Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition Review

The Age of Empires saga originated as far back as 1997. Over the years, however, the three chapters have had a new life thanks to Forgotten Empires who have adapted them to what are today’s game parameters. The original Age of Empires III is a game that still to this day appears “fresh and interesting”, however the revival has brought the game to a whole new light. Let’s discover together the fresh look of the third chapter of the saga. Here is my Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition review on PC.

DETAILED HISTORY

As many fans will know, each chapter of the Age of Empires saga deals with a specific historical period in time. The first chapter ranged from the Stone Age to the period before the rise of the Roman Empire. The second goes from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance with interludes set in the New World. The last chapter instead goes from the conquest of the New World to the Industrial Revolution, with a detailed look into the Eastern empires. Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition aims to be much more than just an ordinary real-time strategy game, but a thorough analysis into history.

The historical devotion and the notions that could be learned by only playing the game, distinguished the saga from other similar titles. This desire to make the game as faithful and accurate as possible is reflected in the units and audio of some tribes that have found new life. This might sound strange, but I have heard so many times where it helped students with research that were maybe difficult to find on the internet.

USER INTERFACE

Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition should have been a simple restyle, however, the game instead received some rather significant changes. The first thing that you will notice that distinguishes the Definitive Edition from its original version is the layout of the User Interface.

Here, fortunately, Forgotten Empires offer a few choices to the players. It will in fact be possible to choose between a pre-defined layout, the one introduced with all the Definitive Editions, and the classic one you may be used to from the original titles. Each of these layouts has, as expected, the same characteristics, but with different arrangements. All of these options allow for a better integration to the title, both for those who are new and perhaps have bought it out of curiosity, and for old players who have enjoyed the original titles.

IMPORTANT INNOVATIONS

Two of the most important innovations with Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition are the Historical Battles and Art of War modes. The first, as one might expect, addresses important historical battles fought throughout history. However, with Art of War, you will face completely different scenarios each and every time.

In fact, each battle will see you in command of a specific army, with completely different settings and objectives. Tackling them all will certainly not be a walk in the park, at least in the most challenging difficulty. Yes, this will certainly tease even veterans of the genre, but the difficulty sometimes goes a bit overboard, especially on certain occasions. Fortunately, the experience system returns to your aid.

Through a preset deck of cards, it guarantees you constant support during your adventures. Gathering the necessary experience to activate the cards at your disposal will be an effortless task. Killing and training troops, developing technologies, or destroying enemy buildings will grant you a lot of experience. Take note that building commercial bases along the routes will also serve the same purpose. At first, Historical Battles may seem simpler than it really is. However, when it comes to the Art of War mode, it will put your knowledge and skills to the ultimate test.

This mode in AoE III: DE is nothing more than a timed mode with some basic scenarios and others that are much more complex. Completing all the challenges at gold level will not be easy and very often you will have to try again several times. In fact, even the slightest of mistakes can compromise the fate of the challenge.

TRIBES AND IMPROVEMENTS

Besides the new modalities that will definitely see you engage with AoE III: DE, Forgotten Empires have also introduced two new civilizations, which are the Incas and the Swedes. They have also adopted cards for these two civilizations to customize your deck and the relative “Motherland” which for the occasion has been revised and implemented with all populations.

These more important changes have been followed by other more targeted ones. Besides the additional features introduced with the various Definitive Editions, there are now also improved and extended zoom levels, building range and progress indicators, and so on. However, some “poetic licenses” that the developers of Age of Empires III had adopted at the time have been removed. With the collaboration of Native Americans and First Nations consultants, the developers corrected errors in representations of indigenous civilizations, events, and characters in American history. The developers have therefore done extensive work not only from a graphic point of view but also from a historical point of view.

CONCLUSION

AoE III: DE continues on the right path set by Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. In fact, Forgotten Empires gave a new light to a game that had surprised the players a lot when it was released way back in 2005. The support for 4K combined with the new technical and graphic system completely renewed the game that still has thousands of active players to this day. The beneficiaries of this hard work are certainly the environment, the cutscenes, the animations, and the new physical system. All this turns out to be like the icing on the cake for a game that was already very complete and well structured. However, even with these masterful changes, in some ways it is still inferior to that which characterized Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.

The renewal did not come only visually. Although it is now a gem for everyone to see and play, it is with the audio sector that the differences are even more noticeable. Both in the narrated part of the dialogues and with ambient sounds, you can see the intense work done by the developers to adopt more realistic and full-bodied sounds than the previous chapters.

Do you want to try Forgotten Empires’ Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition? What do you think of my Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition review on PC? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below. Are you interested in more recently released games? Check out our reviews for The Survivalists, FIFA 21, Port Royale 4, and Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time.