Age Of Empires 2 is, as far as I m concerned, the greatest real-time strategy game of all time. And with the release of Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition, it s well, it s still that. But now, there s a lot more of it. It s brilliant. Still, virtually every design decision its quality rests on was made twenty years ago, and what few changes have been to its inner workings are fairly conservative. Make no mistake: this is much more of a compilation job than it is any kind of reimagining.

But then, crucially, there s also nothing added that dilutes the success of the original, either. While its early-2000s successors, Age of Mythology and Age Of Empires 3, were both good games, they suffered from their attempts to innovate on a proven formula. Altering the formula of a classic is always a risk – and in Ensemble Studios case, it was one that didn t pay off. Bravo then to former modders Forgotten Empires, who tinkered with the game they loved long enough to inherit it, and yet never went too far. While the king of RTS games still doesn t have a successor, he s looking bloody good in his old age.

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Ave, citizens! It is I – Ghoastus, the famous Roman Ghost. This week, I have been haunting the streets of Los Angeles, in eager anticipation of all the thrilling Roman content soon to spill from the mouth of the games industry, like half-digested dormice from the maw of an overfed senator.

And yet, alas: I have found little to stir the patriotic embers that smoulder in my Roman soul at EIII. Those naughty Greeks have had a little time in the American sun, but it seems nobody cares much for us Romans this year. Nobody that is, except for Microsoft, who announced a thrilling new Definitive Edition for Age of Empires II, coming out this Autumn.

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We’ve just passed the half-way point of 2018, so Ian Gatekeeper and all his fabulously wealthy chums over at Valve have revealed which hundred games have sold best on Steam over the past six months. It’s a list dominated by pre-2018 names, to be frank, a great many of which you’ll be expected, but there are a few surprises in there.

2018 releases Jurassic World Evolution, Far Cry 5 Kingdom Come: Deliverance and Warhammer: Vermintide II are wearing some spectacular money-hats, for example, while the relatively lesser-known likes of Raft, Eco and Deep Rock Galactic have made themselves heard above the din of triple-A marketing budgets. (more…)

Another year over, a new one just begun, which means, impossibly, even more games.> But what about last year? Which were the games that most people were buying and, more importantly, playing? As is now something of a tradition, Valve have let slip a big ol’ breakdown of the most successful titles released on Steam over the past twelve months.

Below is the full, hundred-strong roster, complete with links to our coverage if you want to find out more about any of the games, or simply to marvel at how much seemed to happen in the space of 52 short weeks.

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Here we are, almost in 2017, with official new expansions still coming out for a game from 1999. Age of Empires 2 HD [official site] today launches Rise of the Rajas, the third new expansion since the real-time strategy game was revamped and rereleased in 2013. Rise of the Rajas is off to Southeast Asia for historical warfare with four new civilisations, each with their own campaigns and so very many battle elephants. … [visit site to read more]

Scant few games stand the test of time and retain a large active player base sixteen years after release. But not only has Age of Empires II endured, it has thrived. It’s gained new steam thanks in part to an official high-definition re-release but mostly due to the ragtag group of modders-turned-developers who made that release possible. Forgotten Empires filled the game with new stuff and rebalanced the multiplayer in one enormous mod and then two HD expansions: The Forgotten and the recently-released African Kingdoms. I spoke to the team to find out about the challenges of transitioning from mod team to professional development studio, and of continuing to expand a game within its ancient limits.

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