Nostalgic timeless classic
Mentioned in ~1 in 2 positive reviews
“23 years later.. as it came out originally in 2003.. and I'm still playing this game.. Thousands of hours of true enjoyment..”
Steam review · 38.4 h played ↗
Rise of Nations: Extended Edition
Worth buying? What 300 Steam reviews say.Worth buying? Here’s what 300 Steam reviews actually say.
Very Positive · 95%Very Positive · 95%SkyBox Labs, Big Huge Games2014RTS · Strategy · Simulation
The verdict
A beloved, deep age-spanning RTS mixing Age of Empires with Civ-style borders. Skip it if you need working online/LAN multiplayer, UI scaling, or stable play on new PCs.
Great for
Nostalgic RTS fans and solo players who like Age of Empires with Civ-style progression from ancient to nuclear age
Main risk
Online multiplayer is broken (desyncs, no LAN) and the game may crash on modern PCs with a tiny UI.
What players love
Deep, balanced strategy with Civ-like depth
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 positive reviews
“Every match feels like managing an actual civilization, not just spamming units.”
Steam review · 22.9 h played ↗
Age progression from ancient to nukes
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 positive reviews
“Watching your nation evolve across completely different eras is incredibly satisfying.”
Steam review · 112.4 h played ↗
Great multiplayer with friends
Mentioned in ~1 in 11 positive reviews
“Age of Empires with nukes and a full historical timeline, fantastic for multiplayer sessions with friends”
Steam review · 34 h played ↗
Huge replayability, modes and campaigns
Mentioned in ~1 in 12 positive reviews
“This game has so much replayablility it's insane”
Steam review · 4128.7 h played ↗
Great music and soundtrack
Mentioned in ~1 in 15 positive reviews
“The Soundtrack is someting you will carry all your life.”
Steam review · 32.3 h played ↗
What players complain about
Crashes on modern PCs
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“Constant Crashes!!! Avoid this game on new computers.”
Steam review · 3 h played ↗
Broken online multiplayer and desyncs
Mentioned in ~1 in 4 negative reviews
“The multiplayer is broken. Like, literally BROKEN.”
Steam review · 5.2 h played ↗
Little improvement, bugs over the original
Mentioned in ~1 in 8 negative reviews
“The Extended Edition fails to correctly calculate the damage which units and buildings are supposed to deal.”
Steam review · 19.5 h played ↗
Repetitive, grindy gameplay and weak AI
Mentioned in ~1 in 9 negative reviews
“The gameplay becomes a grueling repetitive grind to defeat the enemy”
Steam review · 31.1 h played ↗
No UI scaling, tiny text on large displays
Mentioned in ~1 in 11 negative reviews
“the text is so small that I can't reasonably read it”
Steam review · 0.3 h played ↗
LAN multiplayer removed
Mentioned in ~1 in 15 negative reviews
“The devs decided to remove LAN multiplayer without mentoning it in their update”
Steam review · 55.5 h played ↗
System requirements
From the Steam store page
Steam Deck: Unsupported3 GB
Minimum
OSWindows Vista, 7, 8.1+
Processor1.6
Memory1 GB RAM
GraphicsDirect X 10+ Capable GPU
Storage3 GB available space
Recommended
OSWindows 7, 8.1+
Processor2.6 Ghz
Memory4 GB RAM
GraphicsDirect X 11+
Storage5 GB available space
OSWindows Vista, 7, 8.1+
Processor1.6
Memory1 GB RAM
GraphicsDirect X 10+ Capable GPU
Storage3 GB available space
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