Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a remaster of Age of Empires II, released on November 14, 2019. It was launched as update 32708.
It features a fully remastered soundtrack, multiple quality of life improvements, significant graphical upgrades, and includes all content from Age of Empires II: HD Edition and The Last Khans, an expansion that adds four new civilizations based on Central Asia (the Cumans and the Tatars) and Eastern Europe (the Bulgarians and the Lithuanians), and three new campaigns (for Tatars, Cumans, and Bulgarians). It also includes the Enhanced Graphics Pack that increases the Definitive Edition to ultra-high fidelity resolution. It also features an extensive rework of the campaigns of The Forgotten.
On December 15, 2020, a new expansion was announced, Lords of the West. It features two new civilizations based on historical kingdoms of Western Europe (the Burgundians and the Sicilians), three new campaigns (for Burgundians, Sicilians, and Britons), and new achievements. It was released on January 26, 2021.
On April 10, 2021, the second expansion was announced, Dawn of the Dukes. It features two new civilizations from Central and Eastern Europe (the Bohemians and the Poles), three new campaigns (for Poles, Bohemians, and Lithuanians), and new achievements. It was released on August 10, 2021. In addition, new cooperative campaigns and Historical Battles were announced and have been gradually added since July 6, 2021.
On June 2021, the Co-Op game mode was announced. Between July 2021 and January 2022, co-op versions of several campaigns and scenarios were added.
On April 14, 2022, the third expansion was announced, Dynasties of India. It features four new civilizations from South Asia (the Bengalis, Dravidians, Gurjaras, and Hindustanis), by reworking and splitting the existing Indians civilization, three new campaigns (for Bengalis, Dravidians, and Tatars/Hindustani) and new achievements. It was released on April 28, 2022.
On October 25, 2022, on the 25th Anniversary of the Age of Empires series, it was announced that Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition will be available on Xbox on January 31, 2023. It has an exclusive William Wallace Learning Campaign Scenario to use the controller, Story mode difficulty level for campaigns, new UI/UX for controller input, Villager command menu, priority presets, site-based commands, and can be played using a mouse and keyboard. In addition to this release, 10 new achievements were added. Also, Age of Empires was announced to be ported to the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition engine as the Return of Rome expansion, with three campaigns for Return of Rome (for the Sumerians, Macedonians, and Romans), new achievements, and also a new civilization, the Romans (initially unavailable for ranked multiplayer games) for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition.
On October 11, 2023, another expansion was leaked in the Xbox Store, The Mountain Royals. It features two new civilizations from the Caucasus (the Armenians and Georgians), as well as a rework of the Persians and three new campaigns (for the Armenians, Georgians, and Persians). It was released on October 31, 2023. With its release, the developers delivered everything in the roadmap which was teased with update 63482.
On January 31, 2024, it was announced that the sixth expansion will be campaign-focused, the first of its kind in the franchise. On February 23, 2024, the Victors and Vanquished expansion was officially unveiled.[1] It was released on March 14, 2024.
On October 15, 2024, the seventh expansion, Chronicles: Battle for Greece, was announced: a singleplayer content expansion and game mode which features three new civilizations (the Achaemenids, Athenians and Spartans) to be played in custom lobby, and a single campaign with 21 scenarios.[2] It was released on November 14, 2024.
Since November 14, 2024, Lords of the West, Dawn of the Dukes, and Dynasties of India are part of the Definitive Edition by default, meaning that new purchases since then will include these expansions, and previous owners that lack any of those receive those for free.[3]
On February 4, 2025, an East Asian-themed expansion was teased, with some images revealed. It was also announced that Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition will be available on Playstation 5 with the release of this expansion.[4] The game was released on PlayStation 5 for early-access players on May 1. The expansion The Three Kingdoms was released on May 6, 2025 for all platforms, coinciding with the release of the standard edition of the game on PlayStation 5.
Non-gameplay content[]
On 11 December 2023, alongside update 99311, three packs of purchasable cosmetic content in the form of animated player icons were released: La Hire's Dry Humor, Joan's Marvelous Moving Masterpieces, and Barbarossa's Barrel of Pickled Goods.
As a game engine[]
The game selection buttons on the extreme left, showing Age of Empires II, Return of Rome, and Chronicles respectively
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is used as the standard version of the Genie Engine hosting other games as well. This is beneficial to other games, since updating the former's engine, as in improvements to pathfinding and addition of features, lets them receive the updates seamlessly. The other games using the engine are:
Chronicles - A spin-off using an enhanced version of the gameplay of Age of Empires II with the historical setting of the later years of Age of Empires
Like The African Kingdoms and Rise of the Rajas, this expansion adds four new civilizations from almost the same general geographical area, some of them belonging to a newly added architecture set.
Bulgarians: When nomadic Bulgar horsemen approached the Danube in the 7th century and encountered the local Slavic tribes, the stirrups that they brought changed European cavalry warfare forever. Fortify the nearby mountain passes with formidable Kreposts and punish overconfident invaders with powerful combined armies of cavalry, infantry, and siege engines! Your valiant Konniks, the pride of your army, will continue to fight fearlessly even after their horses are felled beneath them.
Lithuanians: The forested boglands east of the Baltic Sea hold more than meets the eye. Coagulate the various Baltic tribes into a Grand Duchy with a new religion, smash invading forces with powerful cavalry and mobile spearmen and javelineers, and assemble the largest empire in late-medieval Europe! The Lithuanian unique unit is the Leitis, a heavy cavalry unit who strikes with such vigor that all armor is useless against his weaponry.
Cumans: The vast Eurasian plains were home to nomadic tribes whose steppe husbandry and fearsome exploits still live on in the records of their terrified neighbors. Lead the Cuman-Kipchak hordes to war and pillage to your heart's content, or offer your riders as coveted mercenaries in the service of foreign kings. When an even greater threat looms to the east, will you migrate west and adopt the lifestyle and warcraft of your sedentary neighbors, or vanish before an unstoppable wave of Mongol conquerors?
Tatars: For centuries, fierce nomads roamed the Central Asian steppe, periodically launching distant migrations or campaigns to conquer or extort their sedentary neighbors. Don arrow-resistant silk armor and dominate the hills and plains with mobile horsemen and cavalry archers, or join the Mongol hordes and swell the ranks of the Keshiks, honored bodyguards of the Great Khan himself! Dare you follow in the footsteps of Tamerlane and mercilessly conquer an empire from Transoxiana to India, Anatolia, and Russia?
Kamandaran (Persians): Archer-line gold cost is replaced by an additional 25 wood cost.
Campaigns[]
Tamerlane (Tatars): In the 14th century, while lesser men tear apart the decaying remains of the Mongol Empire, Tamerlane sees entropy as opportunity. A brilliant, charismatic tactician bred on the rugged steppes of Transoxiana, can he restore the splendor of the fractured state—even if he must slaughter half of its inhabitants in the process?
Ivaylo (Bulgarians): During the Mongol invasions, a pig farmer leads a militia defending the Bulgarian villages. But when his victories attract the attention of the Tsar and his nobles, he is forced to lead a mass uprising. Can a man of such humble origins defy the established order and give his people freedom?
Kotyan Khan (Cumans): For centuries, the Cumans throve on the vast plains of Eurasia. Now, a new threat comes from the East – Mongols, ruthless beyond imagination and seemingly invincible. Kotyan, the khan of a small clan, must unite the Cumans to resist the invaders. Will he save his people, even if it means abandoning their ancestral lands and ancient ways?
Definitive Edition content[]
New campaigns[]
Pachacuti (Inca): Countless tribes vie for supremacy in the steep mountain valleys and dense jungles of South America. But which will prevail and earn the favor of the gods? As treachery and discord gnaw at the young empire of the Inca, the destiny of an entire people lies in the hands of a single man.
The Art of War (Challenge Scenarios): Uncover the strategic wisdom of Sun Tzu and practice your Age of Empires II skills in a series of short challenges. In each challenge, you will strive to earn a medal and prove your worth to your friends and enemies.
Reworked campaigns[]
The population cap in most of the original The Age of Kings and The Conquerors campaigns is increased. All campaigns from The Forgotten were reworked.
New statue variants – Civilization, Column, "Right"
Movable map revealer
Invisible Object
Contraption – removed
Reception[]
The game has an agglomerated critic rating of 84% on Metacritic.[5] It has a 94% positive rating from users on Steam, as on October 5, 2024.
On October 2, 2024, a few days after the 25th anniversary of Age of Empires II, "The Guardian" published a web article on the game, referring to all the releases but using media from the Definitive Edition.[6]
Trivia[]
The announcement trailers were voiced by Charles Dance.
All civilizations introduced in The Last Khans have strong focus on cavalry units, as well having mounted unique units. Also, all of the new unique units are affected by either a civilization bonus or unique technology. All civilizations have Paladin or equivalently strong units.
According to Microsoft creative director Adam Isgreen and developers Forgotten Empires, the new civilizations introduced are planned to be the last ones as they consider having reached a sufficient number of civilizations to feature in the game. However, due to the overwhelming success of the title and community enthusiasm, plans have changed in that regard according to Cysion (Bert Beeckman), founder of Forgotten Empires.[7]
The intro cinematic was later updated in a patch to replace the "Exclusive" text, which was used at the start of the trailers of Xbox One exclusive games, to the "Xbox Game Studios" text, to fit with the Xbox Game Studios logo.
The Last Khans is the last expansion to introduce a new architecture set and soundtrack.
The first three expansions of the Definitive Edition being made free is the second instance in the series of an expansion being made free when not rereleasing the corresponding game, the first being Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition.
Before release, the internal code name for the game was Phoenix.
The icon of the game uses the armet type helmet that The Age of Kings used, with the plume consisting of the colours red, blue, green, and yellow; which can be considered to be the colours of the window panes of the original logo of Microsoft Windows, and also coincides with the colours of the plumes used in the icons of the previous releases: The Age of Kings which uses red, The Conquerors which uses blue, and The Forgotten which uses green.
The actual game icon differs from the icon referred to as the game icon in the game files. The differences are the shadow of the helment present in the actual game icon, the perfect placement of the plumes in the game files icon, and the different shapes of the eyepieces.
Definitive Edition releases
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Last Khans
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Lords of the West
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Dawn of the Dukes
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Dynasties of India
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Mountain Royals
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Victors and Vanquished
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Chronicles: Battle for Greece
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Three Kingdoms
Return of Rome - Another rerelease of Age of Empires
Bulgarians
Lithuanians
Cumans
Tatars
