Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition was one of the nicest surprises of last year and brought with it lots of warm and fuzzy feelings of nostalgia.
Remasters and remakes don't always capture what made the original version so good, but this one did so excellently.
That's probably why it's still getting support and new content a full year later.
This latest update brings with it an incredible new mode too.
Age of Empires 2 is getting a battle royale mode
The latest update adds in a battle royale mode, which is unusual in a strategy game to stay the least. It's an eight-player mode that has the players fanning out across the map to try and build up a big enough army to come out on top. It's an incredibly cool idea.
It's also a good time to look back at what the game has changed since launch a year ago:
- 20 Game Updates (now 21)!
- 10 in-game events, including two crossovers with other franchise games!
- 4 new Art of War missions!
- Two new Challenge Scenarios: the Mongol Raiders (which will return) and Barbarossa Brawl!
- Three new Maps based off community favourites: Four Lakes, Golden Swamp, and Land Nomad!
- New Unlocks, Campaign Medals, and Rewards!
- Updated matchmaking to offer unique map pools for 1v1/Team Games and Random Match/Deathmatch!
- Ranked map bans and preferred map selection!
- AI Improvements GALORE!
- New Stats-tracking and Leaderboards!
That's impressive for sure, but what else comes in this update.
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What else is in the update?
According to the simplified version on the Age of Empires site, this update brings:
- New game mode: Battle Royale!
- New seasonal event: The Age of Empires II: DE Anniversary Event!
- New Quick Play functionality: featuring Random Map, Battle Royale, and Empire Wars!
- Various performance and stability improvements!
- Improved wall placement and other quality of life features!
- A plethora of civilization, map, and gameplay balance changes!
- The ‘Prefer Random’ multiplayer option now takes effect if selected by a majority of players!
- New and improved functionality for the Scenario Editor: including new triggers and .xs scripting support!
It's the best possible time to jump back into AoE. Wololo!
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