Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings

Real Time Strategy (RTS)Strategy

Time to beat: about 40.6 hours

Overview

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999 for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh in 2001, it is the second game in the Age of Empires series. The Age of Kings is set in the Middle Ages and contains 13 playable civilizations. Players aim to gather resources, which they use to build towns, create armies, and defeat their enemies. There are 5 historically based campaigns, which conscript the player to specialized and story-backed conditions, and 3 additional single-player game modes; multiplayer is also supported.

Despite using the same game engine and code similar to its predecessor's, development of The Age of Kings took a year longer than expected, forcing Ensemble Studios to release Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome in 1998 instead. The design team focused on resolving significant issues in Age of Empires, but noted on release that some problems remained.

Reception of Age of Empires II was highly positive. The significant number of new features was praised, as were the gameplay improvements. Three months after its release, two million copies of Age of Empires II had been shipped, and it topped sales charts in seven countries. The game won multiple awards and is today considered a classic of its type, having had a significant impact on future games in its genre. The original Age of Empires II and its 2000 expansion pack, The Conquerors, were later released as The Gold Edition. Age of Empires II is often considered one of the greatest games ever made.