Microsoft also elevates its technical scope headed into Age of Empires IV, in stark contrast to earlier titles. it's as accurate as we can possibly get it.' Age of Empires IV changes strategy with technology 'Microsoft fully believes in gaming for everyone, including everyone, and making sure that we're authentic and genuine for the customers that we are serving.

For Age of Empires IV, ensuring fair representation of diverse cultures plays a role in that vision. Whether diverse Xbox Avatars or the accessible Xbox Adaptive Controller, it's been a fundamental mantra across the Xbox One family. The concept aligns with Microsoft's continual push for inclusivity, further emphasized under CEO Satya Nadella. We went to the source to learn how those cultures operated, because respecting them and doing them justice is so important.' We didn't go to a professor here in London, or someone back in the States. 'e went to Mongolia, learned about Mongols. Isgreen explains how Microsoft actively sought beyond historians, by visiting cultures and translating learnings to meaningful gameplay. 'All of that difference came from the history, it came from us designing around history of how these civilizations fought.' The team has changed up research efforts for Age of Empires IV in pursuit of accuracy and representation. It's one of the new things about a modern RTS system.' The way they play is very different from each other now too. 'For example, we showed a teaser that had the English and Mongols in it, two civilizations that couldn't be more different from each other. That builds upon one of Age of Empires III's main advancements, steering cultures beyond a universal template. 'The approach to civilizations was something we felt we needed to modernize and push the civilizations further apart,' said Isgreen. The duo is taking a revised approach to design and depiction of civilizations, better reflecting the realities of humankind's formative years. World's Edge and Relic Entertainment double down on history for Age of Empires IV, targeting improved accuracy over earlier installments. 'Wait, my knights don't hit the castle with the sword anymore?' But the funny thing is that a lot of people, as they play the game and getting exposed to it, say 'You know what, this is a different beast and I enjoy it for what it is.'' It gets to some things that are silly but so charming. 'Even among our focus testers, it's fascinating, because we have people who have been playing Age IV already, that love other Age games. 'It's always had this wonderful attention to it,' said Isgreen. The ensuing modernization of Age of Empires IV may be jarring for some, with what Isgreen describes as a 'different beast' under current plans. While Age of Empires branding would undoubtedly shift units alone, it faces more rivals than ever, with high expectations the wait. Avoiding that identity conflict is essential for any sequel, where Age of Empires straddles the line between legacy fan expectations and realities of the modern RTS space. 'It's been an interesting balance, going back and forth between things that people love about the older Age games and things that we want to do in the new one,' said Isgreen. It's this great two-way conversation between the old games and the new one, about what we're going to share, and how we're going to grow the games.' All of the Definitive Edition games are now going to have Relic's modern networking backend. For example, the network technology behind the scenes is actually from Relic. There are things that we've learned in the development of Age of Empires IV that we can even put into Age II. 'It's been a real growing experience, but it's unfair to say that it's one way. 'e've learned so much with all of the launches,' said Adam Isgreen, creative director at World's Edge. The trio of Definitive Edition projects evoked learnings for World's Edge and its partners, and all considered headed into number four. That's equally true for Age of Empires IV, which balances staying true to its legacy while standing out today. Modernizing past systems has been fundamental to each remaster, with minor adjustments that reflect expectations of modern strategy, but retaining classic foundations. 'All of that difference came from the history, it's as accurate as we can possibly get it.' Age of Empires and Age of Empires II saw commendable efforts from third-party talent at Forgotten Empires, while Age of Empires III remains an ongoing project at Tantalus Media.

Those dedicated 'Definitive Edition' bundles pair titles with respective expansions, alongside 4K upgrades and eliminating frustrations of dated systems. Age of Empires IV paves the future, developed adjacently to remasters of the Age of Empires trilogy.

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