In celebration of the 25th anniversary of its first release, Age of Empires is returning as a mobile version to play on iOS and Android. Microsoft’s umpteenth attempt to break through in the smartphone video game market takes up one of the best-known sagas of the last 30 years and tries to bring it back into vogue in a version adapted for the small screens of phones and tablets. It is not the first time that the game has tried to be successful in the mobile version but this time, after the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King (to be clear, the studio behind the development of Candy Crush) nearing completion by the end of 2023, there there are much more chances of having a respectable title that can compete with the main games of the moment.
For those unfamiliar with it, Age of Empires is a gigantic and complex strategy game that lets you control an ancient civilization as you progress through four different eras that give you access to new units and upgrades as you progress. It started from the Stone Age with the very first game – where you could play as Egyptians, Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Hittites, Persians, Phoenicians, Greeks, Minoans, Yamato, Shang, and Choson – up to the medieval era of the last Age of Empires IV released about a year ago with four campaigns available between the Normans, the Hundred Years War, and the Chinese and Russian empire expansions.
The smartphone readaptation could be somewhere in between and allow you to develop your favorite civilization throughout world history – a bit like other titles on the App Stores already offer – but we will need to understand how World’s Edge and Xbox Game Studios will be able to adapt the rich menu of tools and buildings present on the PC to make it leaner and more suitable for mobile gaming. We are still at the launch trailer so we still don’t know how the gameplay is, but what is certain is that the next release of Age of Empires: Mobile seems to be yet another attempt to leverage the nostalgic vein of the 90s that has infected the tech and gaming world in recent years.
It could cover a range of topics related to health, wellness, beauty, personal growth, and social issues, all from the perspective of striving for beauty, intelligence, youthfulness, and impartiality