After the release of Age of Empires: Definitive Edition last year, Microsoft at the E3 2019 has announced the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition will be available for PC in the fall this year. It will support cross-play between Windows 10 and Steam players at launch. It is developed by Forgotten Empires, Tantalus, and Wicked Witch and includes entirely new content and many exciting gameplay improvements.
It includes all previously released Age of Empires II content, as well as brand-new civilizations, additional campaign missions, new graphics that support up to 4K resolution and Xbox Live support for multiplayer, including all-new achievements. The edition also features quality-of-life upgrades such as automatic farm reseeding. These features include:
- The Last Khans campaign: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition includes brand-new content, “The Last Khans” with three new campaigns and four new civilizations.
- New civilizations: Four new civilizations are being added exclusively to Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition: the Bulgarians, Cumans, Lithuanians and Tatars, bringing the total number of civilizations in the game to 35.
- New spectator mode and tournament features: Players will be able to spectate multiplayer games in real time and switch between each player’s view, with overlay UI on top to give spectators information on different players’ status.
The Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition will be available in the fall of 2019, which is around September for $19.99 for new players and $14.99 for existing Steam owners of Age of Empires II: HD Edition. Additionally, it will be available at a discounted rate of $14.99 for Xbox Game Pass for PC members. If you can’t wait, you can sign up for the closed beta at AgeOfEmpires.com that will be available soon.
Microsoft also announced that Age of Empires: Definitive Edition will be available on Steam this August and will support cross-play with Windows 10. It also plans to release Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition and Age of Empires IV in the future.