Anonymous edits have been disabled on the wiki. If you want to contribute please login or create an account.

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition

From PCGamingWiki, the wiki about fixing PC games
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition cover
Developers
Forgotten Empires
Tantalus Media
Publishers
Microsoft Studios
Engines
Genie
Release dates
Windows February 20, 2018[1]
Reception
Metacritic 69
OpenCritic 71
IGDB 70
Taxonomy
Monetization One-time game purchase, Subscription gaming service
Microtransactions None
Modes Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Pacing Real-time
Perspectives Bird's-eye view, Isometric
Controls Multiple select, Point and select
Genres RTS
Themes Africa, Europe, Classical
Series Age of Empires
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition on HowLongToBeat
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition on IGDB
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition guide on StrategyWiki
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition on MobyGames
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition on Wikipedia
Age of Empires 1997
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings 1999
Age of Mythology 2002
Age of Empires III 2005
Age of Empires Online 2011
Age of Empires II: HD Edition 2013
Age of Mythology: Extended Edition 2014
Age of Empires: Castle Siege 2014
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition 2018
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition 2019
Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition 2020
Age of Empires IV 2021
Age of Mythology: Retold 2024

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is an updated version of the 1997 Classical RTS Age of Empires and its The Rise of Rome expansion pack, basing its balancing on the UPatch community patch for the original game. It features completely redone graphics, improved controls, an updated multiplayer lobby.

The game was initially a Microsoft Store exclusive until it received a more popular Steam release on August 19, 2019. Its support cycle ended with the last patch (version 46777) from April 2021, up to which the game received bug fixes, balancing changes, ranked multiplayer modes, a farm reseeding feature, unit stances and compression improvements, among else.

As of June 2023, the game is no longer actively supported by the developers, except for periodic server maintenance periods which apply to all Definitive Editions' servers. In May 2023, the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition expansion titled Return of Rome includes most content of the first game's Definitive Edition except the campaigns, adapted to the engine and controls of the second game. While the servers are still online and active, this game did not receive the same level of popularity as the later games in the series.

General information

Official Discord server for the series
Official forum
Overview of new features
Official support knowledgebase
Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source DRM Notes Keys OS
Gamesplanet logo.svg
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Green Man Gaming
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Humble Store
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Microsoft Store
Microsoft Store
2019 re-release. Included with Xbox Game Pass for PC.
Uses Arxan Anti-Tamper DRM.
Windows
Steam
Icon overlay.png
Windows
Microsoft Store (unavailable)
Microsoft Store
Original 2018 release.
Windows

Monetization

Type Notes
One-time game purchase The game requires an upfront purchase to access.
Subscription gaming service Available via Xbox Game Pass for PC.

DLC and expansion packs

Name Notes
Soundtrack
Windows

Essential improvements

Skip intro videos

Skips both the Microsoft Studios intro and the game's intro animation
Run the game with the NOSTARTUP command line parameter[2]

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System Location
Microsoft Store %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\ActiveSync\LocalState\Games\Age of Empires DE\Config\
Steam %USERPROFILE%\Games\Age of Empires DE\Config\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1017900/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game data location

System Location
Microsoft Store %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\ActiveSync\LocalState\Games\Age of Empires DE\Saved Games\
Steam %USERPROFILE%\Games\Age of Empires DE\Users\<user-id>\Saved Games\
Steam Play (Linux) <Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1017900/pfx/[Note 1]

Save game cloud syncing

System Native Notes
Steam Cloud
Xbox Cloud

Video

Game Settings
Game Settings

Graphics feature State Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor
Ultra-widescreen
Menus fixed in 16:9
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed
Window can be resized at any time to any aspect ratio.
Borderless fullscreen windowed
Fullscreen mode is Borderless Windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anti-aliasing (AA)
On/off (unspecified method).
Vertical sync (Vsync)
See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)
See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Input

Hotkey Editor
Hotkey Editor

Audio

Audio feature State Notes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio
Campaign narration is read aloud from the text on the UI before starting a mission. No in-game narration or subtitles.

Localizations

Language UI Audio Sub Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Hindi
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish
Latin American Spanish
Vietnamese

Network

Elo and Ranked matches have been introduced in Update 10 (May 14, 2019).[3]

Multiplayer types

Type Native Players Notes
LAN play
8 Requires connection to the master server for lobby creation
Online play
8 Supports cross-platform multiplayer

Connection types

Type Native Notes
Matchmaking
Online lobby browser with visible player Elo rating.
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Other information

API

Technical specs Supported Notes
Direct3D 11
Executable 32-bit 64-bit Notes
Windows

System requirements

Windows
Minimum Recommended
Operating system (OS) 10 (1703)
Processor (CPU) 1.8 GHz Dual Core
System memory (RAM) 4 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD) 17.23 GB
Video card (GPU) Intel HD 4000
1 GB of VRAM
DirectX 11 compatible
64-bit operating system is required.


Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 File/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>/1017900/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (1017900) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References