Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games. The games were first created by Ensemble Studios and later published by Xbox Game Studios.
The first game in the series, Age of Empires, covered events in Europe, Africa, and Asia from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. An expansion pack added content about the growth of the Roman Empire. The next game, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, took place during the Middle Ages. Its expansion pack included a part about the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. Age of Empires III and its two expansions covered the early modern period. During this time, Europe was colonizing the Americas, and many Asian countries were losing power. Another game, Age of Empires Online, is different because it is a free online game that uses the Games for Windows Live service. A related game called Age of Mythology took place during the same time as the original Age of Empires. However, it focused on stories from Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology. The fourth main game in the series, Age of Empires IV, was released on October 28, 2021. It also focuses on the Middle Ages.
The Age of Empires series has sold more than 25 million copies, making it a commercial success.
Games
The games in the series focus on historical events throughout time. Age of Empires covers events from the Stone Age to the Classical period in Europe and Asia. Its expansion, The Rise of Rome, follows the creation and growth of the Roman Empire. Age of Kings and its Nintendo DS version show events in Europe and Asia during the Middle Ages. The Age of Kings expansion, The Conquerors, takes place during the same time but also includes scenarios about the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, El Cid, and Attila the Hun. Age of Empires III and its first expansion, The WarChiefs, are set during the European colonization of the Americas. Its second expansion, The Asian Dynasties, shows the rise of Asian civilizations during the same time. Age of Empires Online focuses on Greek and Egyptian civilizations. The series' spin-off, Age of Mythology, and its expansion, The Titans, are set during the Bronze Age but focus on mythology instead of history.
Age of Empires, released on October 15, 1997, was the first game in the series and the first major release from Ensemble Studios. It was one of the first history-based real-time strategy games, using the Genie game engine. GameSpot described it as a mix of Civilization and Warcraft. The game lets players choose from 12 civilizations to develop from the Stone Age to the Iron Age. The expansion pack, The Rise of Rome, published by Microsoft on October 31, 1998, added new features and four new civilizations, including the Romans. Although the games had many software bugs, patches fixed many of the problems.
Age of Empires was generally well received, though some reviews were negative. GameSpot criticized its confusing design, while Computer and Video Games praised its strong single-player and multiplayer modes. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences named Age of Empires the 1998 "Computer Strategy Game of the Year." The game stayed high on sales charts, with over three million copies sold by 2000. The Rise of Rome sold one million copies in 2000 and had an 80% score from GameRankings.
In June 2017, Adam Isgreen, creative director of Xbox Game Studios, announced Age of Empires: Definitive Edition at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017. It includes updated graphics for 4K resolution, a remastered soundtrack, and gameplay improvements. It was planned for October 19, 2017, but was delayed until February 20, 2018, when it was released on the Microsoft Store. On May 30, 2019, Microsoft announced that the Definitive Edition would come to Steam, along with Definitive Editions of Age of Empires II and III.
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, released on September 30, 1999, used the Genie game engine and had gameplay similar to its predecessor. The game is set in the Middle Ages, from the Dark Ages to the Imperial Age, and lets players choose one of 13 civilizations from Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
On August 24, 2000, Microsoft released the expansion, The Conquerors. It added new units and five new civilizations, including the Maya and Aztec from Mesoamerica. Age of Kings was more successful than the first two games, with Game Rankings and Metacritic scores of 92%. Microsoft sold over two million copies, and the game won many awards. Critics praised The Conquerors as an improvement but noted some gameplay imbalances. Age of Kings and The Conquerors won the 2000 and 2001 "Computer Strategy Game of the Year" awards from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.
In April 2013, Age of Empires II: HD Edition was released on Steam for Windows. It includes the original game, The Conquerors expansion, and updated graphics for high-resolution displays. Age of Empires II: The Forgotten was an unofficial expansion that added new campaigns, civilizations, and maps. It later became an official expansion developed by SkyBox Labs and Forgotten Empires, with The Forgotten HD released in November 2013. A third expansion, The African Kingdoms, was released in November 2015, and a fourth, Rise of the Rajas, in December 2016. Microsoft announced Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on August 21, 2017.
In June 2019, Adam Isgreen, now the Franchise Creative Director for Age of Empires, shared details about Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2019. The game, developed by Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media, and Wicked Witch Software, includes 4K graphics, Xbox Live multiplayer support, four new civilizations, three new campaigns, and quality-of-life improvements. It was released on November 14, 2019. Bert Beeckman, co-founder of Forgotten Empires, confirmed that the HD Edition would remain available after the Definitive Edition's release.
Age of Empires III was released on October 18, 2005, and used an improved version of the Age of Mythology game engine. It features updated graphics and the Havok physics engine. The game takes place between 1421 and 1850 and lets players choose from eight European nations. It introduced "home cities," which provide resources, equipment, and upgrades. The first expansion, The WarChiefs, released on October 17, 2006, added three new civilizations, including Native American ones. The second expansion, The Asian Dynasties, released on October 23, 2007, was developed with Big Huge Games and added three Asian civilizations. Reception for Age of Empires III was mixed, with some calling it as fun as a history textbook and others praising its visuals. It sold over two million copies and won the GameSpy "real-time strategy game of the year" award. The WarChiefs and The Asian Dynasties had lower scores than the original game.
Several collector's editions of Age of Empires III included a hardcover artbook. The last page of the artbook shows a picture of the series, with Roman numerals from I to V, suggesting future games like Age of Empires IV and V. Ensemble Studios employee Sandy Petersen said the image was just a guess.
In 2008, Microsoft announced it would close Ensemble Studios after completing Halo Wars.
Development
The development of the Age of Empires games followed similar steps in many ways. Because the games were based on real historical events, the team needed to do a lot of research. However, the research was not very detailed, as Age of Empires designer Bruce Shelley explained. He said it was a good idea for most entertainment products to keep research simple. Shelley also mentioned that Ensemble Studios often used books from children's sections in libraries for reference. He noted the main goal was to make the game fun for players, not for the designers or researchers. At a conference in 2007, Shelley added that the series' success came from creating a game that appealed to both casual and experienced gamers. He also said the games were not about history itself, but about the human experience. They focused on what humans could do in the future, like exploring space. Ensemble Studios made Age of Mythology differently from the first two games. The team worried they could not make a third historical-based game and chose mythology as the setting after discussing other options.
The artificial intelligence (AI) in the Age of Empires series was improved regularly by the designers. AI specialist Dave Pottinger said the team gave the original game's AI a high priority and spent over a year working on it. He explained the AI used tactics and strategies to win, not by giving itself unfair advantages like extra resources or stronger units. Pottinger noted the team was proud of the AI playing a "fair game" by following the same rules as human players and not knowing the player's moves.
Age of Empires lets players choose between story-based conditions or individual battles against the AI or other players. Playing against the AI allows it to adapt to players' strategies and remember past wins and losses. After several games, the AI can overcome players' strategies and destroy their villages. In Age of Empires III, this is called a "Skirmish." The game also allows players to refine strategies by "building a Deck," which lets them replace "Home City" shipments with better options.
In Age of Empires II: The Conquerors, the AI was a top priority, leading to the "smart villager" feature. This feature was later used in other games. Smart villagers would collect resources related to structures they built, like crops from farms or ore from deposits.
Age of Mythology: The Titans lets players use an AI debugger to create custom scenarios. This tool allows players to change computer players' settings and make them follow specific patterns. Basic AI changes were available in the first two games.
The graphics in Age of Empires improved with each new release. Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings received praise for its better visuals compared to the original. Age of Mythology and Age of Empires III were also praised for their graphics. GameSpot and Eurogamer highlighted improvements in Age of Empires II, such as adding female villagers and better unit movement. However, some reviewers noted units were hard to tell apart in Age of Empires II. Game Revolution called it "the best looking of the 2D RTS games."
Age of Mythology's graphics were praised by many reviewers, with IGN and GameSpot giving high ratings. Age of Empires III's graphics were described as "unmatched" in the strategy genre. The game used advanced technology like Havok physics and PhysX to create realistic effects, such as buildings collapsing or trees falling without pre-recorded animations. GameSpy awarded Age of Empires III the "Best Graphics" award in 2005.
Stephen Rippy has been the music director for the series since the first game. He used real instruments and their digital recordings to create music that matched the game's historical settings. For Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, the team used knowledge of medieval instruments to make accurate music. In Age of Mythology, the team used orchestral music and collected audio from zoos to create a large sound library. Age of Empires III's music used historical instruments like bagpipes and field drums for realism.
Ensemble Studios and Big Huge Games worked together to develop Age of Empires III's expansion, The Asian Dynasties. This was their first joint project. Ensemble Studios was busy with other projects, like Halo Wars, while Big Huge Games had fewer projects. Big Huge Games did most of the work, but Ensemble Studios designers helped with ideas and controlled the final product. Both studios tested the game before its release.
Reception and legacy
The Age of Empires series has sold many copies of its games. By 2008, five games in the series had each sold more than one million copies. According to Gamasutra, the Age of Empires game had sold more than three million copies, and The Rise of Rome had sold one million copies by 2000. Around the same time, Microsoft announced that they had shipped over two million copies of The Age of Kings. In 2003, Microsoft reported that one million copies of Age of Mythology had been sold. By 2004, before Age of Empires III was released, the Age of Empires franchise had sold over 15 million copies. On May 18, 2007, Ensemble Studios announced that two million copies of Age of Empires III had been sold. Games in the series have received high scores on review websites like GameRankings and Metacritic, which collect ratings from many other review sites. The highest-rated game is Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, which received a 92% score from both sites.
Critics say Age of Empires influenced other real-time strategy (RTS) games, such as Rise of Nations, Empire Earth, and Cossacks. Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds also used the same game engine as Age of Empires and Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. Critics said it was very similar to those games. IGN began their review by saying, "I love Age of Star Wars, I mean Star Empires. Whatever it's called, I dig it." GameSpot noted that the game’s design was so similar to Age of Empires II that players familiar with it could easily play Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds. In October 2005, Shelley discussed the impact of the series in a GameSpy interview. He said parents told Ensemble Studios that their children were reading books about ancient Greece because they enjoyed playing with triremes in the game, or that they wanted to learn about medieval history after playing the game.
Shelley said the success of the games came from innovation, not copying other games. He said the unique features helped Ensemble Studios become known as experts in the real-time strategy genre. Mark Bozon of IGN wrote that the Age of Empires series was one of the most innovative real-time strategy games for PC in the last decade. Gamenikki called Ensemble Studios "the developer that started it all" when discussing how Age of Empires III helped advance the real-time strategy genre. Shelley said the success and innovation of Age of Empires helped Ensemble Studios survive during its early years. In 2005, Shelley mentioned that critics had an "innovation bias" against the series. He cited a 60% score from Computer Gaming World, noting that even though Age of Empires III was "perhaps the best-selling PC game in the world" at the time, reviewers expected something completely new and gave it lower ratings.
Bungie, the company that created the Halo series, chose Ensemble Studios to develop Halo Wars, an RTS game based on Halo. They said one reason for this choice was because of the success of the Age of Empires series. They also said Ensemble Studios was the best choice "to realize the original vision of Halo," which began as an RTS game.
In 2024, the Red Bull Wololo: El Reinado Age of Empires II tournament had the second-highest number of viewers in the game's history, reaching 85,800 people at the same time. The event took place at the Castle of Almodóvar, Spain, and included eight top players, such as TheViper and Hera, who won the final with a score of 5-1. This was a 12% increase in viewership compared to the previous tournament, showing the growing popularity of Age of Empires II in esports.