Announced on the 25th October 2022, the date of the 25th anniversary, the team behind Age of Empires II Definitive Edition definitely surprised many fans with their new DLC announcement on the 25th April 2023. After working on the remaster of the 1997 first entry in the franchise, the team did a good job at modernizing the visuals and adding a few quality of life improvements, but goofed up with the AI which unfortunately still remain broken to this day. And while the overall experience was good, it never appealed to the core players of the 2nd, who hoped for the remake to be more similar to the sequel, with all the mechanics and quality of life improvements.

But luckily this time around, the team has realized a pretty beefy DLC and update, bringing not only a new (sorta) civilization to the core title as the Romans, a civilization which always felt necessary in the campaign but was missing, often replaced by Byzantines, Goths or even Italians. As well as bring the first game into the Age of Empires II Definitive Edition as a self contained experience, along with a new civilization the Lac Viet.

Romans the “new” civilization

As the 34th civilization, the Romans carries several interesting bonuses and unique techs, making them suitable for ranked games.

  • Villagers gather, build and repair 5% faster
  • Galley-line units have +1 attack. War Galleys have +1/+1P armor. Galleons and Dromon have+2/+2P armor
  • Infantry receives double effect from the Blacksmith upgrades
  • Scorpions are affected by Ballistics research and cost – 60% gold.
  • 2 Unique unit: Centurion (cavalry) and Legionary (infantry)
  • 2 Unique technologies: Ballistas (Scorpion and Galley-line fires 33% faster) and Comitantes (Militia-line, Knight-line and Centurions are trained 50% faster and receive a charged attack)
  • Team Bonus: Scorpion-line minimum range is reduced

Economy bonus

A pretty good economy bonus with the 5% faster working, helping both in the early game but also in the late game. Giving the effect of 5 extra villagers in an economy based on 100 villagers.

Strong Navy

The bonuses on the Galley-line will also give them a strong start in water maps. Being able to take enemy ships in fewer shots while surviving thanks to the extra armor. Not to mention their unique techs will make them attack faster, with 4 shots instead of 3 within the same timeframe. But the extra +1 bonus attack is nullified in the late game with the lack of Bracers, thus having 1 less extra range against fully build navy civs. But still, a sturdy and fast attacking navy.

Scorpions as main ranged unit

Romans lacks not only Bracers, but also Thumb Ring and the Arbalest upgrade, making their archers pretty mediocre. But the heavy Gold discount and impressive buffs on the Scorpion makes up for it, making them one of the few civs that could pull off a Scorpion strategy, thanks to the high fire rate and being able to track moving targets as they are affected by Ballistic.

Militia-line, the core of the army

Infantry is surely the core of the Romans army, while they do lack the last Blacksmith upgrade, the Plate Mail Armor, they get twice the effects ending with a similar result but with an extra +1 piercing armor. Moreover having extra armor in Feudal and especially Castle Age does come in handy.

The Legionary replaces both the Two-Handed Swordsman and Champion in a single upgrade, offering +5 extra health and +1/+1P armor compared to the Champion, at the cost of -1 attack. But the unique tech also gives them a +5 attack with the charged attack with their fist hit, gaining again that bonus after a cooldown.

Centurion, the unique cavalry unit

Their Cavalry-line also receive the charged attack, as well as their unique unit trained at the Castle, the Centurion. This new cavalry unit not only have rather impressive stats with 15 attack, 3/3P armor and 175 hp , costing 15 Food and 10 Gold more than a Paladin, they also boast a unique ability. They are in fact able to boost movement speed and attack speed of our Militia-line units within 10 tiles. Making them a sort of general in the battlefield, turning Legionaries into a formidable unit.

Analysis

An interesting civilization, that focuses mainly on the infantry with access to Halberdier, good Champion replacement and a Paladin alternative with a nice ability. Moreover the extra early armors and tankiness of their units make them rather formidable in early Castle Age. Their Navy is nothing to scoff at, both strong and sturdy. They do have ome downside with lack of good archers, hindred by missing Bracers and Thumb Ring. Moreover their overall reliance on gold units make them hard to manage in late games, considering their lackluster “trash units“, missing Hussars and weak Elite Skirmishers. They’ll likely receive future balance updates and fixes but they do seems fun to use.

Return of Rome

Intended as a self contained experience, the team has brought the first game inside the skeleton of the second game. Bringing the 16 civilization of the original, by offeringa pletora of the more polished mechanics of Age of Empires II. Just to name a few, garrisoning, alarm bell, herdabe animals, rebalance with the military units, unit formation, gates (finally!) and several visual and UI upgrades. It plays more like the II with all the unique and fun units, technologies and quirks of the first game.

On top of that a new civilization is being introduced, the Lac Viet. A rather solid new civilization with simple but interesting bonuses:

  • Foragers works 20% faster
  • Archery range units +2 armor
  • Military units created 25% faster
  • (Team Bonus) Houses and Farms are build 50% faster

Some nice bonuses for an early economy boost, with the villagers being able to reduce the downtime in the early game and fast foragers to pull of an archer rush, also thanks to the additional early armor.

Campaigns

The new experience is missing the original campaigns, fun but not polished enough for modern experience. With probably the Rise of Rome being the more unique, while the others simply boiled down to eliminate the enemy. But the team has decided to bring 3 new campaigns. These new contents are fully voiced and with plenty of scripts and events, akin to the experience you’d expect from Age of Empires II.

  • Pyrrhus of Epirus: Playing as the homonym Alexander’s successor. Among the greates generals of antiquity, leading the Macedonian civilization.
  • Sargon of Akkad: A man of humble position, guided by the Goddess of War Ishtar. Thus leading the Sumerians to a new age.
  • Trajan: Playing as Marcus Ulpius Trajanus, a Roman legionnaire who rose through the ranks becoming Emperor but finding itself struggling with an Empire to the brink of disaster.

Conclusion

A pretty beefy DLC, containing a single civilization as opposed the the usual 2, but with a new revamped experience of the original game celebrating its 25th Anniversary in style. Not to mention a new game mode D3, a one that focus on preventing early rush, giving time to build a robust economy and a better chance at surviving for inexperienced players. Overall a fun DLC that is going to potentially please a lot, myself included, for revamping the original game while adding a fun civ for the main game.

You can learn more about the new content of the DLC, as well as more about the game by visiting the Official Age of Empires site. You’ll also be able to find a great and active and an active community, with new ways to play, tips and tricks!