Microsoft unveils first look at Age of Empires 4

Age of Empires 4 was announced two whole years ago at Gamescom, to be developed by Relic Entertainment. Now, Microsoft has revealed its first official gameplay trailer of the newest entry in the historical strategy franchise. From the looks of things, Relic Entertainment will be living up to the standards set by Ensemble Studios, the franchise’s previous developers.

The Age of Empires franchise is a long-running historical strategy franchise where players build up empires of various historical cultures. These span from the Ancient Egyptians, to the Roman Empire to Imperial China. Players develop their civilisations, building infrastructure, developing tech trees and expanding their civilisation’s armies and territory. Each civilisation has unique units and quirks, and games can be won through conquest or diplomacy.

Age of Empires 4 seems to be continuing that trend, albeit on a larger scale than ever before. While the trailer doesn’t tell us too much about how many civilisations there will be to choose from, it does show an unprecedented number of units and buildings on-screen at once.

In addition to this reveal, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition was released recently. This is an expanded remake of the second game in the Age of Empires franchise, considered by some to be one of the high points of the series. It contains all of the game’s DLC, in addition to 4K Ultra HD graphics and new content.