Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings: Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
World's Edge · Strategy, City Builder, Base Building
Overview
42 Civilizations, 229 Campaign Missions, Singleplayer, Co-Op, Multiplayer, In-Game Editor, Mods, Cross-play...It is good to be the king.
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Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition celebrates the 25th anniversary of one of the most popular strategy games ever, now with stunning 4K Ultra HD graphics, a fully remastered soundtrack, and now includes three expansions with the base game: “Lords of the West,” “Dynasties of India,” and “Dawn of the Dukes.” Frequent updates include events, additional content, new game modes, and enhanced features.
Explore all the original Campaigns and the best-selling expansions like never before. With over 200 hours of gameplay and 1,000 years of human history, improved experiences await. Head online to challenge other players in your quest for world domination with more than 45 different Civilizations. Recent updates include ongoing support for the Scenario Editor, Quick Play for easy social games, enhancements to the game UI, and more!
Choose your path to greatness with an eye-catching and engaging remaster to one of the most beloved strategy games of all time.
From the game's Steam store page.
THE GAMEQ VERDICT10,000 reviews analyzed
What players are actually saying
1. Summary
Players treat Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition as the benchmark for real-time strategy. The praise covers the same ground again and again: a 1999 game that still plays well, an economy-and-army loop that is easy to learn and very hard to master, dozens of civilizations, and a large library of historical campaigns that some people bought the game for alone. Nostalgia runs through a lot of it ("I played AOE2 when I was 8. I will keep playing it when I am 80."). Newcomers with no history with the series say the game holds up on its own, and returning players credit the remaster's graphics, quality-of-life changes such as auto-reseeding farms and queues, and the fact that it is still being patched and expanded more than 25 years on.
Negative reviews are a small minority, and much of that minority is long-time players. Three complaints come up most often in them: the direction of the paid DLC (too many civilizations, gimmicky units, hero units from the Three Kingdoms pack entering ranked play, and a full package that costs several times the base game); updates that break the game on some machines, including a June 2026 patch that reviewers say stopped the game launching or made it crash for weeks; and a ranked ladder with smurfs, early leavers and disconnect penalties that beginners find brutal. Unit pathfinding, a complaint as old as the game, comes next. The Mac version that arrived in mid-2026 was warmly welcomed, then soured for players who found it cannot play online with Windows friends.
2. What keeps coming up
What players praise
A timeless classic that still deliversHigh
Nearly a fifth of all reviews (18%) call it the best RTS ever made, a classic, a masterpiece or the GOAT, often in a few words. The longer ones explain why: the balance of economy, scouting and army counters makes every match a puzzle, and the skill ceiling keeps people improving after hundreds or thousands of hours. For many the attachment is personal (first PC game, cereal-box CD, LAN parties with friends and parents); one reviewer writes "I'm 50 years old now in 2026, and it's still being patched and improved. It's divine." Players who never touched the original make the same case without nostalgia: one newcomer with no RTS background says the game "rocks, please play it".
Depth, balance and civilization varietyHigh
Each civilization feels distinct through its bonuses, unique units and tech tree, reviewers say, while sharing a core you only learn once. Some compare it to chess, and the counter system (spears beat cavalry, cavalry beats archers) comes across as readable yet deep. Several call the multiplayer balance excellent for a game with around 50 civilizations, and one reviewer writes that "Most of the new civs they add are well thought out, pretty balanced, and unique." Others argue the newest civilizations have tipped that balance (see the split section).
An enormous amount of campaign and single-player contentHigh
Reviewers who came for the campaigns are struck by how much there is: dozens of campaigns in the base game, historical battles, skirmish against a configurable AI, co-op campaigns and a scenario editor. One sums it up as "for 10 bucks you get hundreds of hours worth of scenarios across the whole world and the whole medieval age". Some say they never touch multiplayer and still have years of content. Favourite campaigns named in reviews include Joan of Arc, William Wallace, Genghis Khan, Jadwiga, Tamerlane and the Chronicles of Greece DLC campaign, which one reviewer calls "an absolute masterpiece". A few ask for more co-op campaigns.
A remaster done right, with ongoing supportMedium
Returning players call this the template for remastering a classic: 4K art that keeps the original look, remastered music, zoom, building destruction animations and quality-of-life features. "Not having to reseed farm is the real upgrade here," writes one returning player, and queued research, villager counts per resource and modernized hotkeys come up often. Reviewers also like that a game first released in 1999 still gets balance patches, new civilizations and campaigns, and has an active esports and streaming scene; T90, Hera and Spirit of the Law are often recommended as ways to learn. Several note it runs on modest laptops and, per reviewers, works on Linux through Proton and on Steam Deck.
A game to share with friends and familyMedium
A steady share of reviews is about who people play with: parents introducing kids, couples doing co-op campaigns, friend groups teaming up against the AI, and old LAN crews reunited online. Handicap settings and team play against bots get specific praise because they let players of different skill enjoy the same match.
History that sticksMedium
Some credit the campaigns with sparking a lifelong interest in history; one writes "i have learned more from this game than my History book could ever teach me". Players from the represented regions (Georgian, Khmer, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Colombian and others) say they are delighted to see their history in the game. A minority object to historical liberties and anachronisms, which feeds into the DLC debate below.
The Mac portLow
When the native macOS version arrived (reviewers credit Feral Interactive and say it was free for existing Steam owners), long-time Mac users were thrilled: "It runs flawlessly on base M1 Air. Max settings, no overheating, no battery drain." The missing crossplay, covered under frustrations, soon took the shine off.
Where players are split
New civilizations and the DLC modelMedium
Plenty of positive reviewers enjoy the steady stream of new civilizations and campaigns and buy every pack, and others say the base game is enough: "The various DLCs and their price might be daunting, but you SERIOUSLY do NOT need any DLC." A sizeable group, heavy on veterans with hundreds or thousands of hours, says the game is losing its identity. Their complaints are specific: a civilization count past 50, gimmicky mechanics, new civs launching overpowered ("pay to win" is a recurring charge), and above all The Three Kingdoms pack adding factions and hero units to ranked play ("They have added heros to ranked, breaking 25 years of game design"). Price is the other half of the argument: "How does a game that is nearing 30years old have nearly £90 of DLCs?", and another reviewer jokes that it is "definitely not Definitive Anymore". Some who recommend the game still advise buying the DLC only on sale. A few reviewers note that the base game is now sold only as a bundle with the original DLC, at a higher price.
Learning curve and the online ladderMedium
The game is easy to start and very hard to master, and reviewers differ on whether that is a draw or a wall. Fans say the learning is the fun, recommend the in-game Art of War tutorials and YouTube guides, and describe low-Elo ranked as friendly enough. Newcomers who jump online describe losing streak after losing streak against opponents with thousands of games; one notes that "Ranked play is brutal at first as they set your elo really high to dissuade smurfs", and another says "you're guaranteed to lose the first 10-20 ranked games". Both camps advise mastering the AI and campaigns before queuing.
The communityMedium
Some describe the community as kind and respectful ("the community is particularly nice and polite"), especially in Discords and among content creators. Others call ranked team games toxic, full of trash talk, teammates who leave or refuse to help, and griefing, and say reports never lead to action.
AI difficulty and campaign designLow
Skirmish players split on the AI. Some praise it as smart and fair, while others complain about a cliff between levels: "Moderate is too easy, to the point that I'm bored of it. Hard is insanely hard". A smaller group accuses the AI of cheating with perfect build orders and projectile dodging, and some note it struggles on water maps and resigns too readily. Campaigns are well liked, but several reviewers single out missions they found unfair, such as starting out surrounded by several enemies ("its you in the middle of the map vs 3 or more enemies surrounding you and constantly harassing you"), and casual players ask for a story difficulty like Age of Empires IV's.
New voices, music and presentationLow
Purists miss the original narrators, music and intro; one writes that "them replacing the voice actor for the William Wallace campaign has seriously destroyed my childhood". Others prefer the remastered soundtrack and visuals. A few miss the in-game history section of the original. Mods that restore the old voices exist, but reviewers say updates sometimes break them.
What frustrates players
Updates that break the gameMedium
Patches regularly break the game on some machines, reviewers say. They describe the game refusing to launch, crashing to desktop a few minutes into matches, freezing, losing audio, and out-of-sync errors in multiplayer and co-op. The longest episode followed an early June 2026 patch; reviewers through July and August were still writing "Random update has resulted in the game being unplayable" and "Game does not work since the last big patch, devs have not solved it after 2 months". A few connect it to Windows 10, while one reviewer argues the fault lies with players on an unsupported OS. Others report updates that wiped campaign medals (later restored, per reviewers), deleted custom scenarios ("an update deleted all my custom scenarios"), or forced long downloads before every session. One reviewer puts the pattern bluntly: "this game breaks every other update".
Ranked matchmaking, leavers, smurfs and disconnect bansMedium
Ranked complaints come mostly from experienced players and are consistent: team games where someone quits in the first five minutes ("Amount of 5 minute leavers is insane"), smurfs stomping low Elo, reports that lead nowhere, players dodging maps they dislike, and long queues. Players are especially angry about being penalized for the game's own failures: queues that hang or error out and then hand you a timeout, and no way to rejoin a match after a crash or disconnect. One reviewer calls "banning people for 20 hours from ranked play because your matchmaking system drops you multiple times in a row" the dumbest system they have seen. Lag in large team games, which several blame on one weak PC slowing everyone, comes up too.
Unit pathfindingMedium
Fans and critics alike joke about pathfinding and are irritated by it. They describe villagers stuck on each other, armies taking scenic routes or ignoring orders, siege lagging behind formations, and melee units dancing instead of attacking: "Path finding is perpetually bugged, but otherwise it's the goated RTS." Several veterans say particular patches made it worse ("every update makes pathing worse"), while one long-time player edited their review back to positive after pathing improvements in 2025. Some say the patch notes promise fixes that do not land.
No crossplay between Mac and WindowsLow
This complaint clusters around the Mac launch in June 2026. Mac buyers expected to join Windows friends because the store page lists cross-platform multiplayer, then found Mac players can only match with each other: "Got this on Mac to play with friends on PC, but THERE IS NO CROSSPLAY." One reviewer adds that a recent update also broke the old CrossOver workaround, leaving Mac players worse off than before.
Intrusive extrasLow
These are smaller complaints about things players never asked for: anti-cheat that closes the game if trainer tools such as WeMod or Cheat Engine are merely installed, even for single-player ("Why ban trainers in a single-player game?"); a voice chat update that turned the microphone on by default and pushed Bluetooth headsets into call-quality audio ("The latest update enables voice chat by default. There is no warning, and it is not push to talk."); unowned DLC advertised in the main menu ("why am i seeing ads in a game that i PAID for?"); an Xbox sign-in that some cannot get past; and a menu narrator switched on by default.
Map and ranked pool changesLow
A small group of ranked players objects to map changes, chiefly a 2025 rework of Black Forest ("Black forest should not have had the changes that were done to it"), the removal of Mega Random and Death Match from ladder rotation, and too few map bans in team queues.
No controller support on PCLow
Steam Deck and handheld players ask why the controller support available on Xbox is missing on PC: "When is controller support coming to PC???"
3. The player conversation
Most reviews are warm and short, a line or two of affection ("classic", "best RTS ever", "wololo"), and the longer ones are often personal stories of playing with a parent, a partner or old friends. Criticism sits in the 7% who do not recommend it. Those reviews are long and specific, often written by veterans with hundreds or thousands of hours, and some of them say they still love the game while voting against it. Beginners and veterans raise different issues: newcomers write about the learning curve and getting crushed in their first ranked games, while long-time players focus on pathfinding, balance, the DLC direction and ranked behaviour. Mac owners formed their own distinct group around June 2026.
The tone over time moves with specific events. Reviews in early May 2025 turned noticeably critical around the Three Kingdoms civilizations and hero units entering ranked play (the week of 2025-05-05 sat at 87% positive). Late November 2025 brought a wave of Steam Awards nominations and praise for the game as a labor of love (the busiest week in the slice, at 97% positive). From June 2026 the share dipped again as the Mac crossplay gap and the patch that stopped the game launching for some players drew complaints, and reviews written from June 2026 onward sit at 91.8% positive against 94.8% between May 2025 and May 2026. Older reviews that their authors came back to edit lean much more critical (79.4% positive), and some of those edits add complaints about DLC, pathing or stability to an originally glowing review.
4. What the developers could do
- Stop patches from breaking the game, and roll back fast when they do. Reviewers report weeks or months unable to launch or finish a match after updates, and test coverage for Windows 10, Linux/Proton and older hardware would address one of the three main complaints in the negative reviews.
- Add Mac to Windows crossplay, or label the Mac version clearly until it exists. Mac buyers say the "Cross-Platform Multiplayer" listing led them to buy a version that cannot play with their Windows friends.
- Fix ranked's punishments and add reconnect. Players want a rejoin option after crashes, no timeouts for queue failures the game itself causes, and real penalties for early leavers and smurfs.
- Keep gimmicks and heroes out of ranked, or let players exclude civilizations. Veterans who are voting the game down over The Three Kingdoms and newer overpowered civs ask for those factions to live in a Chronicles-style mode or behind a lobby filter.
- Keep working on pathfinding. It is a complaint as old as the game, raised by fans and critics alike, and players notice when patches make it worse.
- Make the full package cheaper and stop advertising unowned DLC in the menu. Some recommending reviews advise waiting for sales, and players object to paying for a game that shows ads for content they don't own.
- Smooth the AI difficulty curve and offer a story mode. Skirmish players ask for a step between Moderate and Hard, and casual campaign players want an easier setting for the hardest missions.
- Let single-player users run trainers and keep voice chat off by default. Offline players object to anti-cheat that blocks trainers in single-player and to a microphone that switches on without warning.
