Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition wipes away that issue with several quality-of-life changes that make players more aware of what buildings are doing and making, what forces are at the player’s disposal, and more. One major frustration of Age of Empires II is that players have to constantly click on buildings to see what they are, what they are doing, and what they are producing. While Microsoft and the other developers on this project are taking that feedback to heart, they are still improving some ancillary parts of the game to improve the user experience. The developers of the game really stressed that one of the biggest requests from the community for this massive remaster was that the core gameplay that makes Age of Empires II what it is shouldn’t be touched. While some UI things have been streamlined to be more user friendly, the developers made sure that this Definitive Edition is as faithful as possible. “Microsoft has still managed to turn things up a notch with Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.”Īt its core, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is the same game as the original. While it remains to be seen if the game will run smoothly when at release, if Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition can keep up a stable frame rate at launch it will be worth picking up for the improved look alone. Any weariness I had about presentation was wiped away as soon as I got the chance to try the game on a 4K monitor for myself.

Let’s get visuals out of the way first – Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition looks great in action.

Age of empires hd vs original