![]() ![]() Rather than focusing heavily on individual characters like Age of Empires 3 or Company of Heroes, these campaigns will be presented almost like a historical documentary, including live-action drone footage taken from famous battlefields and narration of historical events that plays during missions. Tuned in to HistoryWe also got a peek at the first of Age of Empires 4's campaigns, which centers on the Norman conquest of England and the descendants of William the Conqueror. The changes they did make were in that spirit, incorporating feedback from key members of the Age of Empires community and the lessons their allies at Microsoft and World's Edge learned making the recent Definitive Editions of the older games. Age of Empires 4 is designed to satisfy Age of Empires fans more than fans of Relic's other RTSes. Play This mostly faithful approach was a subject of debate early in development, and Relic did discuss pushing the boundaries more: How much can you change Age of Empires before it stops feeling like Age of Empires? But ultimately, they felt they made the right choice. Soldiers waiting in ambush like this will whisper to you when you click on them, only using their outside voices once they've been revealed and the battle is on. Another new mechanic allows you to hide your units in forests, which the enemy won't be able to see into without popping a scout past the tree line. While it doesn't give you exactly the same intimate relationship with your units as the smaller scale Dawn of War 2 or Company of Heroes 2, they do seem more alive than past Age games with situational unit barks. Stay A While and ListenSound design is the main area where I noticed Relic leaving its distinctive mark on Age of Empires 4. ![]() This will apply to all eight civilizations, and Relic sought out native speakers of the languages in question when possible to record many of the lines. By the end of the Imperial Age, they'll be chatting in a form of Early Modern English similar to what Shakespeare spoke, which modern speakers can probably understand without much trouble. In the Castle Age, you'll hear a form of Middle English, flavored with a splash of French by the Norman invasion, that evokes Chaucer and his contemporaries. The English of the Dark Age will be speaking Old English, a much more heavily Germanic language that isn't really even intelligible to modern English speakers – you may remember it from school if you ever had to read the original text of Beowulf. One of the most impressive details I learned is that, in addition to progressing visually from age to age, your units' language will change as well. Play The care put into each faction goes beyond the mechanics, too. But Relic wants their uniqueness to go beyond just a signature unit and maybe a couple of unique technologies. All will roughly abide by the classic rock-paper-scissors triangle of pikemen, cavalry, and ranged units. While only eight civilizations at launch does seem like a fairly small number compared to past games in the series, they're putting a lot of emphasis on making each one have a distinct gameplay style. They also won't build walls, since that would be kind of silly if you're not staying in one place for long. They are a truly nomadic faction, able to move all of their buildings, including the town center, around the map. On the MoveWhile the first three cultures seem to play fairly similarly to a standard Age of Empires faction, the Mongols represent the biggest departure from the series' history we've seen so far. ![]() I couldn't get any of the devs to tease the others too directly, but they were willing to say that the faction list will not be restricted to only Europe and Asia. The ones we know about so far include the English, the Indian Delhi Sultanate, the Chinese, and the Mongols. You'll advance through familiar tech levels: the Dark Age, Feudal Age, Castle Age, and Imperial Age, commanding eight distinct civilizations at launch. Play Rather than moving the clock forward, Age of Empires 4 returns to the Middle Ages, covering roughly the same time period as Age of Empires 2.
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