AOE3 DE pretty much looks the same as baseline. Guess its basically just options more updated for modern systems?
$20
Looks like it will also be on Game Pass.
I missed the boat on Age of Empires 3 for some reason. Playing AOE2: DE made me fire it up and play around with it, but it just made me really want to way for AOE3: DE. Looking forward to it!
Two new civs too! Inca and Sweden.
I could kill Tom in a higher resolution!
The only thing in that trailer to recommend this âdefinitive editionâ over the edition I can already play is the two new civilizations. Incas and Swedes added to the mix.
To quote MacReady in The Thing: âHey, Swedes!â
-Tom
Also, Iâd be OK with an updated multiplayer. However, I wonder if theyâll remove the leveling and deck stuff. That would suck.
Ewww. Yes it would, that was the most intriguing thing about AOE3 to me.
The decks were still there in the one beta I saw. I canât recall if there was city leveling or not. I imagine it is still there.
Ok cool! I figured it would have to be, but it is somewhat oddball mechanics wise
Whatâs that, they are adding Sweden you say? Sabaton music intensifiesâŚ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUPIQ7vsAQY
It would be a surprise if we donât get Caroleans as either a unique Swedish unit or a Musketeer unit upgrade then.
Popped the new AoE3 preload on my computer using the Xbox Game Pass app. I wonât complain about playing this for âfreeâ.
But here the changes donât seem as impactful as they do in the remasters of Age of Empires 1 or 2. The definitive editions of those games scaled them up for modern displays in a way that was almost transformative. But with AoE 3, the effect is far more limited.
The new version is pretty, but it canât hold a candle to modern RTS games or rely on the charm of an old, now-classic style. Changes to the UI, too, are uneven. Some are genuine quality-of-life improvements, like timers that illustrate the progress of your unit queues or building upgrades. But other times, I regularly found myself glancing frantically around the screen, looking for information I thought I knew the location of. The HUD might look more modern, but I found it far less intuitive than the original.
But as interesting as the new arrivals are, none feel particularly transformative, and the result is that this Definitive Edition doesnât actually feel very definitive. This update feels like the least necessary of the trilogy, and while it feels cynical to suggest it, I canât help but feel like Age of Empires 3 has only been granted a definitive edition to maintain parity with the rest of the series.
This âdefinitive editionâ has its fair share of problems (to put it mildly), but the PC Gamer preview is extraordinarily bad. Instead of actually playing the game, the author appears to have copied descriptions of the two new civs from google results. Since there wasnât any info available, what they found are instead from the mod Wars of Liberty.
Not quite as noticeable a difference as the graphical leaps that AoE1 and AoE2 had with their Definitive Editions but a decent upgrade all the same. Though, goes to show just how well AoE3 still holds up to this day that my mind has been underselling the improvements that AoE3:DE brings.
AoE 3 is just a messier, faster, less strategic game than AoE 2. By remaining faithful to the gameâs original they carried forward the games most fundamental flaws. It isnât surprising that the game that to some extent died on the vine, but remade with modern UI and graphics, isnât blowing the house down a second time around either.
I still say - 20 years on! - that the fundamental problem with AoE3 is that it doesnât lean more heavily into the âcolonizationâ aspect of the experience. Just put your mind in gear and imagine the sort of interesting game you could make if you set out to make an RTS game about colonizing the new world. Then look at AoE3⌠and sigh.
This is fascinating to me because my personal experience was the exact opposite. AoE 2 felt too hectic while AoE 3 let me feel more in control. What, in your opinion, made AoE 2 more strategic game?