Age of Empires IV will be released this Fall, Microsoft revealed today during their 'Fan Preview' live streamed event. The game, originally announced over two years ago with Relic Entertainment (Company of Heroes, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War) as the developer, now has its own Steam page. Check out the brand new gameplay trailer below.
Alongside the release window news, we also got some info on the content that will be available in Age of Empires IV. For example, there will be four campaigns, one of which is the Norman campaign.
William of Normandy sets forth on the hard-fought road to conquer England and seize its throne. What follows is an epic story of invasion, anarchy, rebellion, and family conflict – all with the player in command.
Age of Empires IV will feature several new civilizations, such as the Chinese.
The Chinese civilization is immense and resilient, with the potential for tremendous growth and advancement throughout the game. With a strong focus on expanding their empire, they are capable of developing massive armies with their explosive strength.
Another new entry is the Delhi Sultanate.
The Delhi Sultanate is a powerful technology-based civilization with a key advantage in research, and the potential to emerge as a mighty force capable of devastating their opponents.
Fans even got to see a brief teaser of naval combat as a naval fleet closed in on a little island.
Lastly, here's a behind-the-scenes video with the developers at Relic Entertainment.
Age of Empires IV fans will be offered the chance to test the game's closed beta as part of the Age Insider program. You can sign up for that via the franchise's official site.
The Definitive Editions of the first three Age of Empires games are also receiving some updates in the near future, by the way. More specifically, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is getting a new expansion titled Dawn of the Dukes this Summer, and later this year the game will see the addition of Co-Op Historical Battles.
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition, on the other hand, will be updated on April 13th with a new civilization, the United States, featuring a new home city, nine new units, a new age-up mechanic, and more. The U.S. civilization will be free for a limited time for those who complete a 50 State Challenge; all players need to do is completing up to 3 challenges per day and unlock the civ on the completion of the last challenge. Otherwise, the U.S. civilization may also be purchased for $4.99.
Later this year, some new African civilizations are going to be added to the game as well.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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