Praying to the gods for victory was the standard for armies in ancient times. Whatever your respective pantheon was, you prayed for the gods to grant you victory. Age of Mythology: Retold brings those prayers to life by giving you godly powers in exchange for your faith. With the ability to use god powers multiple times per game and more upgrades, Age of Mythology: Retold makes significant improvements to its previous release. Unleash the might of the gods and crush your enemies before they can use their godly powers against you.

From the creators of the acclaimed Age of Empires series, you are transported into a mythical era where gods, monsters, and humans battle for supremacy. Combining classic real-time strategy (RTS) gameplay with modern enhancements, the Age of Mythology: Retold lets you choose deities from Greek, Norse, Egyptian, and Atlantean pantheons, summon legendary creatures, and wield divine powers to shape an empire. The game features over 50 campaign missions, different mythical landscapes, and a range of multiplayer experiences for both veteran players and newcomers.

If you are new to Age of Mythology, starting with the campaigns is highly recommended. While some basics of the RTS genre cross over, there are several new mechanics to learn. Each campaign acts as a short tutorial that slowly introduces concepts such as upgrading units and building docks. Each mission in a campaign is short, allowing you to quickly move through adventures that cover several myths from history. Three factions are covered by the campaigns, giving you a good idea of their strengths and weaknesses.

The benefit of the mission length is that you progress through the missions and build off of your knowledge. You don’t overstay your welcome and there are rarely bonus objectives to finish. Each campaign mission builds on your knowledge of a faction, helping you understand its advantages before introducing the pantheons. When you leave the campaigns and play actual matches, you have enough foundational knowledge to use each faction’s advantages well.

On the other hand, completing the campaigns quickly makes them feel like extended tutorials rather than challenges. It’s easy to complete your objectives and move on to the next part of the story without dealing with other challenges. There may be other enemy bases that force you to defend, but nothing stops you from ignoring them and rushing to the objective. You may finish missions before you have the chance to use any god powers, making the build-up seem useless.

The tutorial themselves have a few gaps vital to early gameplay. Not alerting about relics you can deliver to temples hurts when other factions get to them first. Alternate food sources like farming or fishing are discovered through your own experiments or the Help section. If you’ve not played the original title and you might feel a little unsupported on some of these deeper mechanics. Teaching these concepts would go a long way towards ensuring new players make full use of factions and the pantheon. Otherwise, they may struggle when making the shift from single-player to multiplayer.

What makes Age of Mythology: Retold special is that god powers are no longer a one-time use. Rather than saving them until a vital moment, you can freely use them as long as they can recharge. This lets you experience the might of your chosen pantheon and makes experimentation worthwhile. It genuinely feels like your gods are actively assisting you and rewarding you for your faith. Even if you choose the same pantheon as another player, the gods you follow can be different. Strategies won’t be the same with every faction and you must consider what a player’s ultimate objective will be.

Your strategies and pantheon choice are bolstered with access a variety of mystical beings like frost giants, hydras, or valkyries. Match the best unit to the powers you plan to use and the ultimate goal of your army. All gods support different unit types and strategies, helping you stick to a plan or change if the needs arise. That flexibility and variety are useful outside the campaign, letting you find your unique playstyle. It also means you have more ways to regain the element of surprise if you are at a disadvantage.

The only downside is that faith is extremely important, with several battles decided by who utilises it best. Unless you look at the game’s glossary or play extensively, it’s easy to miss out on the actions that generate faith. Every faction has their own way of obtaining faith and they aren’t identical to each other. For example, the Greeks gain faith by praying at temples but the Norse gain faith through combat. Considering that the mythological units require faith to recruit, it should be something that is covered early on. Unless you experiment or look ahead, you might find yourself chained to regular units while everyone else runs around with minotaurs.

This doesn’t mean that the soldiers who make up the bulk of your army are useless. But it does mean that if you aren’t able to invest in faith, you lose against players who do. It’s difficult to fight back a hydra with regular ranged squadrons as an example. A hydra can still fall in battle if you fight it with several armies. But taking that much effort to bring down one mythical unit makes you vulnerable to the remaining enemy army. Knowing how to use faith should be covered more often in tutorials early on rather than be a focus later on.

Age of Mythology: Retold brings several quality-of-life improvements that make the game more accessible and easier to play. For example, automating villager work is one of the biggest changes, allowing you to harvest resources depending on your needs. This makes it easier to focus on your troops without micromanaging every resource gatherer. Rather than learning how to quickly shift between villagers to get what you need, you can simply direct their behaviour. There’s still some work on your part such as creating farms for food or finding gold mines to harvest gold. But once your villagers know where to go, you don’t have to worry about making sure they are working.

The game also adds a Wonder Age, a new era where you can pursue a new victory condition that doesn’t include wiping out your enemies. This changes the tactical nature of the game in a manner similar to the Civilization series. Maybe you don’t have the strongest army or fell behind in the resource race. But if you make to the Wonder Age, you can still win against enemies with a stronger military. Strategy shifts its focus away from complete eradication of the enemy to ensuring your Wonder Age can go as planned, helping you win games where you may fall behind, adding a strategic layer now that you must plan to counter Wonder Ages.

The changes also include improved graphics and accessibility options. Every model, building, and environmental section has been retouched and upgraded for 4K screens. It’s easy to tell units apart on the battlefield and identify specific pantheons a player may be using. Colour-coding allies and enemies is easier to do and helps you know who you are fighting. Single-player battles also have adjustable difficulty to make it easier to practice and experiment. Adding more accessibility features makes it easier for you to jump in and have fun without feeling inadequate.

Jumping into the RTS genre is scary because there’s a lot to learn. But Age of Mythology: Retold gives you all the tools you need to hit the ground running. Adding more strategic layers gives you more options for winning and lets you succeed even if you don’t have the greatest army. If you ever thought about using the power of the gods against your enemies, this game gives you a good example of what it looks like. Never again do you have to worry about your gods only helping you once. With enough faith and the right conditions, the gods will lend continuous aid to you and help you win against all odds.