Let’s discuss video games like Age of Empires. Ensemble’s basic set a gold commonplace in RTS sport design with few rivals, most of which hail from up to date challengers similar to Command and Conquer or Starcraft. Since these halcyon days, no newcomer has managed to topple these titans from their gilded thrones.
Even the creators of Age of Empires have been reluctant to problem the sequence’ personal legacy, with the fourth instalment arriving in 2021 (learn our Age of Empires 4 evaluate right here), 16 years after the discharge of half three. In case you are nonetheless searching for one thing related, we’ve thrown collectively a fast information on just a few technique video games that we expect are fairly neat and comply with an analogous system.
We’ve not included titles similar to Command and Conquer or Starcraft II, as a result of whereas these video games are RTS video games, they’re additionally very knowledgeable by their respective settings and differ in key methods. Age of Empires is, in the beginning, a historic technique sport, so with solely a few exceptions, we’re video games that additionally use this as a place to begin.
Greatest video games like Age of Empires
Listed here are one of the best video games like Age of Empires:
- Empire Earth
- Rise of Nations
- 0 A.D.
- Northgard
- Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
- Empires Aside
- Civilization 6
- Age of Mythology: Prolonged Version
Empire Earth
Should you take the fundamental mechanical basis of AoE and apply the long-term design objectives of Civilization, you’d have created Empire Earth. A wonderful counterpoint to Ensemble’s behemoth, you begin a sport within the prehistoric period and might take it right through to the close to future.
Whereas this may increasingly take away among the depth and nuance Age of Empires had because of its extra centered time intervals, you’re nonetheless mainly taking part in out a sport of Civilization, however in real-time, which greater than makes up for it. Empire Earth 2 innovated barely by breaking apart the landmass into chunks, which you needed to management earlier than you can totally construct on them. This gave the map extra strategic relevance, particularly as precious late-game sources began to seem. You may get the greatest model of Empire Earth on GOG at a good worth today.
Rise of Nations
Designed by Brian Reynolds, notable designer of Civilization 2 and Alpha Centauri, Rise of Nations is extra involved about making an attempt to translate the ideas of Civilization and turn-based technique video games usually into real-time than making an attempt to tackle Age of Empires straight.
Nonetheless, the place it landed is similar to Empire Earth above and Age of Empires itself, because it additionally spanned the entire of human historical past. You can management any one among 18 civilisations, every with its personal distinctive models and attributes. These civilisations are in any other case indifferent from actuality, and you’ve got loads of freedom in growing them as you progress.
0 A.D.
Initially a complete conversion mod for Age of Empires 2, 0 A.D. has advanced into an open-source and free PC sport. It has been labored on by over 100 folks in its twenty-year historical past. 0 A.D. remains to be being labored on, and its RTS gameplay makes it an extremely well-liked various to Age of Empires, on condition that the time-frame it focuses on stops at 1CE. It additionally has a deeper financial system system than in Age of Empires.
On the time of writing, there’s nonetheless no timetable for a completed launch, however you possibly can obtain the newest model from the official 0 A.D web site.
Northgard
There have been many trendy RTS video games which have tried to tackle Age of Empires, and this Viking-themed providing might be one of many higher candidates. The place-as the remainder of this record is basically contenders from the technique sequence’ prime, this can be a trendy interpretation nicely price your time. Northgard places you answerable for one among practically a dozen fantasy Viking clans that land on the sting of recent, unexplored territory.
You’ve obtained to construct up your village and tame the land round you, coping with legendary monsters and different aggressive clans. Its improvements come from its use of oblique management and a winter section that you will need to plan for upfront, lest your village succumbs to hunger. Every clan performs very in a different way, and developer Shiro Video games has given it loads of love and assist through the years with new content material and sport modes.
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
An usually missed footnote within the historical past of Star Wars video games, Galactic Battlegrounds is notable as a result of it was additionally made by Ensemble. Launched in 2001, it dropped a few years after the studio launched the extremely well-liked Age of Empires II. The tl;dr is that that is Age of Empires with a Star Wars pores and skin, though there is a little more nuance to it than that.
It’s not one of the best Star Wars-themed sport ever, even with the enlargement focuses on the Clone Wars. The pair solely got here out across the time of Episode II’s theatrical launch, so usually, it by no means benefited from a lot of the nice work finished with the setting within the post-prequel period. Nonetheless, it’s obtainable on Steam for underneath $5, and it’s remembered very fondly – there are some nice mods for it as nicely.
Empires Aside
That is most likely one of the best sport like Age of Empires you’ve by no means heard of. Developed by a small indie group and revealed by Slitherine, it wears its AOE inspiration on its sleeve. It additionally comes with a fairly stylistic graphics design, a reliable AI, and a few well-designed factions.
You’ll be able to play a fundamental model of the sport without spending a dime, and then you definately unlock the opposite civilisations obtainable as micro-expansions. There’s skirmish play in opposition to the AI, in addition to on-line multiplayer, in addition to a survival and problem mode. Empires Aside struggled to get off the bottom, even after its change to a free-to-play mannequin, nevertheless it’s a fairly respectable and under-appreciated try to pay homage to Age of Empires legacy. As we ponder the arrival of Age of Empires IV, initiatives like this are price preserving in thoughts.
Civilization 6
Okay, so it’s not an RTS sport just like the Age of Empires video games are, however there’s a lot about nearly each Civilization sport that you just’ll recognise. Civ 6 is by far essentially the most full of the bunch. There are tech bushes galore and some ways to attain victory over your opponents. As this can be a turn-based technique sport, that you must make extra concerned choices, similar to bolstering commerce offers with different gamers and colonising new lands by crusing boats to increase your empire.
Except for the bottom sport, Civ 6 additionally has just a few expansions that provide you with new methods to play. The Rise and Fall enlargement expands on the diplomacy and authorities techniques whereas including Nice Ages and Loyalty to the combination. Gathering Storm lastly provides pure disasters and geological circumstances to offer the world extra life than ever, eternally altering the way you arrange your first cities.
Age of Mythology: Prolonged Version
Is that this dishonest? Maybe, however we’d argue that Age of Empire’s spinoff sport – Age of Mythology – is its personal beast. It takes every little thing that made AoE video games such a pleasure to play and provides a number of pantheons to the combination, every with its personal gods influencing your peoples’ win situation and the powers open to them. The only-player marketing campaign follows the story of Arkantos, an Atlantean admiral despatched on a quest to regain his god Poseidon’s favour. In multiplayer, gamers can presently select between Greeks, Atlanteans, Egyptians, and Norse mythologies.
The Prolonged Version has its personal enhancements on the unique and even an enlargement that introduces the Chinese language pantheon. It’s already a fairly substantial replace, and if it ever seems on sale for affordable, it’s an important choose for a method sport like Age of Empires. That stated, you may additionally want to maintain off on shopping for the Prolonged Version, as subsequent 12 months, we anticipate to see extra of Age of Mythology Retold. Very similar to the latest Age of Empires remakes, Retold provides the RTS basic a contemporary coat of paint, and if the earlier revamped variations of Age of Empires point out what’s to return, there could also be extra new pantheons added to the combination.
These are one of the best video games like Age of Empires which can be obtainable proper now on PC. In fact, these are solely options if you need a sport that’s not in the primary sequence. Should you haven’t performed the latest sport within the sequence but, right here’s every little thing in regards to the Age of Empires 4 Civilisations that you must know.
Extra entries by Joe Robinson.