Campaign

The campaigns in the Age of Empires games are separate series of scenarios based on historical or mythical events that feature cinematic cutscenes, narrative elements, often special objectives, and unique units.

The Campaign Editor (contained in the Scenario Editor) allows players to link custom scenarios to create custom campaigns.

Age of Empires

Age of Empires

	Icon	Name	Civilization	No. of scenarios
		Ascent of Egypt	Egyptians	12
		Glory of Greece	Greeks	8
		Voices of Babylon	Babylonians	8
		Yamato, Empire of the Rising Sun	Yamato	8

The Rise of Rome

	Name	Civilization	No. of scenarios	Notes
	The Rise of Rome	Romans	6	Called Rise of Rome in The Rise of Rome
	Ave Caesar	Romans	4
	Imperium Romanum	Romans Palmyrans	5	Called Pax Romana in The Rise of Rome
	Enemies of Rome	Carthaginians Macedonians Romans Palmyrans	4

With the release of the Definitive Edition, all intros and outros are performed by a voice actor (Michael Corby Gallegos) and both Reign of the Hittites and First Punic War campaigns are included in the base game. With the release of Return of Rome, there is no postgame Victory/Loss/Aftermath text.

Return of Rome

	Icon	Name	Difficulty	Civilization	No. of scenarios
		Sargon of Akkad		Sumerians	5
		Pyrrhus of Epirus		Macedonians	5
		Trajan		Romans	5

All the campaigns which are available in Return of Rome are:

• Sargon of Akkad
• Pyrrhus of Epirus
• Trajan
• Ascent of Egypt
• Glory of Greece
• Voices of Babylon
• The First Punic War

Demo campaigns

Name	Civilization	No. of scenarios	Demo for	Notes
Dawn of Civilization	Egyptians	5	Age of Empires	Beta only
Reign of the Hittites	Hittites	5	Age of Empires	Added to the base game in the Definitive Edition
Armies At War, A Combat Showcase	Egyptians	1	Age of Empires	Demo only
The First Punic War	Carthaginians	3	The Rise of Rome	Added to the base game in the Definitive Edition

Age of Empires II

Main article: Campaign (Age of Empires II)

Age of Mythology

	Expansion	Campaign	No. of scenarios
	Age of Mythology	Learn to Play (replaced by Tutorial in Retold)	3
	Age of Mythology	Fall of the Trident	32
	Age of Mythology	The Golden Gift	4
	The Titans	The New Atlantis	12
	Tale of the Dragon (removed in Retold)	Tale of the Dragon (removed in Retold)	9
	Retold	Tutorial	1
	New Gods Pack: Freyr	Mythical Battles	1
	Immortal Pillars	Pillars of the Gods	9
	Heavenly Spear	Heavenly Spear	12

Standalone scenarios

• Close to Home
• E3 2001 Story Showcase
• PAX East scenario
• Kronos' Escape

Difficulty levels

Campaigns in Age of Mythology are available in Standard, Moderate, and Hard difficulty. The Titans introduces Titan difficulty, while Retold introduces Ludicrous difficulty in update 17.51177. The icons for the various levels in Retold are:

Standard

Moderate

Hard

Titan

Ludicrous

Age of Empires III

Age of Empires III

	Campaign	Civilization	Main opponents	Years	No. of scenarios
	Act I: Blood	Knights of St. John	Ottomans Spanish	1565–1566	8
	Act II: Ice	John Black's Mercenaries	British	1756–1757	8
	Act III: Steel	United States*	Circle of Ossus	1817–1818	8

* This is a different civilization than the later released United States.

The WarChiefs

	Campaign	Civilization	Main opponents	Years	No. of scenarios
	Act I: Fire	Black Family Estate	British Germans	1775–1781	8
	Act II: Shadow	Black Family Estate	Lakota United States* Reno Gang (Definitive Edition)	1866–1876	7

* This is a different civilization than the later released United States.

The Asian Dynasties

In The Asian Dynasties, the three new campaigns can be played right from the start. It does not require finishing one campaign to unlock another, unlike the previous sets of campaigns.

	Campaign	Civilization	Main opponents	Years	No. of scenarios
	Act I: Japan	Japanese	Japanese	1598–1600	5
	Act II: China	Chinese	Chinese Indians Aztecs	1421–1422	5
	Act III: India	Indians	Indians British	1857	5

Definitive Edition

The Definitive Edition contains all of the campaigns from Age of Empires III, with two new ones: Historical Battles and The Art of War. Just like Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, the completed scenarios are marked by a medal, depending on the difficulty. It is bronze for easy, silver for moderate, and gold for hard. The The Asian Dynasties campaigns can be played freely instead having to be unlocked one after the other, and some story changes were made for the The WarChiefs campaign Act II: Shadow. On February 3, 2021, an event challenge scenario, Bombard Brawl, was added and can be accessed from the Challenges button on the top-right of the main menu. Three new Historical Battles are also added with the expansion The African Royals. Another three Historical Battles were added with the release of the Mexicans civilization add-on.

In Knights of the Mediterranean, a new game mode called Historical map was added, containing new maps which are a mix between real-world map skirmish matches and campaign scenarios, as they have a roster of civilizations for players to choose, have a variable number of players, and have special objectives for the players. Some maps can (only) be played online with other human players.

Age of Empires IV

Campaigns in Age of Empires IV do not use the same unit datasets and technology trees as in standard multiplayer or single player matches. This has the following implications:

• They feature technologies, units, and buildings that were removed or changed since the release of the game
• Some units, technologies, and landmarks may have different effects or balance compared to how they play in multiplayer or single player.

Like in Age of Empires III, due to the scarcity of civilizations, these campaigns feature non-playable civilizations, like the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Normans. Campaigns are also divided into various chapters, encompassing different time periods.

	Campaign	Civilization	Main opponents	Years	No. of scenarios
	The Rise of a King	French	[What?]	1046–1066	5
	The Normans	Normans* English	Anglo-Saxon England Danes French	1066–1217	10
	The Rise of Moscow	Rus	Mongols Novgorod Republic Grand Duchy of Lithuania	1238–1552	8
	The Hundred Years War	French	English Holy Roman Empire	1351–1450	8
	The Mongol Empire	Mongols Chinese*	Rus Chinese Kingdom of Poland Kingdom of Hungary	1213–1273	9
	The Sultans Ascend	Ayyubids (campaign-only civilization - variant of the Abbasid Dynasty)	Crusaders (campaign-only civilization - variant of the French)	1111–1426	8

* marked are playable in some scenarios. Most of the scenarios are playable as the main civilization.

Before the player can start the campaign scenarios, a short movie describing the historical background of the scenario is played.

Chronicles

A grand campaign in Chronicles is a long storyline with recurring characters, with players experiencing multiple civilizations and related historical events over a period of time, having multiple campaigns' worth of content when compared to campaigns in Age of Empires II.

Expansion	Campaign	No. of scenarios
Battle for Greece	Battle for Greece	21

Age of Empires: The Age of Kings

Name	Civilization	No. of scenarios	Difficulty
Joan of Arc (Tutorial)	Franks	6	Tutorial
Minamoto Yoshitsune	Japanese	5	Easy
Genghis Khan	Mongols	5	Medium
Saladin	Saracens	6	Hard
Richard the Lionheart	Britons	6	Very Hard

Age of Empires: Mythologies

Campaigns

World	Civilization	No. of scenarios
Egypt	Egyptians	8
Greece	Greeks	8
Norse	Norse	8

Scenarios

The scenarios are not really campaigns but are the equivalent of a single mission.

World	Civilization	No. of scenarios
Egypt	Egyptians Greeks Norse	6
Greece	Greeks	6
Norse	Norse	6
Hells	Egyptians Greeks Norse	6

Gallery

Campaign timeline for Age of Empires campaigns

Act I: Fire campaign screen in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition

Act II: Shadow campaign screen in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition

Act I: Japan campaign screen in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition

Campaign selection screen in Return of Rome for Age of Empires game mode in Age of Empires II

The campaign selection screen of Age of Empires campaigns in Return of Rome

Cutscene background of the campaigns Ascent of Egypt, Glory of Greece, The First Punic War, and Voices of Babylon, in Return of Rome

The campaign selection screen in Age of Mythology: Retold

See also

• Age of Empires series campaigns chronological order (fan-made)