Age of Empires: Definitive Edition Arrives on Windows 10

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition Arrives on Windows 10

Microsoft announced today that Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is now available on Windows 10. The game is a remastered and remade version of the original Age of Empires and its Rise of Rome expansion pack.

“Today is an exciting day for us at Microsoft, as we celebrate the legacy of Age of Empires with today’s release of Age of Empires: Definitive Edition worldwide on Windows 10 PCs,” a Microsoft representative told me. “We created Age of Empires: Definitive Edition as an homage to all Real Time Strategy (RTS) fans and to PC gamers everywhere.”

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According to Microsoft, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition has been fully remastered with enhanced graphics that support 4K resolutions, an orchestral soundtrack, a new narrative, and major gameplay improvements, including Xbox Live multiplayer support and achievements.

Microsoft is so excited by this remake that it is now working on Definitive Editions of Age of Empires II and Age of Empires III too. And it is hosting live Age of Empires tournaments at select Microsoft retail stores starting on March 1.

You can learn more at the Age of Empires website.

 

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Conversation 18 comments

  • NoFlames

    20 February, 2018 - 12:58 pm

    <p>Nice to see they released this in the store. </p>

  • arunphilip

    20 February, 2018 - 2:04 pm

    <p>The opening video is glorious, grand and worthy of such a title. </p><p><br></p><p>I don't do MP, and have started the SP campaign. Nice blast from the past, to be playing scenarios that I'd last played nearly 2 decades ago. Goodbye sleep. </p><p><br></p><p>Though later games in the AOE series and RON have spoilt me – the micromanagement required for villagers gathering resources isn't exactly enthralling. </p>

  • scd147

    Premium Member
    20 February, 2018 - 3:44 pm

    <p>SWEET!</p>

  • RM

    20 February, 2018 - 3:51 pm

    <p>Interesting that it uses Xbox Live on Windows 10, but no support for running the game on Xbox. I think that is the first time I have seen that on a major or simi-major game release.</p>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      20 February, 2018 - 3:59 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#247275"><em>In reply to RM:</em></a></blockquote><p>It’s because the game is RTS and not suited for a console. </p>

  • simont

    Premium Member
    20 February, 2018 - 4:03 pm

    <p>Now I just have to wait for it to come out on Steam as previous Windows Store releases were not exactly handled well.</p>

  • truerock

    20 February, 2018 - 5:30 pm

    <p>I'm not much of a video gamer – but, I've always followed the related technologies and find the history interesting. I own 121 games on Steam and 51 Good Old Games. Most of those games were developed in the 1990's with quite a few from the 1980s.</p><p><br></p><p>I'm downloading Age of Empires – Definitive Addition on Windows 10 Store. It's a 17GB download and it's running at 88 Mb/s for some reason – so, it will take a while. I've never owned an Xbox and I do not have an Xbox account – so, that will be an experience.</p><p><br></p><p>I own Age of Empires II – HD Edition on Steam. If I remember correctly it was not a great port. I'll fire it up and remind myself and compare it to Microsoft's latest work.</p><p><br></p><p>****************************************************</p><p><br></p><p>So… a flawless port – in my opinion. I wish all classic games were re-developed to this quality.</p><p><br></p><p>It would be nice if there were a "classic mode" to provide the original game experience. The ultimate experience would be to run the original Age of Empires in a Window 10 version of Microsoft Virtual PC 2004.</p><p><br></p><p>What I like about the Microsoft implementation is that it doesn't require a separate shell (like Steam) to initiate the game.</p><p><br></p>

    • JCerna

      Premium Member
      20 February, 2018 - 10:11 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#247291"><em>In reply to truerock:</em></a></blockquote><p>Tha is for the feedback, I am going to buy it. I own all pass games including the remakes. I will say downloading from Microsoft store sucks. It's slow and errors out, and does not allways resume if you loose connection. Gears of War took 1 week to get with multiple tries. Second I wish this was also avaliable on Xbox, hey keyboard and mouse support is coming right…</p>

    • nbates66

      21 February, 2018 - 9:16 am

      <blockquote><a href="#247291"><em>In reply to truerock:</em></a></blockquote><p>Devs have said that Classic mode is on the books, but will be Singleplayer only, I'm not sure if it got implemented yet.</p>

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    20 February, 2018 - 10:10 pm

    <p>i remember having an Age of Empires mouse pad, back in 1997. That is a real blast from the past!</p>

  • fbman

    21 February, 2018 - 12:14 am

    <p>I pre-ordered it, I even got a free game out of the deal when they delayed the game last year. My game has downloaded, but I have not had the chance to play it.</p><p><br></p><p>I still own the orignal Gold edition, it will be interesting to see the improved visuals compared to that gold edition.</p>

  • My Hell baby speaking

    21 February, 2018 - 2:56 am

    <p>52% one star reviews, what went wrong? </p>

    • spacein_vader

      Premium Member
      21 February, 2018 - 3:09 am

      <blockquote><a href="#247340"><em>In reply to My Hell baby speaking:</em></a></blockquote><p>Some people will review bomb it purely for Windows store only. Others don't like it b cause the quality of life features we expect in a modern RTS haven't been backported. For example the villager micromanagement is exactly the same as the original so it's very authentic, but some won't like that they need to be monitored quite so much.</p>

      • My Hell baby speaking

        21 February, 2018 - 3:25 am

        <blockquote><a href="#247342"><em>In reply to spacein_vader:</em></a></blockquote><p>People disguising their negativity towards the windows store by giving technical reasons? While technical issues are being reported all over the internet?</p><p>A case of 'you are playing it wrong'? </p>

        • spacein_vader

          Premium Member
          21 February, 2018 - 9:29 am

          <blockquote><a href="#247358"><em>In reply to My Hell baby speaking:</em></a></blockquote><p>I didn't say that all of the reviews were for that. I haven't looked at them as I've no interest in either the game (the original still works for me,) or the Windows app store.</p>

    • scd147

      Premium Member
      22 February, 2018 - 9:31 am

      <blockquote><a href="#247340"><em>In reply to My Hell baby speaking:</em></a></blockquote><p>I wish it had a few of the refinements that came in AoE II afterwards, especially auto-replenishing farms. I can't speak for anybody else, but I like it so far. I love the remastered orchestral music. </p>

  • ericoboe

    Premium Member
    27 February, 2018 - 6:57 pm

    <p>over half of reviews leave one or two stars…. buggy!</p>

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