The Abbasids get the Baghdad House of Wisdom which positions them to be a leader in tech and – hilariously if you know its real-world fate – grants fire resistance to nearby structures.īut these modest touch-ups didn't do much to change the fact that there's almost nothing in Age 4 that couldn't have existed 10 years ago.
The Chinese gain much of their gold income from Imperial Officials who walk around collecting taxes from all of your buildings. I mean, they each do play a bit differently unique techs, units, and landmarks are great at establishing an identity evoking their historical inspiration and varying up how you maximize your economy. The pacing is right where it needs to be when you're against an evenly skilled opponent.īut for six out of the eight playable factions, I just didn't feel like there was enough new going on here. Building walls and other defensive structures turns the late game into a tense chess match where map control is key, though eventually high-tech artillery like cannons will break the stalemate and lead to a decisive sweep for whoever fields them most effectively. A quick raid to murder some of your opponent's villagers and shut down their economy can be more strategically valuable than victory in any head-to-head engagement.
Winning pitched battles reliably requires knowing the rock-paper-scissors relationship between spears, horses, and bows. If you've been sending villagers out to hunt animals, mine gold, and chop wood for decades like I have, you can slide right into the armored boots of most of Age 4's factions with no real fuss at all. Outside of that, it often just seems too careful and safe in a world where Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition already exists. But it's the few spots where Relic has taken risks here and there that this battlefield shows us its best and feels modern. And there are some things about that which feel really nice, like comfort food for gamers of a certain age. Jumping into a match as the tenacious English squaring off against the chivalrous French feels like being transported back – not only to its setting of the High and Late Middle Ages, but to a different era of strategy games entirely. Age of Empires 4 is a base-building, sword-clashing, village-pillaging RTS of the classic style, inside and out.
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