The folks at Xbox recently released Age of Empires: Fan Preview, a video that focused mainly on sharing announcements and gameplay footage about the upcoming Age of Empires 4, which is currently planned for a fall 2021 release. But the showcase also touched briefly on other news about the franchise in general, including Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition.
The Definitive Edition, a remaster of Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings, launched in November 2019 and included improved graphics, support for 4K resolution, all previously released DLC, as well as a new expansion called The Last Khans. The Fan Preview revealed that the second official DLC for the game, Dawn of the Dukes, is in development and will be set in Eastern Europe.
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Also announced during the Fan Preview was the news that Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition will be getting two-player co-op for some of its existing campaigns. Coming to the game at an unspecified date later in 2021, this will be the first time that the series has ever offered cooperative play. The development team has handpicked specific campaign missions and historical battles for players to team up in, but information about how exactly the new feature will work is not yet available. Further details will be released in the coming months.
Age of Empires 2 originally released for PC in 1999, and a PlayStation 2 version was made available the following year. The Definitive Edition was a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the original game’s launch. The real-time strategy game at first allowed players to choose from one of 13 civilizations to develop over a 1,000-year span of time, from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance-like Imperial Age. New civilizations have been added with the numerous expansion packs released over the years, and the upcoming Dawn of the Dukes DLC will undoubtedly add more.
The game provides approximately 200 hours of gameplay comprised of numerous campaigns, which are individual scenarios based on historical or mythical events. Each campaign features narrative elements, cinematic cutscenes, special units and objectives, as well as recognizable historical figures like Joan of Arc, Dracula, and Attila the Hun.
The most recently released expansion for Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition is Lords of the West, which introduced three new campaigns and two civilizations. Players can follow the stories of Edward Longshanks on his quest to become England’s King Edward I, the feuding Dukes of Burgundy and their machinations during the Hundred Years’ War, and the Hautevilles, who set out from Normandy in 1047 CE and had become kings of Sicily within a century.
Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition is available on PC.