in honor of its 20th anniversary. Fans of the original can play the remastered version with improved visuals and the ability to zoom in and out. They can also enjoy access to all of the DLC from the previous installment, as well as the expansion pack The Last Khans, which has four new civilizations and campaigns set in Central Asia and Eastern Europe.

Those of you with Macs who are interested in playing Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition should know that there is currently no native macOS support available for this game. The good news is that Windows emulation software will allow you to get the game running on a Mac.

Here you’ll discover a workaround for playing Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on an Intel Mac or an Apple Silicon M1 or M2 model, along with detailed instructions on how to do it.

It’s important to remember, however, that the experience of running a game that wasn’t designed for macOS on a Mac won’t be identical to running it on Windows.

Despite that, if you have a Mac, you can use an emulation program like Parallels or Boot Camp Assistant (only for Intel Macs) to install Windows and play Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on it.

gameplay

The Definitive Edition retains many of the original’s basic gameplay mechanics while expanding upon them. You begin with a town center with a small group of villages, and you collect supplies, build new structures, and grow your settlement until you have a sizable army and a well-protected city. The day-to-day management of your civilization and army has been kept true to the classic game.

While they play, players can find a good balance between a highly personalized, tightly scripted experience and free-form sandbox gameplay with different paths and story twists.

The Last Khans expansion, which is included in the Definitive Edition, features the civilizations of the Bulgarians, Cumans, Lithuanians, and Tatars. The game also features four new campaigns: Ivaylo, Kotyan Khan, Tamerlane, and Pachacuti, with the latest being related to the Inca civilization. The Lithuanians do not make an appearance as a playable civilization in any of the campaigns; however, they represent Poles in the campaign of Ivaylo.

A much appreciated change is that the villagers’ tasks, unit upgrades, and army commands can now be queued. This option gives players some extra time to focus on expanding their civilization and leading their army forces without being constantly occupied with different small tasks.

There is also an option to tell villagers to seed farms automatically, which solves the problem of coming home after a battle to see them idle and the fields empty. This is another way that the remastered version of the game gives players more control while making micromanagement less important.

Formations and enhanced pathfinding make commanding massive armies easier than they were in the original Age of Empires. The units now try to take the path that is most efficient, which saves time.

Combat

Combat requires strategy, and there is more to it than just hurling a large number of soldiers at your enemies, particularly if they have taken refuge behind fortifications. An attack on a fortified city requires a substantial amount of resources and labor and presents some interesting challenges to the players.

A welcome addition to the remastered Age of Empires game is the introduction of proper fortifications and siege engines. The latter require support troops to protect them from the enemy and safe locations from which to launch their attack. So, major battles call for extensive preparation and planning.

online

Players who seek a greater challenge can head online and compete against other players by taking charge of one of the 35 available civilizations in their quest for global dominance. The developers are keeping the game fresh by regularly updating it with events, new content, game modes, and improved features.

Visuals and sound

The graphic designers have done great work at improving the visuals of the game and, at the same time, they have kept that retro animation vibe from the original. The game’s soundtrack has also been remastered with new sound effects, dialogues, and background music.

Conclusion

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a faithful remaster of a classic that will never date. The game has more than enough content to keep fans of real-time strategy games occupied. The variety of game modes, unit types, maps, structures, upgrades, and tactics is impressive. Of course, as with every strategy game, this one also requires a significant investment of time and energy to advance, but once you do, you will keep improving and learning new things without ever getting bored.

Can you play Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on Mac?

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition can be played on Macs despite the absence of official macOS support. What you’ll need is a Windows emulation software like Parallels or Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows OS on your Mac. After doing so, you can download and play the game on your Mac machine through the Windows emulation. It feels similar to playing the game on a Windows PC.

How to download Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on Mac

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is not natively supported on Macs, therefore downloading it and playing it is not possible without a workaround method. One way of playing it is to install a Windows operating system on your Mac machine. That may be done with a program like Parallels or using the Apple’s Boot Camp Assistant which is accessible for Intel-based Macs. After you’ve got one of those programs and you have used it to set up a Windows OS on your Mac, installing Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is exactly the same as it would be on a Windows PC.

How to Play Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on Mac

To play Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on Mac you have to install a Windows OS on your Mac. The quickest way to do that is to use specialized software like Parallels or Boot Camp Assistant.

First, however, you will need to get the game.

Next, you need to choose a method to play:

methods	Who is it for?
Boot Camp	For those who don’t mind sacrificing visual fidelity and performance to get a native experience. 
Parallels Virtual Machine	For those willing to let their mac run hot in order to get adequate performance in a native experience

How to play Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on Mac M1

You can play Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on a Mac M1 by using a program called Parallels. This is a Windows emulation program that allows Mac users to run Windows-only games on their machines and have a gaming experience that is usually adequate enough to be able to enjoy the game without major issues.

Boot Camp Assistant is not compatible with Mac M1s, consequently only Macs powered by Intel CPUs can use this program.

Play Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on Mac with Parallels

You can play Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on Mac (M1 and Intel models) by installing Windows on your Mac with Parallels. Read our detailed guide.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on Mac with Boot Camp Assistant

You can play Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on Mac (Intel models only) by installing Windows on your Mac with Boot Camp Assistant. Read our detailed guide.