The RTS that conquered again: Age of Empires IV

Oct 17
4 min read

Darkmeter 9.25 🖤

Learning Difficulty 6

Relevance 8

Innovation 7

Age of Empires IV and the Heartbeat of a Modern RTS

I’d been wanting to talk about this fourth entry for a while… and finally, here we are. Age of Empires IV isn’t just the spiritual heir to AoE II. It’s a conscious answer to two decades of lessons learned, stumbles, and love for a franchise that grew up with us.

Here, real‑time strategy doesn’t feel old. It breathes fast, every decision makes sense, and it reminds us why building a civilization is also building a story.

The RTS that conquered again: Age of Empires IV

Development Context: Listen to the Player, Not to Nostalgia

Relic Entertainment and World’s Edge understood something essential: AoE III worked, but it didn’t define. AoE IV looks back to recover the “franchise core”: readable ages, civilizations with strong identity, visual clarity, etc.

It brings all that to a present where tactical‑strategic reading matters as much as the thrill of a siege. The result is a game that keeps a conversation with the community, patch after patch, expansion after expansion.

Gameplay: Live Pace, Decisions With Weight

It’s a fast RTS, but not chaotic. Costs and economy prevent brainless, infinite unit blobs. Geography rules, giving us elevation that increases damage, walls that extend range, and choke points that define ambushes.

Flanking isn’t decoration. It’s law. And temporal transition matters: for example, the French knight dominates early, but the meta shifts and demands hybrids with gunpowder, heavy artillery, and cavalry cover. Each age pushes you to rethink composition and macro.

Mechanics That Tell Stories

Civilization identity: not just a skin. Small details like +1 damage, poison, range, unique techs—all of it shifts both micro and macro. Playing English from the high ground doesn’t feel like nomadic Mongols, or like Japanese with their fortresses and ninjas. It’s different.

Tech that actually matters: blacksmith, university, and civic upgrades carry real weight on the field. An expensive unit feels expensive. It delivers. It defines engagements. And losing it hurts.

Structures and production: better a few well‑placed training centers than hundreds of meaningless barracks. Logistics is part of combat, not only about resources, but also about structures.

Visuals: Clarity First, Beauty From History

Without chasing AAA photorealism, AoE IV bets on clean readability in large battles and on recognizable historical art.

Modeling, animations, and the cultural elements of each faction convey their era and character. Watching an English army march behind its walls or seeing a Mongol line dismantled places you on the map… and in time.

Music and Sound: The Campaign’s Pulse

The campaigns humanize the tale. You don’t embody just a hero like in previous entries, but a people over time.

Documentary‑style narration and educational capsules work as breathers and historical anchors. The soundtrack moves between the epic and the intimate, sustaining the tactical moment without stealing visibility from the play itself.

Performance and Optimization: Stability That Invites You to Stay

Long matches hold up well. Clear animations, steady FPS on mid‑range machines, and combat readability that survives zooms and macro without sacrificing fine micro control.

It’s the kind of stability that lets you “think about strategy,” not your hardware.

Campaign and History: From Hero to Social Fabric

If AoE II marked us with legends, AoE IV teaches processes. Centuries compressed into missions that prioritize “how people lived and fought,” with narrative licenses that build atmosphere without neglecting historical rigor.

We’re shown the best of each civilization, and also the worst without filters—but not with a tunnel vision. It’s a historical lens where you can transport yourself to the era rather than judge with modern eyes. It’s history that inspires better play.

Multiplayer and a Living Meta

Every year brings substantial content. Patches, civilizations, updates, maps—everything comes in.

Expansions add factions that truly change how you play. Maps demand adaptation. Balance patches seek equilibrium without erasing what you’ve learned. You can skip the expansion and still compete with those who have it: the ecosystem stays cohesive.

That’s appreciated in queues and scrims with friends, and it also lets you explore new civs in other players’ hands to decide whether you want them.

Learning Recommendations: Campaign First, Friends Always

Start with the campaign on normal difficulty. Watch how the game “teaches” mechanics mission by mission. Take quick notes on which tech or unit solved each objective.

Replay 2–3 key missions while changing your composition. The goal: feel when to pivot from cavalry to gunpowder and how to use elevation to your advantage.

Play 2vAI co‑op skirmishes with friends. Shared objective: practice age‑up timings and coordinated flanks. Set one micro‑goal per match: “minute 12 first push with rams,” or “secure hills before Age III.”

Custom scrims: friendly 1v1s capped at 20 minutes with an “educational GG” rule. At the end, review two questions: which tech was wasted? which unit arrived late? Rematch with one change.

Map drills: on hilly maps, prioritize archers and early towers to internalize height advantage. On plains, practice raid routes and eco protection.

Conclusion: the RTS Evolves Without Losing Its Soul

AoE IV doesn’t try to dethrone memories. It doesn’t crush earlier entries. It respects them, pays homage, and pulls the best of them together in one place.

It builds on them. In a market that prefers immediacy, this game defends planning, positioning, and the joy of watching your city rise like a promise. Having fun is the norm. To govern is your destiny.