Nostalgic classic that still holds up
Mentioned in ~2 in 5 positive reviews
“Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is exactly how you remember the original game looking in your head, brought to life in gorgeous 4K.”
Steam review · 4.1 h played ↗
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 84%Very Positive · 84%World's Edge, Forgotten Empires, Tantalus2019RTS · Base Building · Strategy
$19.99
Open on Steam ↗US Steam price, checked 6 h ago
The verdict
A faithful, nostalgic remaster of the 1997 RTS with lovely visuals and music, but dated pathfinding and harsh AI remain. Skip it if you want modern RTS comfort; AoE2 is better.
Great for
Nostalgic AoE1 fans and history buffs who want solid single-player campaigns and accept old-school jank
Main risk
Terrible unit pathfinding and cheating, overly hard AI make it frustrating, and AoE2 offers the same content better
What players love
Remastered graphics look great
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“looks absolutely stunning in 4K on a big monitor”
Steam review · 8.7 h played ↗
Solid campaigns with lots of content
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 positive reviews
“Campaign provides so much value and fun scenarios.”
Steam review · 27.2 h played ↗
Great remastered soundtrack
Mentioned in ~1 in 14 positive reviews
“The remastered orchestral soundtrack is absolutely phenomenal”
Steam review · 4.1 h played ↗
Useful quality-of-life improvements
Mentioned in ~1 in 15 positive reviews
“the quality-of-life updates (like finally having attack-move and a higher population cap)”
Steam review · 4.1 h played ↗
Addictive build-and-conquer loop
Mentioned in ~1 in 25 positive reviews
“The gameplay loop is simple but addictive: gather resources, build up, age up, and overwhelm your enemies.”
Steam review · 16.2 h played ↗
What players complain about
Terrible unit pathfinding
Mentioned in ~1 in 2 negative reviews
“I spent more time fighting my own army than the enemies.”
Steam review · 2.3 h played ↗
Cheating, too-hard or broken AI
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“The difficulty setting makes no difference whatsoever, AI just cheats and spams you with infinite units no matter what.”
Steam review · 12.2 h played ↗
Crashes, lag and multiplayer connection issues
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“too buggy, crashes often”
Steam review · 11.3 h played ↗
Lazy remaster, abandoned by devs
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“It feels like a half-arsed cash cow: prettier graphics wrapped around too many of the same old problems”
Steam review · 30 h played ↗
AoE2 (Return of Rome) makes it redundant
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews
“No point in AoE1 when the entire game exists as a DLC in AoE2 (Return of Rome) with engine enhancements and QoL upgrades”
Steam review · 12.3 h played ↗
Dated design: tiny pop cap, clunky controls
Mentioned in ~1 in 10 negative reviews
“Maximum limit of ALL units is only 50 (including workers, ships and warriors).”
Steam review · 8.6 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Playable20 GB
Minimum
OSWindows 10 64bit
Processor1.8 Ghz+ Dual Core or greater i5 or AMD equivalent
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsDirectX 11.0 compatible card with Direct3D Feature Level 11_0 or higher support and 1GB of free memory - Intel: HD 4000 (Ivy Bridge CPU)or better GPU - nVidia: GT 430 or better desktop GPU, or GT 425M or better mobile GPU - AMD: Radeon HD 5500 or better Desktop GPU, or Mobility Radeon 5650 or better mobile GPU
Storage20 GB available space
Recommended
OSWindows 10 64bit
Processor2.4 Ghz i5 or greater (4 HW threads)
Memory16 GB RAM
GraphicsNvidia GTX 650; AMD HD 5850
Storage20 GB available space
OSWindows 10 64bit
Processor1.8 Ghz+ Dual Core or greater i5 or AMD equivalent
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsDirectX 11.0 compatible card with Direct3D Feature Level 11_0 or higher support and 1GB of free memory - Intel: HD 4000 (Ivy Bridge CPU)or better GPU - nVidia: GT 430 or better desktop GPU, or GT 425M or better mobile GPU - AMD: Radeon HD 5500 or better Desktop GPU, or Mobility Radeon 5650 or better mobile GPU
Storage20 GB available space
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