Nostalgic childhood classic
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“This is the first game that I played as a kid and still remember late nights trying to play one more game.”
Steam review · 438.7 h played ↗
Age of Empires® III (2007)
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 91%Very Positive · 91%Ensemble Studios2012RTS · Base Building · Strategy
The verdict
A beloved colonial-era RTS with home city cards, great campaigns and destructible visuals, but it's delisted, multiplayer servers are shut, and it's simpler than AoE2. Skip it if you want online play.
Great for
Nostalgic fans and solo players who enjoy campaigns, skirmishes against AI and the home city card system
Main risk
Online multiplayer is dead or broken, and the game is delisted, so you only get single player.
What players love
Engaging campaigns and story
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 positive reviews
“I love the game, not the PvP so the Campaign mode is perfect.”
Steam review · 45.1 h played ↗
Attractive visuals and building destruction
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 positive reviews
“Cool physics of building and ship destruction.”
Steam review · translated · 23.9 h played ↗
Home city and card deck system
Mentioned in ~1 in 12 positive reviews
“You level up your home cities, you can unlock customizations to make them feel more alive, and you also unlock more cards to bolster your deck.”
Steam review · 2277.4 h played ↗
Distinct factions and colonial atmosphere
Mentioned in ~1 in 12 positive reviews
“A classic RTS with great colonial-era flair. Beautiful maps, strong factions”
Steam review · 20.9 h played ↗
Fun skirmish and co-op with friends
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 positive reviews
“Would recommend 2v2 with friends for the most fun.”
Steam review · 15.1 h played ↗
What players complain about
Multiplayer dead or broken
Mentioned in ~1 in 5 negative reviews
“They pulled support for multiplayer servers. My buddies and I would get on here and play together frequently up until the point they pulled the plug.”
Steam review · 90.4 h played ↗
CD key and ESO account problems
Mentioned in ~1 in 6 negative reviews
“steam knows i own this game and yet i need to input a code when i want to play it”
Steam review · 15.4 h played ↗
Delisted to push the Definitive Edition
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“Microsoft removed this so that you'd have to buy the newer Version of the same Game.”
Steam review · 2.1 h played ↗
Simplified and worse than AoE2
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“Removes every single quality of life aspect of AoE2 and even some of the original. This is just awful.”
Steam review · 5.1 h played ↗
Crashes, black screens and launch failures
Mentioned in ~1 in 13 negative reviews
“Crashes on start up and can't even end task as it messes up resolution and takes over the screen.”
Steam review · 12.2 h played ↗
Overpriced for an old game
Mentioned in ~1 in 17 negative reviews
“NOONE should justify spending 44$ on a 17yr old game, that was LESS EXPENSIVE ON THE DAY OF ITS RELEASE THAN IT IS TODAY.”
Steam review · 2.2 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Playable12 GB
Minimum
OSWindows XP
ProcessorIntel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.0 GHz
Memory2 GB RAM
Graphics64 MB NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or ATI Radeon X1300
Storage12 GB HD space
OSWindows XP
ProcessorIntel Core 2 Duo 2.2 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 2.0 GHz
Memory2 GB RAM
Graphics64 MB NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or ATI Radeon X1300
Storage12 GB HD space
More games to check
Other games we’ve read the reviews for
Northgard: Definitive Edition
Very Positive · 85%+ Clans play very differently
− Freezes and crashes since Definitive Edition
analyzed 3 min ago
Total War: SHOGUN 2
Very Positive · 92%+ One of the best Total War games
− Delisting and paid Complete Edition backlash
analyzed 1 h ago
Company of Heroes - Legacy Edition
Very Positive · 93%+ Timeless classic that still holds up
− Crashes, black screens and invisible units
analyzed 6 h ago
Total War: SHOGUN 2
Very Positive · 92%+ One of the best Total War games
− CA delisting and paid Complete Edition
analyzed 16 h ago
Weekly digest
Fresh games worth a look, in your inbox
The most interesting games we’ve just analyzed, once a week.Once a week we send the most interesting games we’ve just analyzed: the verdict, top pros and cons, and what changed. No spam.
One email a week · unsubscribe in one click