Age Of Empires 4 gameplay was finally shown to the world last week. The latest entry in the historical real-time strategy franchise was first announced back in 2017. It took two years us for to get to the point that we could see gameplay, and even then it was only a few minutes in a fairly underwhelming trailer.
If I sound bitter, it's because I am. A bit. But only because I've waited so long to actually learn more about Age Of Empires 4 that I was hoping the trailer might actually... reveal some more information. Annoyingly, all we really got from the X019 reveal was that development on the title is being handled by Relic Entertainment in partnership with a newly-formed internal studio called World's Edge.
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We also learned that the game's time period would be the Middle Ages, which of course was the same period featured in Age of Empires 2. But before you go thinking that the newest game is simply going to rehash what we've already seen from a previous title, it turns out there are going to be a few key differences.
Age of Empires 4 Creative Director Adam Isgreen recently spoke to PCGamesN and revealed that the upcoming game will feature a lengthier time period "on both ends." In other words, it'll start earlier than Age of Empires 2 did, and also finish later.
"Our time period is the Middle Ages, but it's slightly bigger - on both ends - than the time period from Age II," Isgreen explained. "So we start a little bit earlier than Age II's time and we go a little bit further, kind of bumping up against the early Renaissance."
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"We're not going to give you specific dates, because then people would be like 'ohmygod the campaigns must be this if the dates are this', and we're not talking about campaigns. I'd love to, and I could, but I'm not allowed to."
Age of Empires 2 featured four "ages": Dark, Feudal, Medieval, and Imperial. Presumably these ages will make a return in Age of Empires 4, alongside ages and civilizations not seen in the previous games.
It's unclear exactly how much further back and how much more into the future the new game will go, but there should be plenty for history buffs to sink their teeth into when the game finally launches. You know...whenever that might be.
Featured Image Credit: MicrosoftTopics: PC