Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition review — The classic strategy game returns in a fantastic package

Like many others, I have fond memories of playing Age of Empires II after school, so as soon as I had a chance to check out the definitive edition on the PlayStation 5, I jumped at it. Often, nostalgia blinds us to a game’s flaws and I certainly worried that would be the case here, but I am happy to report that Age of Empire II remains a remarkable strategy game, made all the better by its numerous expansions and updates over the years. After quite a few hours with the game, I can vouch for the fact that it plays wonderfully on the PlayStation 5 thanks to intuitive controls and well thought out menus. I was also quite impressed by the latest expansion, The Three Kingdoms, as it is fantastic and proves that despite the base game’s age, the fundamentals it was built on are still as solid as ever.

Before we dive into the game, I just want to point out how insane of a deal Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is. Not only does this package contain the massive base game which includes around 45 different civilizations spanning thousands of years of history, most with their own epic and fully-fleshed out campaigns to play through, but it also includes all previously released expansions including Lords of the West, Dynasties of India, and Dawn of the Dukes, along with  a brand new expansion The Three Kingdoms and a new game mode, Empire Wars. All together you have a whopping 200+ hours or so of content and that’s not even counting the insane replayability and epic online multiplayer matches which will steal hundreds of more hours from your life. Bundling this together in an affordable package would have been enough to warrant a purchase, but Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is made all the better thanks to updated 4K Ultra HD graphics which retain the look and feel of the original release while also providing much appreciated details, especially when zoomed fully in, a fully remastered soundtrack, and multiple quality-of-life updates.

Now, I’m not going to spend much time diving into what makes the base game great as it is one of the most beloved and revered strategy games of all time, but I will state that the game’s structure of gather supplies, build out your town, grow your military and workers, progress your technology, and destroy your enemies still remains as compelling as ever. If you’re new to the series and are afraid that the game may be too complex, worry not, as the tutorial campaign does a fantastic job training you on the details and the game itself is built around having fun and experimentation, rather than constantly worrying over tour town and its citizens. Don’t get me wrong, there is strategy involved, and on higher difficulties you will struggle, but as a whole this is a fast-paced strategy game built around accessibility.

What I do want to talk about is the fantastic job done by the developers of porting this game to the PlayStation 5, especially with the controls. While a keyboard and mouse may always be superior for a game such as this, that doesn’t mean that a controller, when configured correctly, can’t feel nearly as intuitive. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition makes great use of the trigger buttons, directional pad, and the pause menu to make sifting through your various tasks and units a breeze. Simply clicking on a unit, either a worker, soldier, or building, will allow you to press R2 to bring up a circular menu to quickly cycle through all available choices. Some menus have more than one page, which you can swap between by pressing the triangle button while viewing the menu. It’s a quick, simple, and effective way of managing the multitude of options players have.

If you need to provide direction to all workers, soldiers, etc. rather than to an individual unit, you can simply press and hold the corresponding directional button to do so, which comes in handy once you build up your town and have a large mass of citizens to keep track of. Finally, the pause menu allows you to access your technology tree, inventory, and more, enabling you to quickly plan out your town’s trajectory or to help an ally in need. Overall, the transition from PC controls to a controller works without a hitch, with easy to grasp and remember controls and an intuitive user interface.

The real star of this release is the new DLC, The Three Kingdoms and the Empire Wars game mode. Let’s look at The Three Kingdoms first.

The Three Kingdoms contains a fully fleshed out story featuring three new campaigns revolving around Liu Bei, Cao Cao, and the Sun Clan, allowing players to take control of Shu, Wei, and Wu forces as they fight their way across China. As always, each force has its own unique units, technology, and abilities, while each story features choices to be made which can drastically alter the narrative, such as recruiting an enemy to join your side, or executing them to send your enemies a message. Among the new units are rocket cart siege engines, traction trebuchets, fire lancers, and dragon ships, all of which pack a punch and allow for new strategies. As a surprise, there are two additional playable civilizations, the Jurchens and the Khitans, though neither has a fleshed-out campaign. 

While The Three Kingdoms doesn’t necessarily expand on the base game’s formula too much, it is still a worthwhile addition to the series, boasting an interesting story, some fun new civilizations and units to play with, great aesthetics, and 10 to 15 hours of story content. Best yet, it’s included in the Definitive Edition for free, so you really can’t go wrong.

Lastly, the Empire Wars mode is quite fun, forcing the player to test their skills as they build their town and economy up from the Feudal Age, but with a twist. You begin with 27 villagers, a couple economic buildings, and a barracks, giving you a head start allowing for aggressive gameplay and a quick jump into the action, skipping over the early and sometimes lengthy parts of building up a village. Essentially Empire Wars boils down to a trimmed down and sped up version of the game, meant for those with less time to dedicate to a full-blown match. Also of note is that Empire Wars can be played on any map included in the Definitive Edition, which is appreciated.