After months of waiting, Age of Empires IV (AoE IV) is finally available on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One plus Xbox Game Pass.
The latest entry in the classic real-time strategy (RTS) series was announced to be coming to Xbox consoles in October 2022, following its initial release in 2021. Like Age of Empires II‘s console port, Age of Empires IV for Xbox consoles features a tutorial designed to help players understand its unique gamepad controls. The game is also available via Xbox Cloud Gaming.
If AoE IV‘s gamepad controls are anything like AoE II‘s (and it seems they are), they’ll work surprisingly well. When I wrote about Age of Empires II earlier this year, I called its gamepad control system, “surprisingly intuitive and fluid,” emphasizing that it gives players near-instant access to every command they might need. Age of Empires IV also features the excellent villager priority system that lets you set up predefined task presets with just a few button presses, automating one of the more tedious aspects of the game.
Other features include cross-play multiplayer support across Xbox/PC and full keyboard/mouse controls if using a gamepad to play an RTS game isn’t your idea of a good time. It’s worth noting that this is also the anniversary edition of AoE IV, which includes several additional historical battles.
Performance-wise, Age of Empires IV plays at 4K/60fps on the Xbox Series X, which, for someone who struggled to get the game to run consistently on their ancient gaming PC, is great to hear.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate costs $18.99/month.
Image credit: Xbox
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