I have reviewed Age of Empires 2: HD Edition before, you can go check it out before reading on. The core gameplay remains the same classic Age of Empires, an almost perfect RTS for me. It is a game I have been playing since I was a kid and even after 20 or so years, it continues to excite me.

It improves on the base game with some quality of life improvements like auto requeueing farms and fish traps which save you a lot of time and hassle in the midst of a war and later ages. It ensures that your production does not stop even if you don’t look after your villagers for a while. The AI has been overhauled and while the previous AI was difficult on the hardest setting, it still threw masses of soldiers at you mindlessly. The AI in the definitive edition is far more nuanced and learns your defense and offense techniques as the game goes on, finding new ♥♥♥♥♥♥ in your empire’s armor and crushing you on extreme settings. The Civilizations themselves have had a few changes and they have been tweaked for proper balance which was not there In the HD edition.

Aside from these, there are 4 new campaigns and 4 new civilizations to compliment them. All of them have the same uniqueness that the older ones had. The campaigns themselves have the same quality as the older campaigns and even the much maligned forgotten empires campaigns have been tweaked to give them a better play.

The bugs are also fewer this time around though multiplayer can still be a hassle. Frequent Crashes, bugged lobbies, time out, synchronization errors are still commonplace and it feels like it could have used some more work. The core multiplayer game itself is a complete joy and an absolute blast if it works. The lobbies itself are full of players and that in itself is remarkable for what is a 20 year old game.

The pathfinding of soldiers still leaves a little to be desired too. Overall, there is a definite improvement in gameplay but still has the annoying quirks of the old.


This is the part the definitive edition improves the most. The visuals have a sheen to them that can now put them along the modern RTS games’ map. The crumbling of buildings, the artistic difference of the civilization buildings, proper smoke when a cannon fires, everything has a very neat quality to it. Where the HD edition didn’t really do much for a visual upgrade, definitive edition comes ahead leaps and bounds in this area.


Simply put, the soundtrack of Age of Empires 2 is legendary. There is no better soundtrack in an RTS game that I have heard. The campaigns themselves themselves have had new voiceovers which reduce the old campiness of the dialogues. Even the forgotton empires campaigns which had no sound at all before has been given a new life by the new voiceovers. There is no better sound design in a RTS game than in Age of Empires 2. You know you are in for something amazing when the menu opens and the classic AOE2 soundtrack plays.


Could this have been better? Definitely, but as it stands, the definitive edition is the best way to play Age of Empires 2 now. Some quality of life improvements, upgraded visuals and the same solid gameplay at the core still takes Age of Empires 2 to my favorite RTS game of all time.



This review was brought to you by Silas Reviews

[h1]AGE OF EMPIRES 2: Definitive Edition[/h1] [h1]Silas Reviews[/h1] [h1]Gameplay[/h1] I have reviewed Age of Empires 2: HD Edition before, you can go check it out before reading on. The core gameplay remains the same classic Age of Empires, an almost perfect RTS for me. It is a game I have been playing since I was a kid and even after 20 or so years, it continues to excite me. It improves on the base game with some quality of life improvements like auto requeueing farms and fish traps which save you a lot of time and hassle in the midst of a war and later ages. It ensures that your production does not stop even if you don’t look after your villagers for a while. The AI has been overhauled and while the previous AI was difficult on the hardest setting, it still threw masses of soldiers at you mindlessly. The AI in the definitive edition is far more nuanced and learns your defense and offense techniques as the game goes on, finding new chinks in your empire’s armor and crushing you on extreme settings. The Civilizations themselves have had a few changes and they have been tweaked for proper balance which was not there In the HD edition. Aside from these, there are 4 new campaigns and 4 new civilizations to compliment them. All of them have the same uniqueness that the older ones had. The campaigns themselves have the same quality as the older campaigns and even the much maligned forgotten empires campaigns have been tweaked to give them a better play. The bugs are also fewer this time around though multiplayer can still be a hassle. Frequent Crashes, bugged lobbies, time out, synchronization errors are still commonplace and it feels like it could have used some more work. The core multiplayer game itself is a complete joy and an absolute blast if it works. The lobbies itself are full of players and that in itself is remarkable for what is a 20 year old game. The pathfinding of soldiers still leaves a little to be desired too. Overall, there is a definite improvement in gameplay but still has the annoying quirks of the old. [h1]Visuals[/h1] This is the part the definitive edition improves the most. The visuals have a sheen to them that can now put them along the modern RTS games’ map. The crumbling of buildings, the artistic difference of the civilization buildings, proper smoke when a cannon fires, everything has a very neat quality to it. Where the HD edition didn’t really do much for a visual upgrade, definitive edition comes ahead leaps and bounds in this area. [h1]Sound[/h1] Simply put, the soundtrack of Age of Empires 2 is legendary. There is no better soundtrack in an RTS game that I have heard. The campaigns themselves themselves have had new voiceovers which reduce the old campiness of the dialogues. Even the forgotton empires campaigns which had no sound at all before has been given a new life by the new voiceovers. There is no better sound design in a RTS game than in Age of Empires 2. You know you are in for something amazing when the menu opens and the classic AOE2 soundtrack plays. [h1]Overall[/h1] Could this have been better? Definitely, but as it stands, the definitive edition is the best way to play Age of Empires 2 now. Some quality of life improvements, upgraded visuals and the same solid gameplay at the core still takes Age of Empires 2 to my favorite RTS game of all time. [h1]Rating: 9/10[/h1] This review was brought to you by [url=https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/groups/SilasReviews]Silas Reviews[/url]