It’s hard for me to review Age of Empires III DE. I have played the original release religiously since it came out and am a huge history fan, with these kind of games being a large part of the reason it was my minor in university. However, the remaster is not without its flaws. The first part may be biased, but I dislike the UI changes, so much so, That I stated it throughout the beta in the feedback system for nearly six months before official release. One thing I give the Age of Empires II remaster major props for , is keeping the original layout of the UI.

The second issue is in the historical revisionism. While the “Age of Discovery” was not a pleasant time, it was a fact of life of the time. The European Powers sent out colonial charters and tried to claim as much land as they could. So renaming the first two ages: from Discovery and Colonial to Exploration and Commerce is odd. With the fact that a game based on the entire institution of colonialism being afraid to label it as such is jarring at best and pathetic at worst. The second part of this will be on the second campaign from the war chiefs expansion. Where the entire story has been redone to fit a new narra to be. In the original release. The half Lakota protagonist is caught between increasing tensions of the Lakota people and the settlers coming during the period of westward expansion. With the character’s mother Amelia Black describing a crucial fact of humanity “ Like all people, some are gentle, and others not” when referring to the portrayl of the Lakota by the settlers. With the campaign coming down to what side the protagonist will side with. In the remake, this narrative was thrown out the window. With the story going from Westwood expansion forced the hands of the Lakota, to detecting the settlers as monsters and entirely in the wrong. With the story removing all combat with Lakota for the first two thirds of the campaign and forcing the player to fight “bandits” then having the player fight the settlers and a repainting of General Custer. From the first game’s “follow your conicense, but you must pick a side.” to the remaster treating him like Governer Radcliffe from Pocahontas. All that was missing was the musical number. As a consequence , it turns the whole campaign into a few hours of misrepresentation, something the original addressed well. For these reasons, I can’t recommend the remake, while the changes to multiplayer are a nice addition to the game. If you want a themeatic game on the period. Then this remaster sadly fails to hit the Mark.

It’s hard for me to review Age of Empires III DE. I have played the original release religiously since it came out and am a huge history fan, with these kind of games being a large part of the reason it was my minor in university. However, the remaster is not without its flaws. The first part may be biased, but I dislike the UI changes, so much so, That I stated it throughout the beta in the feedback system for nearly six months before official release. One thing I give the Age of Empires II remaster major props for , is keeping the original layout of the UI. The second issue is in the historical revisionism. While the “Age of Discovery” was not a pleasant time, it was a fact of life of the time. The European Powers sent out colonial charters and tried to claim as much land as they could. So renaming the first two ages: from Discovery and Colonial to Exploration and Commerce is odd. With the fact that a game based on the entire institution of colonialism being afraid to label it as such is jarring at best and pathetic at worst. The second part of this will be on the second campaign from the war chiefs expansion. Where the entire story has been redone to fit a new narra to be. In the original release. The half Lakota protagonist is caught between increasing tensions of the Lakota people and the settlers coming during the period of westward expansion. With the character’s mother Amelia Black describing a crucial fact of humanity “ Like all people, some are gentle, and others not” when referring to the portrayl of the Lakota by the settlers. With the campaign coming down to what side the protagonist will side with. In the remake, this narrative was thrown out the window. With the story going from Westwood expansion forced the hands of the Lakota, to detecting the settlers as monsters and entirely in the wrong. With the story removing all combat with Lakota for the first two thirds of the campaign and forcing the player to fight “bandits” then having the player fight the settlers and a repainting of General Custer. From the first game’s “follow your conicense, but you must pick a side.” to the remaster treating him like Governer Radcliffe from Pocahontas. All that was missing was the musical number. As a consequence , it turns the whole campaign into a few hours of misrepresentation, something the original addressed well. For these reasons, I can’t recommend the remake, while the changes to multiplayer are a nice addition to the game. If you want a themeatic game on the period. Then this remaster sadly fails to hit the Mark.