If you want the game off the microsoft store, you have 2 options 1) Buy it directly for the $29.99 price 2) subscribe to Xbox Game Pass for PC or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which is their game subscription service (yes confusingly they have xbox game pass which is for consoles which is different than xbox game pass for pc, which is only for windows). Lords of the West, the first new official expansion to Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, is now available for pre-order and will be released with Xbox Game Pass for PC, Microsoft Store, and Steam on January 26th, 2021! Challenge your friends with two new Civilizations that include unique units and technologies for you to explore.

This page is for the 2019 Definitive Edition. For the original game, see Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. For the 2013 HD Edition, see Age of Empires II (2013).

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Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
Developers
Publishers
Release dates
WindowsNovember 14, 2019
  • 1Availability
  • 2Essential improvements
  • 3Game data
  • 6Audio
  • 7Network
  • 8Other information
⤏ Go to series page
Age of Empires1997
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings1999
Age of Mythology2002
Age of Empires III 2005
Age of Empires Online2011
Age of Empires II (2013)2013
Age of Mythology: Extended Edition2014
Age of Empires: Castle Siege2014
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition2018
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition2019
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition2020
Age of Empires IVTBA
Age

Key points

Includes an in-game benchmark option.
Includes levels editor.
Supports mods.
Supports cross-platform multiplayer.
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings and Age of Empires II (2013) save files do not work with this version.

General information

Official website for the series
Official Discord server for the series
Steam Community Discussions

Availability[edit]

SourceDRMNotesKeysOS
Green Man Gaming
Humble Store
Microsoft StoreXbox Game Pass for PC
Steam
All versions require Arxan Anti-TamperDRM

DLC and expansion packs

NameNotes
Enhanced Graphics Pack Free add-on, increases Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition to ultra-high fidelity resolution.

Essential improvements[edit]

Skip intro videos[edit]

Instructions[1]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>resources_commonmovies
  2. Delete or rename aoeii4K.wmv and aoeiide_titlevideo.wmv

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

SystemLocation
Windows %USERPROFILE%GamesAge of Empires 2 DE<user-id>profile
Microsoft Store
Steam Play (Linux)<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/813780/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location[edit]

SystemLocation
Windows %USERPROFILE%GamesAge of Empires 2 DE<user-id>saves
Microsoft Store
Steam Play (Linux)<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/813780/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

Video[edit]

Graphics Options
Graphics featureStateWSGFNotes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreenHor+ gameplay & pillarboxedFMVs.[2]
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)You can zoom-in and out by using the mouse wheel.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowedFullscreen and Desktop Fullscreen modes are both Borderless Windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)Options to choose are ON & OFF.
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)
Color blind modeDeuteranopia, Tritanopia & Protanopia.
Pass

Input[edit]

Game Options
Keyboard and mouseStateNotes
Remapping
Mouse accelerationIn Game Options, under Scroll Inertia
Mouse sensitivityIn Game Options, under Scroll Speed
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller supportSee the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Audio[edit]

Audio Options
Audio featureStateNotes
Separate volume controlsMusic, Sound & Voice.
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captionsEvery character has a different text color when speaking
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

LanguageUIAudioSubNotes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Latin American Spanish
Spanish
Turkish
Vietnamese

Network[edit]

Multiplayer types

TypeNativePlayersNotes
Local play
LAN play8 Versus, Co-op
Requires connection to the master server for lobby creation.
Online play8 Versus, Co-op

Connection types

TypeNativeNotes
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

ProtocolPort(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP3074, 8888
UDP88, 500, 3074, 3544, 4500
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Other information[edit]

Download Age Of Empire Free For Windows

API[edit]

Technical specsSupportedNotes
Direct3D11

Middleware[edit]

MiddlewareNotes
AudioWwise
MultiplayerBattleServerUses Xbox Live matchmaking.
Download age of empire free for windows

Password Game Age Of Empires 2

System requirements[edit]

Windows
MinimumRecommended
Operating system (OS)Windows 10 (Win 7 SP1* / Win 8.1*)10 (1903) [3]
Processor (CPU)Intel Core 2 Duo
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+
Intel Core i5 2.4 GHz
AMD equivalent
System memory (RAM)4 GB8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)30 GB
Video card (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GT 420
AMD Radeon HD 6850
Intel HD Graphics 3000
2 GB of VRAM
DirectX 11 compatible
Nvidia GeForce GTX 650
ATI Radeon HD 5850
4 GB of VRAM
DirectX 12 compatible
Other1024×720 minimum screen resolution
A 64-bit system is required.
* Game was made compatible with Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 by developers but with no further support. Windows 10 is the official supported OS.[4]

Notes

  1. 1.01.1File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/813780/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (813780) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

  1. Verified by User:SojerManLan on 2020-07-02
  2. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - PC Ultra Quality (3440x1440) - last accessed on 2019-11-15
  3. Microsoft Store requirements - last accessed on 2020-07-02
  4. Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 support - last accessed on 2019-11-14
Age of empires 1 download

The only problem with Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition is that you can already play the original Age of Empires 2. Oh and you can also already play Age of Empires 2 HD, which tidied up the original's visuals and, according to its store page, brought in 'improved AI, workshop support, multiplayer, Steamworks integration and more!' So if you're anything like me, that might've made you think twice.

Thankfully, there is more to the Definitive Edition than that. Talking to Adam Isgreen, Creative Director for Age of Empires on the Microsoft side of things and Bert Beeckman, co-founder of Forgotten Empires, the studio that takes the lead on these remasters, the first thing I wanted to ask was why an HD owner would want to upgrade. There is actually a decent answer.

'Well, we sell expansions for the game as well and the expansions usually run about 10 bucks, right?' Isgreen tells me. 'So, within the Definitive Edition you have a whole new expansion, basically: you've got three new campaigns, a whole bunch of new missions, you've got four new civilizations to play with as well, so right there you're pretty much already at 10 dollars into the game.'

You'll also get five dollars off if you already own the HD edition, which helps (I didn't get confirmation for the UK side of things - know you're wondering - but imagine it will be an equivalent amount). 'So for five dollars more you also get brand new AI, an entirely new multiplayer with a super-secure, awesome anti-cheat multiplayer solution that's super-stable across all kinds of connections. You get all the new social features, you get everything like the unified community, there's just a lot of things - for any kind of player you are - to take advantage of.'

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Fair enough. That chat was actually after Isgreen and Beeckman had taken me through a closer look at those features in the game, via a peek at the new Tamerlane campaign, the most striking of them being that new AI.

'If you look at the old AI, it cheated' Beeckman chuckled. 'It totally cheated. It doesn't cheat anymore.'

'If you put one AI, non-cheating, of the Definitive Edition version against seven of the original that do cheat, it just wipes the floor with them. No problem. Every time. So that's the kind of level we were aiming for here... the new AI is so good that you can watch replays of it to actually learn how to play the game, because it plays the game correctly now... it tries to follow the competitive meta - on the highest [difficulty] level - because we have 20 years of pro players doing tournaments and we tried to get that in the AI as well.'

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You can also talk to the new AI in a more sophisticated way. I didn't see this in action but the example I was given was how, in the past, interactions were limited to things like 'do you have any spare Gold you could give me?' whereas now you could ask an AI ally 'hey, can you attack, with Knights, that specific player at that time', and they'll go ahead and do it.

Again, it's hard to really evaluate those sorts of claims without having a proper, lengthy hands-on, but to me the talk about an AI trained on competitive strategies is genuinely exciting. I might not ever see much benefit from it, mind - I'm one of those strategy players who hits a skill cap somewhere in the no-man's-land between teching-for-fun on Medium and struggling with a rush on Hard - but even the fact that the AI always sticks to the rules is promising enough for those like me who can now actually watch what they're doing and mimic it.

The rest of the improvements in the Definitive Edition fall comfortably into the category of neat stuff for nerds - which I really should stress I count myself as, too! - rather than big headline revolutions. Isgreen and Beeckman told me that the feedback they had was always a request not to touch the gameplay, and so their focus was on how they could help that 'stand out more' and deciding on looking mostly at how it's controlled, which first of all meant the ability to zoom in and out. Hope you were sitting down for that bombshell! (Although it is, actually, weirdly neat to see, especially if you've the dosh to witness it all in snazzy 4K).

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There's now a global queue for what you're building. 'If you look at professional players,' Beeckman told me, 'they're constantly clicking on all the buildings to see what's going on, so it's really hard to follow the game. Now, it's there. You know what's going on, you don't have to click any more, there's more time to actually enjoy the game.' Or as Isgreen put it: 'We want you playing on screen, not necessarily playing on the UI.'

There's also a kind of 'automatic farm receiving,' so villagers will keep going as long as they have enough resources to do so (a boon for old school players who remember having to micro-manage this). There's a command queue, which has been in plenty of Age of Empires games and just about every other strategy game since, but was never actually in the original Age 2. There's better unit selection, so if you click and drag over a large amount of military units with a few villagers smattered in there, the game will know you're only trying to select the military ones and automatically leave out the villagers. No more 'why did my villagers stop working on my Wonder?!', as Isgreen put it. Even the ability to attack-move is new. 'All these foundational things that everyone takes for granted in RTS games now, we had to go put all that in.'

It does add up - at least in theory. The Definitive Edition will have 27 campaigns in it; the original had five. There were 13 civilisations in the original and 35 now. I'm really not one for equating time spent in a game to value-for-money but, if that's your bag, Beeckman claimed that 'if you play through all the campaigns and win them all in one go, you have 200 hours of gameplay. That's how much there is, just in the campaigns, for 20 bucks.' Again, fair enough. It's cross-play between stores (Steam or Microsoft Live), 'basically it's like a mini version of Battle.net,' as Isgreen told me, so 'you have all the AoE games, all of your friends from both Steam and from Live; chat, everything across games all in one place, so we're kind of bringing the whole community together with Age' - hence the 'unified community' comment when I asked.

Basically, it does actually seem like a proper, ground-up job and a reasonable ask, given everything that's included - but it does also seem like it's still a big reasonable ask. It seems like the teams behind it, at Microsoft and at the three studios - Forgotten Empires, Tantalus, and Wicked Witch - are aware of that. The demo felt as much like a sales pitch as a walkthrough of what's new, because it's necessary if they're going to get players who bought Age of Empires 2 back in 1999, and then HD, so they could play it again with their friends, in 2013, to triple-dip on an even-more-HD version now. I can tell you it's pretty though (it really is), and I can tell I think I'm probably sold myself - even if it's just the cost of getting an AI friend to teach me how to play.