It’s coming back later this year and will be going for $20.
Prepare to feel almighty and full of nostalgia because Age of Empires is back, in wonderful 4K definition.
Inspired by the Civilization franchise, the game allows you to control the destiny of ancient cultures through strategic warfare.
The original plan was to release it in 2017, but it “took us a bit longer than we’d originally planned,” said Adam Isgreen, Creative Director at Microsoft.
The new release, called Definitive Edition, will have improved minimaps and gameplay, as well as a newly recorded soundtrack with an orchestra. Unless you like the simplistic, noughties graphics, in which case you will be able to play the game without any of the modern enhancements.
Microsoft’s Jög Neumann said: “We redid every piece of art, every sound effect, we rewrote all the music, but we kept its soul intact as much as we possibly could, it’s kind of like how you remember Age of Empires 1 from ‘97, just better.”
However, some fans of the old game are not optimistic that the remastered version will live up to the hype, saying it will be ‘dead on arrival’. SlashGear lamented that:
“While Age of Empires II HD is available through Steam, it sounds like this re-release of the original will be a Windows Store-only affair. There are numerous things that point toward this, such as Xbox Live multiplayer and the fact that Microsoft says Age of Empires: Definitive Edition will be available only for Windows 10 PCs.”
They fear that Microsoft may be excluding a huge chunk of the game’s old fanbase, which could come back to bite them.
https://youtu.be/JyPlECHiXcM
