The original 'Age of Empires' is coming back in February with new 'Definitive Edition'
The wait for Age of Empires: Definitive Edition — the remastered and improved version of 1997's Age of Empires — is almost over.
Mircrosoft announced on Thursday that Age of Empires: Definitive Edition will be released for PC on Feb. 20 for $19.99.
Definitive Edition takes everything that made Age of Empires one of the best real-time strategy games of its time, but gives it a fresh coat of paint and some much-needed system-level improvements.
For years, the original Age of Empires has been unplayable for most people, given the 20-year-old game's outdated computer requirements. Now, with Age of Empires: Definitive Edition, longtime fans of the original can enjoy the game once again and new players to the franchise can experience what the series was like at its roots.
"It’s kind of like how you remember Age of Empires 1 from ‘97, just better.”
Microsoft's Jörg Neumann said in an interview in September that he had the idea to remake the first Age of Empires, wanting to make it playable again with a few modern improvements. To do this, many parts of the game had to be rebuilt from scratch.
“We redid every piece of art, every sound effect, we rewrote all the music, but we kept its soul intact as much as we possibly could," Neumann said. "It’s kind of like how you remember Age of Empires 1 from ‘97, just better.”
The Definitive Edition actually runs on the same engine as the original game. That said, there are some notable quality of life improvements seen in the remake, including improved path finding for units, the ability to queue units being created, upping the unit population limit, redoing the UI, enhancing animations, and balancing some elements for multiplayer.
Additionally, the game's campaigns have been sped, some victory conditions have been changed, and the development team added a map editor and mod support.
For purists, the Definitive Edition also allows you to play the game without any of the improvements or new additions.
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition was originally planned to come out in October but was delayed.
