Review – Age of Empires IV

With huge thanks to the folks at Xbox Game Studios, I’ve been spending a fair amount of time with the real-time historical strategy Age of Empires IV. As the latest in a long-running and well-loved franchise, this one has a lot to live up to. As ever you can find our video review and extended written review just here. Both written and video review as usual come with our common-sense parent’s guide.

The Basics

Leaving out remasters and the like, it has been just over 15 years since the last entry into the series with Age of Empires III. It’s been even longer, a little over 20 years, since my long-time love Age of Empires II released back in the 90s. IV really could not be more welcome, bringing a wonderful blend of old nostalgic features and sounds, with up-to-date visuals, multiplayer and an awful lot to get stuck into.

In Age of Empires IV you’ll play as one of eight fledgling civilisations, with the Abbasid Dynasty, Chinese, Delhi Sultanate, Holy Roman Empire, English, French, Mongols and Rus. You’ll need to use villagers to collect food, wood, gold and stone in order to create buildings and troops, expanding and defending your empire.

The buildings you place, troops you train and battlefield tactics are all important elements of winning each skirmish and scenario. Each civilisation brings its own unique buildings, troops and skills. To advance between ages in Age of Empires IV, rather than just collecting resources and clicking a button you’ll need to choose and build a new landmark which also gives additional bonuses.

There’s a huge amount to do in this one, with single and multiplayer fun to be had across a significant number of game modes. Age of Empires IV will feel very familiar for those who’ve been playing since the late 90s. This entry into the franchise brings in-depth and entertaining behind-the-scenes videos, as well as compelling narration for each of the four campaigns which follow real-world historic plot lines. If you haven’t played the Age series previously, you should expect strategic real-time medieval warfare, building and troop management, and a whole lot of fun.

Parent’s Eye View

Age of Empires 4 is rated by PEGI at 12 and above, and by the ESRB at T for Teen. With the focus on Medieval warfare, there is of course a huge amount of violence in the title. Each campaign mission, skirmish and multiplayer bout will hinge upon battles between spearmen, swordsmen, archers, knights and siege weaponry. However, while battle itself does play a large part, blood and gore do not.

This has been a really quite tricky one to mark from a parent’s point of view. The title does contain strategic man-to-man warfare, however there’s not much else of concern. The other PEGI and ESBR warnings for language, fear, discrimination and sex don’t really get a look in. Online play of course does, however this can be easily mitigated through parental management on your machine and isn’t a huge concern as long as you are paying attention.

With this in mind, the lack of blood and gore, and the huge educational opportunities in the title, it is one which I’ve let the Micro-Bandits watch me play, and indeed have their own turn. There’s a lot for young ones to learn here, from the most abstract strategy and management to the very real-world history of historic events. With all this in mind it is one which I’m happy for our Micro-Bandits to get involved with, but it’s worth watching the battle scenes within our Pixel Bandits review video to make your own mind up for your young ones.

Accessibility

For accessibility, Age of Empires 4 is picking up a rating of casual. At its worst, the Age series can be brutal, and it’s not one which I myself play on harder difficulties. Luckily, there are some great options within single player matches for players to choose their own difficulty. This includes a story mode, where battles are relatively easy and the focus is instead on the historic narrative.

There is also a well made initial tutorial which will give you the very basics. In addition, however, there are a number of different training scenarios within the title’s Art of War area. These are pitched as challenges, but in reality provide additional training for players to up-skill their own game.

While there is a huge amount to do, the pick-up and put-down factor of Age of Empires IV is high. Controls are intuitive and easy to get to grips with, and the easy-access to quick tutorials will help players to get back into the title if they’ve forgotten any elements. Additionally, all common keys and keyboard shortcuts can be remapped to your own preference, working really well with hardware such as a stream-deck or accessible controller. With all this in mind, including great training features, a number of story modes and the fact that you don’t need to dedicate your life to it, the barrier to entry is supremely low.

The Run Down

Visuals – Great: The up-close and personal gameplay elements of Age of Empires IV have been brilliant, even when there’s a lot going on, on the screen. I have had one or two drops in frame rate, surprisingly only during cutscenes, but in the heat of battle gameplay looks cracking.

Audio – Great: Age of Empires 4 brings all the old sounds up to date, and playing this version is a huge nostalgia trip which is superbly kind on the ears. Additionally, the voiceover work throughout the campaign, tutorials and educational videos is outstanding

Narrative – Great: Each campaign follows real if a little simplified history, and provides significant amounts of detail. The behind the scenes videos add more layers, to provide a compelling narrative which will keep you happy if you like learning a little more about history.

Replay – Great: If there was a rating higher than great for replay value, Age of Empires 4 would get it. With 8 different civilisations each having their own unique abilities, players can experience four campaigns with William of Normandy, the Hundred Years War, the rise of Moscow and the Mongol Empire. There are also a large number of training scenario challenges, which teach you the various tactical aspects of the title allowing you to earn bronze, silver and gold awards. There are also single-player skirmishes available with a number of options to set up your game. This is before we’ve even got to online multiplayer where you can play cooperatively or competitively with others. There’s always going to be something to draw you back in

Overall the Pixel Bandits Lionheart Level for Age of Empires 4 is Grab It! Age of Empires 4 is an absolutely stellar outing in the franchise, and after over 15 years it’s great to see. I didn’t think anything could touch Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition, but 4 has really provided well above expectations.

With unlocks including further historical education videos, great tactical gameplay, lovely visuals and newly remastered nostalgic sounds which will take you back decades, this is another one which for me, is a must grab.