Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition (AoE2) is, has been, and probably always will be a favorite strategy game for competitive online gaming. With its classic game style and constant unit balancing, it remains relevant and re-playable. Even so, more than 25 years later, new content is being released. But if you are like me, the competitive play is fun, but often I crave a different sort of gaming. Age of Empires 2 provides more than the online competitive mode that launched it into popularity.
Endless updates and new content
Firstly, AoE 2 has some of the best casual game modes out there. With over 250 individual scenario missions and 56 different civilizations, 25 of which were released in the last seven years, focusing on various famous historical figures, you could play only this mode for weeks at a time and still have missions left incomplete. I have always been a student of history, and it stems from this game. I was 10-ish years old when it came out, and it captured my attention in such a way that I wanted to learn who these people were and how true the game handles these historical moments. Turns out, it’s pretty accurate. So, on top of the sheer amount of playtime AoE 2 provides, it can also pique the curiosity to go learn more about some of the most famous conflicts in history as well as some of the lesser-known skirmishes.
In recent years, civilizations like the Bohemians and the various factions of what the famous Genghis Khan horde became were added, and curiosity was rekindled. You can also learn who Edward Longshanks was before the events of the movie Braveheart (1995). The point is, the content is still flowing in. If you don’t want to read about these events, you still know the names and can now find any number of movies, shows, podcasts, and deep dives related to them. Examples from a couple of the more recent releases include the movie Alexander (2004), starring Colin Farrell, and the TV show Vikings (2013-22), starring Travis Fimmel and even one of the Skarsgård brothers.
Hours of entertainment
Next, even if history is not your thing, this game still offers great gameplay even by modern standards. You have access to endless procedurally generated skirmishes with any number of combinations of civilizations to choose from. Fight in the deserts of Arabia, the Black Forest in Europe, or sail the seven seas in a naval battle. Each time you play, the map will be different. You can reenact your own favorite battles from the Japanese-Sicilian War if you were ever curious how those nations might have fared.
The game can be as easy or difficult as you choose and gives you a chance to learn the mechanics before stepping it up. No need for all the hotkeys and build orders if you don’t want to during a single-player versus bots skirmish.
Fun solo; better with friends
Lastly, this game is great with friends. I have no telling how many hours of gameplay I’ve spent playing casually against friends or, my personal favorite, me and friends facing down varying difficulty AI opponents.
Many times, one or two of us had our bases crushed by the enemy, only to rebuild behind our other friend’s base and reestablish dominance. We call this ‘super basing’, and it’s some of my fondest and most hilarious gaming memories: barely holding the last line of defense for an hour while my bros slowly send in reinforcements for a narrow victory. Taking up more of the ever-dwindling real estate until our border homogenizes into one massive multinational city-state.
Incidentally, if you struggle long against an AI opponent to finally gain the upper hand and want to utterly annihilate them before they surrender: just set chat to “Everyone” and type “104” (Don’t Resign) command, and you can crush them.
A million ways to play
This game is extremely competitive online but has several other ways to play if you are not feeling competitive one night. Many people who have heard of or own this game probably already know a lot of this, but even so, there is so much content that is easily missed or maybe even forgotten. I will leave you with this: if you are struggling on a campaign mission or skirmish and do not care about achievements, press Enter and type “how do you turn this on”. Enjoy!
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