The basic real-time technique franchise Age of Empires, revealed by Microsoft since its debut 25 years in the past, will come to Xbox for the primary time on the finish of January. Age of Empires 2: Definitive Version, a 2019 remaster of the 1999 recreation, will launch Jan. 31 through Xbox Recreation Move, and the extra up to date Age of Empires 4 will get a console launch “later within the yr,” Microsoft stated on Tuesday.
The announcement didn’t specify which Xbox consoles would get the brand new variations, past saying each video games will probably be accessible through the Microsoft Retailer, Xbox Recreation Move, and Xbox Recreation Move Final. The console variations will nonetheless assist keyboard and mouse inputs, and in addition be playable with a controller.
Age of Empires 4 — and all its trebuchets — launched Oct. 28, 2021, and on PC Recreation Move the identical day.
“We knew that bringing the complexity of RTS to Xbox consoles was a large job and one we needed to strategy rigorously and thoughtfully,” co-developer World’s Edge stated in Tuesday’s assertion. “The crew has been working arduous to carry an expertise that not solely feels nice utilizing a controller, but additionally teaches gamers the right way to play on Xbox.”
Age of Empire’s controller inputs generally is a bit tough because the recreation entails a number of clicking round on numerous models and scrolling across the map. The Xbox variations will characteristic a tutorial that can present new customers the right way to play the sport, in addition to the controller-specific inputs. The builders additionally added a recreation AI to assist make useful resource administration “environment friendly and intuitive.”
Age of Empires 2 and Age of Empires 4 will assist cross-platform play, permitting console customers to play alongside Home windows PC veterans. So we’ll see later the way it the Xbox variations measure up towards mouse-and-keyboard rivals.
