"Combine that with what is now a total of 31 civilizations, each with their unique bonuses and tech tree, and that leaves you with so many different paths to take."Īge of Empires 2 currently comes in two flavors: the original 1999 game and its 2000 expansion Age of Conquerors, and the 2013 re-release published by Microsoft, known as the HD Edition. "There are four resources to take care of, four resources to balance depending on your choice of strategy," he says. Ørjan Larsen, who goes by the handle TheViper, might be the best player active in the scene right now. Those complications set it apart from the many other games that share the same basic formula. Despite its huge, complex economy and random maps, it far outlived games like Command and Conquer: Red Alert, and the also-rans of the RTS boom (ask me about Dark Colony sometime).
Its signature mechanic is that the tech tree is split into different eras, notionally corresponding to late antiquity through to the first half of the 16th century. It was a historical, Civilization-inspired take on the base-builder RTS that used gorgeous, historically vivid artwork to mask an incredibly complicated RTS. How many games can boast an active tournament scene 17 years after the release of their final expansion?Īge of Empires II was, in its day, more thematically accessible than games like StarCraft or Command & Conquer. That entire pool was a donation from a single fan who wanted to see the two top players duke it out. In September, two elite players who arguably are the best in the game right now-DauT and TheViper-played a best-of-21 exhibition match for a $2000 prize pool, complete with casters for every game.
It's still a living game, with an active competitive scene and tournaments. HD remasters are typically offered with a heavy dose of nostalgia for days gone by, but for Age of Empires II those days never fully ended. The first of these, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition, was planned to come out this week but has been delayed by Microsoft Studios.
#Age of empires 2 the conquerors series#
In no small part thanks to the series' enduring community, Microsoft is reviving the Age of Empires franchise with both a new sequel from developer Relic- Age of Empires IV-and a series of "remastered" Definitive Editions for Age of Empires I through III.
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