Since it was first announced at Gamescom 2017, Age of Empires 4 has been setting the internet ablaze with cheers, jeers, and speculations from fans and developers alike, with everyone waiting for the gameplay footage that has been promised to us for November. The original Age of Empires, released in October of 1997, became an instant classic to the RTS genre, with its marked improvements in resource gathering and realism. The game has spawned a number of sequels and expansions, culminating in this fourth installment, which has yet to establish a release date but will hopefully do so later this year. With over two decades of loyal fans lining up for this, it all comes down to seeing what the new chapter in the series will bring.
Other than the fact that it will be a Windows 10 exclusive, Relic Entertainment, the production company behind the game, has let out almost no information about it so far. More likely than not, this is to garner hype from the fans who are already foaming at the mouth to get their hands on another AoE game. The composer for The Witcher 3, Mikolai Stroinski, announced in January on his Facebook page that he would be composing music for Age of Empires 4, allowing fans to hope for an equally amazing soundtrack.
It’s been fourteen years since the last game in the series and since the announcement at Gamescom, everyone is dying to know literally anything else about the game besides the fact that is being made. Relic Entertainment has let fans know that they are trying to mix historical information and extremely complex strategy together in order to make a worthy successor to a series that has over twenty years of tenure in our hearts and minds. The only real question is how much that game will change with a new developer, a new perspective, a new decade, and the same fans. It’s unclear how much of the mechanics will stay the same, but of course the RTS tropes of collecting resources and exploiting the landscape will almost certainly be a pillar of gameplay.
Despite the positives of another AoE game being announced, there is always that fear in the back of gamers’ minds: is this going to live up to my memories, or is the production company just trying to cash in on my nostalgia for a twenty year old game? With the information that we have now (what little there is), it seems like things are moving towards a good game being released by a good production company.
This isn’t exactly Relic Entertainment’s first foray into gaming, they have a history with RTS games and have released such stellar titles as Warhammer 40K, Homeworld, and Company of Heroes. They definitely have their work cut out for them in making over two decades of history into a fresh new perspective, but it seems like if ever there was a company who was up to the challenge, it’s Relic Entertainment.