| “ | Dive into one of China's most epic tales, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, with the latest expansion for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - where history and legend collide in a battle for supremacy. | ” |
| —Steam description | ||
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - The Three Kingdoms is an expansion for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, released on May 6, 2025.[1] It adds five new civilizations (playable in all game modes including Ranked) and three new campaigns. Despite being unlocked on the specified release date, the game assets were released earlier with update 141935 on April 10, 2025. The expansion released alongside update 143421 and introduced 29 new achievements.
Civilizations
Selection screens of all new civilizations
| Architecture set | Civilizations |
|---|---|
| East Asian |  Shu
|
 Wei
| |
 Wu
| |
 Jurchens
| |
 Khitans
|
- Shu: Take the reins of the Kingdom of Shu and fulfill Liu Bei's dream of restoring the Han dynasty. The Shu unique units are the White Feather Guard, an infantryman that slows down units it attacks, and the War Chariot, a vehicle that fires barrages of bolts from a large repeating crossbow.
- Wei: Step into the shoes of Cao Cao and dominate China with massive cavalry armies and nefarious schemes. The Wei unique units are the Tiger Cavalry, a horseman that levels up as it kills units, and the Xianbei Raider, a cavalry archer that fires storms of arrows into the enemy ranks.
- Wu: Lead the Sun Clan to glory through infantry and naval prowess. The Wu unique units are the Fire Archer, a ranged soldier that fires incendiary arrows, and the Jian Swordsman, a heavy infantry unit whose shield offers immense protection - until it breaks.
- Jurchens: Dominate the rugged terrain of northeast China with the skilled hunters, armored cavalry, and gunpowder weaponry of the Great Jin dynasty. The Jurchen unique units are the Iron Pagoda, a cavalryman that occasionally blocks melee attacks, and the Grenadier, a foot soldier who hurls deadly incendiary bombs at his enemies.
- Khitans: Relive the glory of the Liao dynasty and Kara-Khitai, terrorizing your enemies with mobile hordes and diabolical weapons. The Khitan unique units are the Liao Dao, an infantryman whose lethal sword slashes cause lasting damage, and the Mounted Trebuchet, a powerful siege engine carried around by camels. Additionally, instead of farming, the Khitans gather food from Pastures, which can be tended by two Villagers instead of just one.
Campaigns
| “ | China is at war. Torn apart by rebellion and greed, warlords grapple for control of the Empire. Some men, like the infamous warlord Cao Cao, strive to start a new Empire, while others, like the humble Liu Bei, struggle to maintain the once-powerful Han dynasty, and still others fight for vengeance, like the brothers of the Sun Clan. Play through the epic story, full of brotherhood and betrayal, grand battles and daring escapes, glory and defeat. Can you emerge victorious? | ” |
Liu Bei (Shu) - In the midst of a bloody civil war, the sandal maker Liu Bei and his sworn brothers fight to restore the ailing Han dynasty. Can this honorable commoner save the empire, or will it fall into the hands of the ruthless warlord Cao Cao?- Cao Cao (Wei) - The greatest warlord of his time, Cao Cao rises from a mere cavalry commander to the true power behind the throne of China. Will his ambitious schemes and tactical skill be enough to place his own dynasty on the throne of the Middle Kingdom?
- Sun Clan (Wu) - After their father is murdered, the sons of the Sun Clan fight for revenge while building themselves up to be the rulers of southern China. Will their struggle make them worthy of the Mandate of Heaven, or are they doomed to become footnotes in history?
The scenario selection screen's layout resembles the one for the Battle for Greece campaign in Chronicles: Battle for Greece, with the addition of several new features such as a new difficulty level (Legendary), a Decisions tab where decisions in past scenarios which have a carryover effect in subsequent ones are displayed, and the campaign map having not only unit and building sprites but also territory highlights like those in the original Age of Empires campaigns (and missing in subsequent games before this expansion). Like the Chronicles cutscenes which use thematically styled cutscenes, the scenario cutscenes in The Three Kingdoms campaigns resemble various styles of Chinese painting.
Units
Regional
- Traction Trebuchet: Deadly, mobile engines that provide the Shu, Wei, and Wu an excellent long-ranged siege option on land in the Imperial Age.
- Hei Guang Cavalry → Heavy Hei Guang Cavalry: Heavily armored horseman. Regular and Heavy Hei Guang Cavalry replace Knights, Cavaliers, and Paladins for the Shu, Wei, and Wu.
Unique
All new non-hero unique units in one of their forms
- White Feather Guard (Shu): Infantry that slows down units it attacks
- War Chariot (Shu): Vehicle that fires barrages of bolts from a large repeating crossbow
- Tiger Cavalry (Wei): Cavalry that levels up as it kills units
- Xianbei Raider (Wei): Cavalry archer that fires storms of arrows into the enemy ranks
- Fire Archer (Wu): Archer that fires incendiary arrows
- Jian Swordsman (Wu): Heavy infantry unit whose shield offers immense protection
- Iron Pagoda (Jurchens): Cavalry that occasionally blocks melee attacks
- Grenadier (Jurchens): Foot soldier who hurls deadly incendiary bombs at his enemies
- Liao Dao (Khitans): Infantry whose lethal sword slashes cause lasting damage
- Mounted Trebuchet (Khitans): Powerful siege engine carried around by camels
All new hero unique units
- Heroes (trainable)
Buildings
- Note: All buildings are unique.
- Pasture (Khitans)
Technologies
- Note: All technologies are unique.
- Fortified Bastions (Jurchens)
- Thunderclap Bombs (Jurchens)
- Lamellar Armor (Khitans)
- Ordo Cavalry (Khitans)
- Coiled Serpent Array (Shu)
- Bolt Magazine (Shu)
- Tuntian (Wei)
- Ming Guang Armor (Wei)
- Red Cliffs Tactics (Wu)
- Sitting Tiger (Wu)
- Domestication (Khitans)
- Pastoralism (Khitans)
- Transhumance (Khitans)
Three Kingdoms
The core theme of the expansion is the Three Kingdoms, viz the Shu, Wu, and Wei, which are referred to as the "Three Kingdom civilizations", or the "Three Kingdoms". The former term can cause confusion, since it is very similar to "The Three Kingdoms civilizations", which refers to all civilizations released with the expansion, viz the Khitans, Jurchens, and "Three Kingdom civilizations", while the latter term simply causes confusion with the expansion name.
Notably, the Three Kingdom civilizations lie somewhere between the Chronicles timeframe and the Age of Empires II timeframe, and as such they work slightly differently from traditional Age of Empires II civilizations:
- Lack gunpowder units
- Hei Guang Cavalry replace Knights
- Traction Trebuchets at Siege Workshops replace Trebuchets at Castles
- Have trainable hero units at the Castle, limited to one
- Lou Chuans replace Cannon Galleons
Among non-gameplay similarities, the Three Kingdoms use the cosmetics of the Chinese, except for the Castle graphics. This includes Monk skin, Trade Cart skin, ship sails, architecture set, and dialogue lines.
History
| “ |  "It is said that an empire long divided, must unite; an empire long united must divide." The Three Kingdoms period officially dates between 220-280 CE. During this time, China was divided into three distinct kingdoms: the Wei, which covered much of northern China, the Wu, which encompassed the southeast portion of China, and the Shu Han, which included the modern-day Sichuan province in southwest China. Interest in the period was popularized by the 14th century novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong. The text is said to be 70% history and 30% fiction, and it follows a variety of warlords and military heroes that struggle to gain control over China after the fall of the Han dynasty; thus, despite the aforementioned periodization, most scholars include the start of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184 CE in content on the Three Kingdoms Period. The main figures of the period all made a name for themselves during the Yellow Turban Rebellion and later banded together when the tyrant Dong Zhuo took advantage of the political upheaval it caused. He seized the child emperor and his brother, later killing the former and putting the latter on the throne as a puppet emperor that he controlled. Horrified by his actions, many prominent warlords joined together in an attempt to stop him: led by Yuan Shao, the coalition also included Cao Cao, Liu Bei (and his sworn brothers Guan Yu and Zhang Fei), and Sun Jian. These three men eventually became the originators of the Three Kingdoms: Wei, Shu, and Wu respectively. After Dong Zhuo was defeated in 192 CE, the following two decades saw a series of battles, alliances, and betrayals between warlords as they struggled to solidify their territory. Some figures, like Liu Bei, were dedicated to restoring the Han empire. Others sought power to satisfy their own ambition, like Cao Cao, who had copied Dong Zhuo and taken the puppet emperor for his own gain in 196 CE. Cao Cao then defeated his former ally Yuan Shao at the Battle of Guan Du in 200 CE. The final stand against Cao Cao’s total domination of China was at Chi Bi or the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 CE, where Liu Bei and Sun Jian’s son Sun Quan, who was now the commander of the Wu after the death of his father and older brother, allied against Cao Cao in a massive naval battle on the Yangtze river. Despite being vastly outnumbered by Cao Cao’s forces, Liu Bei and Sun Quan were able to defeat him due to the strategy of Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, the famous military advisors: they used fire ships to set Cao Cao’s navy ablaze. After this loss, Cao Cao never managed to conquer any territory south of the Yangtze. Eventually, after the death of Cao Cao in 220 CE, his son Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian to step down. Cao Pi then declared himself Emperor of Wei. This sparked Liu Bei to follow suit, naming himself Emperor of Shu Han in 221 CE, followed by Sun Quan, who named himself Emperor of Wu in 229 CE. The Three Kingdoms period was not a long one: the Wei kingdom was usurped from the Cao family by the Sima clan in 249 CE, eventually forcing the new puppet emperor Cao Huan to abdicate the throne in 266 CE, ending the Wei dynasty and establishing the new Jin dynasty. The Shu Han empire and its ruler, Liu Bei’s son Liu Shan, were conquered by the Sima clan’s Wei dynasty in 263 CE. Finally, the Wu kingdom also fell to the Jin in 280 CE. The period of the Three Kingdoms was over, and the empire was united once more. |
” |
| —In-game history section for "The Three Kingdoms" | ||
Trivia
- The expansion is codenamed "PERUNAMA" and "PERU" as per the game string files.
- The expansion was hinted on February 4, 2025, which was not only the same date as the announcement of the release date of the Immortal Pillars expansion for Age of Mythology: Retold, but also coincides with many Lunar New Year festivities and celebrations through most of East Asia.
- It is the second expansion which was announced or hinted coinciding with the New Year celebrations from said region, with the first being Dynasties of India.
- Coincidentally, both expansions are themed around the Three Kingdoms period, as the reworked Chinese in Age of Mythology have human military units that are based on the said time period. Both expansions also rework the Chinese civilization to accurately reflect various technological and military innovations from their respective time periods.
- This expansion is the first to introduce five new civilizations since The Forgotten.
- Game data such as numbers of string files, icons, and units indicate that the expansion's development predates the development of Chronicles: Battle for Greece.
- Several of the game files and images imply that there was originally planned to be two separate expansions (one for the Three Kingdoms content, and the other covering the non-Chinese Sinosphere civilizations such as Jurchens and Khitans). The relevant game files hinting at this are a separate folder named "Peru" containing all content relevant to the The Three Kingdoms campaigns, right next to the "Paphos" folder which is used for Battle for Greece, and the presence of two new banner types for the campaign screen, one named "peru", matching the The Three Kingdoms campaign folder, and one named "china", hinting a separate set of campaigns for the new medieval civilizations.
- All civilizations introduced in the expansion have two unique units (not counting the trainable heroes). None of the secondary unique units are upgradeable, despite most of them being available before the Imperial Age.
- This is the first expansion where none of the new civilizations introduced are given unique voice lines for their units, but rather reuse voice lines from other civilizations. It also the first expansion where heroes are given unique voice lines.
- The release of content of the expansion significantly reworks the Koreans and the Chinese. This makes them the third and fourth civilizations to receive a rework after the Indians and the Persians.
- According to the developers, the choice of the Three Kingdoms as the central theme of the Chinese themed expansion was primarily due to the romanticization of the time period in Chinese culture, as well as various innovations in technology, strategy, and tactics.[2] Additionally, the fall of the Han dynasty is seen by some as the beginning of the medieval period in China akin to how the fall of the Roman Empire is often seen as the beginning of the medieval period in Europe.[3]
- The expansion introduces several new mechanics for Age of Empires II, many of which have previously featured in other games of the series:
- Stingers - temporarily or permanently modify attacking unit's or attacked unit's statistics in various ways, like:
- Snare (White Feather Guard)
- Bleeding effect/damage-over-time (Liao Dao, units with Red Cliffs Tactics)
- Regenerating while attacking (units with Ordo Cavalry)
- Melee shield (Iron Pagoda)
- Veterancy (Jaguar Warrior in the preloading update, Tiger Cavalry)
- Charged ranged attacks which have a different range than the main attack and targeting specific unit types, which can be used for various purposes:
- Charged ranged attack for melee unit (Fire Lancer in the preloading update)
- Multiple automatic attack modes without unit being swapped (Lou Chuan in the preloading update, Fire Archer)
- Projectiles leaving a unit behind upon landing, which can be used for various purposes:
- Area hazard (Mounted Trebuchet, units with Thunderclap Bombs)
- Melee damage reflection (units with Lamellar Armor)
- Activated charged abilities (Campaign hero units)
- Stingers - temporarily or permanently modify attacking unit's or attacked unit's statistics in various ways, like:
- This is the second expansion for the Definitive Edition to introduce a civilization without a dedicated campaign, after Return of Rome.
Gallery
