3.5/5: A faithful remake. Very similar to the original, but with notable changes. Pros: better graphics than the original (obv), all god powers reusable, easy modding (does complicate multiplayer), more lively multiplayer base. Cons: issues with underworld maps being unplayable, AI basically the same as original (potentially slightly worse?) with bots being predictable at best and not completely functional at worst (e.g. AI seems hydrophobic). The game has potential if known issues are addressed in future updates.

I bought this game to play with a friend, I am a long time fan of all the age of empires games and the original, the game is amazing very well built. The reasoning behind me giving this game a 1 star is it is fundamentally defective, I bought it installed it and tried to run it, however it simply doesn't work, I updated every driver, disabled every piece of software like MSI Afterburner that could conflict with it, tried every launch setting, my computer meets every single not only minimum but also recommended spec. I do not know what is wrong but this software is fundamentally defective, it does not work it will not launch. This has been an issue for many people sense the game came out, the developers shipped a broken product and I don't see them trying to correct it with like an update or anything.

Update, I contacted the developers explaining that I updated all my drivers, disabled all the software like MSI afterburner that they said could conflicted with the game, explained that it still didn't work, and sent them my DxDiag file which they asked for. Their response was to send me a link to their help page which and tell me to update my drivers and turn off programs like MSI afterburner, which is what I said I already did. So I redid everything and it still doesn't work.

Like I really want to play this game, I am a big fan of the series, it is just that the developers seem to have made a fundamentally defective product and it feels like when I read the gmail I got from them it feels like they have contempt for their fans.

So ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ glitchy, and the AI, namely the move command, is god awful. For a remaster of an old game, they have managed to ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ it up royally. What did they even do? The sound design is terrible, and the graphics barely look updated. Very shameful display.