Overview
Age of Empires IV launched on October 28, 2021, and quickly earned recognition as one of the best real-time strategy games of that year, winning Best Sim/Strategy Game at The Game Awards 2021 and Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year at the DICE Awards 2021. GamesRadar+ gave it a perfect 5/5, while CGMagazine awarded it a 10/10. Relic Entertainment, the studio behind the Company of Heroes series, handled development, bringing a distinct historical weight to a franchise that had been dormant since Age of Empires III in 2005.
The game spans 500 years of history across 4 campaigns and 35 missions, covering major conflicts and civilizations from the Dark Ages through the Renaissance. Players command 8 civilizations, each with distinct mechanics, unit rosters, and architectural styles that go well beyond cosmetic differences. The English play differently from the Mongols, who play differently from the Delhi Sultanate, which is exactly the kind of asymmetric design that keeps the competitive scene and casual play both interesting.
Gameplay and mechanics
The core loop of Age of Empires IV will feel familiar to anyone who has spent time with the series. Gather resources, construct buildings, advance through ages, and field armies. What Relic added is a layer of civilization-specific depth that rewards learning each faction properly.
Key mechanics include:
- Age advancement with unique bonuses per civilization
- Land and naval combat across varied terrain
- Resource management across food, wood, gold, and stone
- Landmark buildings that define strategic identity
- Siege warfare with historically accurate equipment
The Delhi Sultanate, for example, researches technologies for free but at a much slower rate, forcing a completely different pacing strategy. The Mongols can pack up and move their entire base, making positional play a genuine tactical option rather than a gimmick.
Historical campaigns: what do you actually play through?
The four campaigns cover the Norman conquest of England, the Mongol Empire's expansion across Asia, the Hundred Years' War seen through Joan of Arc's perspective, and the rise of the Moscow Principality. Each campaign uses real documentary footage and narration to frame the missions, giving the whole thing an educational quality without sacrificing the strategy.
The Joan of Arc campaign in particular stands out for its mission variety, mixing open-field battles with siege scenarios across multiple engagements. The Mongol campaign leans hard into the faction's unique mobility, teaching players how to use that pack-up mechanic effectively before letting them loose in the later, harder missions.
Multiplayer and content depth
Online play supports up to 8 players across PVP and PVE modes. The Anniversary Edition, currently available on PlayStation 5 at $25.99 (discounted from $39.99), brings the game to console players with full cross-platform support, expanding the multiplayer pool considerably. The game also supports mod tools through Steam Workshop, giving the community the ability to build custom scenarios, maps, and rule sets.
Season updates have continued adding content well past launch. As of May 2026, the game is on Season 13, with the Yue Fei's Legacy content drop released recently alongside Minor Patch 16.1.10056. The active update cadence keeps the competitive meta shifting and gives returning players a reason to check back in regularly.
Impact and staying power
Age of Empires IV also runs on Xbox Game Pass for PC, making it one of the more accessible premium RTS titles available. The tutorial system is genuinely well-designed, walking new players through resource management and unit control without being condescending, while ranked multiplayer gives veterans a ladder to climb. The combination of a strong single-player history lesson, an active competitive scene, and consistent post-launch support makes it one of the most complete strategy games available across PC, Xbox, and now PlayStation.
