While the first three cultures seem to play fairly similarly to a standard Age of Empires faction, the Mongols represent the biggest departure from the series' history we've seen so far. I couldn't get any of the devs to tease the others too directly, but they were willing to say that the faction list will not be restricted to only Europe and Asia. The ones we know about so far include the English, the Indian Delhi Sultanate, the Chinese, and the Mongols. You'll advance through familiar tech levels: the Dark Age, Feudal Age, Castle Age, and Imperial Age, commanding eight distinct civilizations at launch. Rather than moving the clock forward, Age of Empires 4 returns to the Middle Ages, covering roughly the same time period as Age of Empires 2. The camera stays at a pretty safe distance by default, and the focus is on the character of your entire civilization much more than any individual character. Each peasant or cavalryman presents a stylized spin on history, with strong silhouettes and bright, easy-to-read colors. You have a base where you gather resources like wood and stone, train armies of around 200 units (though the campaign will sometimes let you exceed this), and send them out to conquer your enemies. Though coming from Relic, a developer best known for mixing up the RTS genre with classics like Homeworld and Company of Heroes, Age of Empires 4 is shaping up to be much more of a classic Age game than anything else. From documentary-style historical campaigns to the series' first nomadic faction, it's clear a lot of care has gone into preserving the Age of Empires experience while modernizing the experience. Age of Empires 4 details have been hard to come by since it was first announced in 2019, but no more, as we finally got a proper look at what Relic and Microsoft have been working on all this time.

Age of empires 4 civilizations