Age of Empires 4

Platforms: PC, Xbox Publisher: Microsoft Year of release: 2021 Age of Empires 4 is the latest sequel (as of 2025) in Microsoft's long running Age of Empires series, which features real-time strategy gameplay in historical settings. Slightly easier for players to grasp than the “king” of the genre, Starcraft 2, the game suffers from many of the same challenges for modern players who are often unfamiliar with the genre and may find it too challenging at first, due to the wealth of options and complexity. However, if players are able to overcome the initial learning challenges, they will experience a game that offers a high level of fun through depth of strategy, logistics, critical thinking, numeracy and a fair amount of history too. Through the campaign mode, players are able to experience a documentary that shows where real-world battles took place, filmed on location with augmented overlays to show what historical buildings and battles would have looked like, before taking the player into the game to experience those battles first hand. This is a novel and engaging way for players to engage with history in a new and exciting way. The game supports up to 8 players on large maps and can be played in a variety of configurations with AI or human players, in teams of free for all settings.