As a seasoned gamer with decades of experience under my belt, I must say that Age of Mythology: Retold has truly captured my heart and left me spellbound. The stunning visuals and the lush environments are simply breathtaking, making every battle feel like an epic spectacle straight out of Greek mythology.
In this scene, thunderbolts strike, killing both minotaur and human victims indiscriminately. War elephants trample a neighboring fortress into dust. A fearsome dragon flies above, turning archers into charred remains. Meanwhile, dwarves cheerfully excavate veins of gold.
Over the past week, I’ve witnessed numerous small conflicts in my gameplay of Age of Mythology: Retold. Growing up, I was a fan of strategy games like Age of Empires 2, and while Xbox Game Studios and World’s Edge have remastered several games from the Age of Empires series, it’s refreshing to see that the underrated spinoff, Age of Mythology, is now receiving its well-deserved update.
In summary, this reboot is impressive with stunning updates to graphics, lighting effects, and physics, as well as strategic alterations in gameplay that make combat more fluid. Players engage in epic battles using divine power and fierce beasts in a genuine battle of titans. Although minor bugs and glitches have emerged during my playtime, they haven’t deterred me from eagerly delving deeper into the game.
What is Age of Mythology: Retold?
Age of Mythology: Retold is a comprehensive overhaul of the original Age of Mythology, which was a spin-off of Age of Empires created by Ensemble Studios. Now published by Xbox Game Studios, Age of Mythology: Retold is being developed jointly by World’s Edge and various collaborative teams from Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media, CaptureAge, and Virtuos.
Similar to its Age of Empires relatives, Age of Mythology functions as a real-time strategy game (RTS). In this game, players are challenged to collect resources, establish strongholds, oversee an economy, and mobilize armies for conquest.
Instead of sticking to historical facts like Age of Empires does, Age of Mythology focuses on its title’s theme by exploring myths and legends. Unlike traditional soldiers, it features mechanical automatons, centaurs, and sea monsters alongside spearmen, slingers, and catapults. In this game, gods and goddesses grant special abilities to their chosen players, enabling them to unleash meteors in battles or summon the undead. The game offers three campaigns, multiplayer options, skirmishes against AI, and a scenario editor that lets players design custom campaign levels.
Players select from one of the initial four Pantheons (with additional ones planned for future updates), which include the Atlanteans, Egyptians, Greeks, and Norse. Each group is subdivided into several Major Deities such as Odin and Zeus, and players can pick two Minor Gods every time their civilization progresses, with figures like Artemis and Osiris providing unique abilities, technological advancements, and mythical units.
Age of Mythology: Tales of the Titans introduces several modifications, some subtle and others more substantial, all aimed at adapting the gameplay experience for contemporary gaming PCs and Xbox Series X|S systems. Moreover, World’s Edge is planning to incorporate official mod support, allowing players to create major overhauls or simply fun, whimsical levels to explore.
Age of Mythology: Retold review — Gameplay and features
In essence, Age of Mythology: Retold maintains the core gameplay as its predecessor, yet introduces some significant enhancements. Among these updates, one noteworthy alteration is the reusable God Powers feature. Initially, this modification may seem straightforward; however, it brings about a meaningful shift in strategy. Instead of an overpowered heavenly attack that’s too awesome to employ often, using it to annihilate enemy armies becomes a costly yet crucial tactical option in your battle plan.
In action, it’s challenging to underestimate the extent to which this modifies the course of the game. With each God Power demanding progressively more Favor with each use, strategic planning can lead to some cunning, innovative strategies. In the campaigns alone, summoning the Sons of Horus (indeed, more than one) significantly transforms your approach to overcoming tougher stages such as A Long Way from Home, as numerous lightning-wielding demigods effortlessly decimate armies without exertion.
A significant enhancement for the game is getting rid of the limit on Favor accumulation. Essentially, this allows for increased possibilities to grow and construct larger armies. In the original Age of Mythology, the endgame tended to favor a single, decisive army because players could only build a limited number of myth units simultaneously. However, I often found it advantageous to field two or even three armies concurrently, which becomes much easier when you can accumulate Favor without any restrictions.
In a novel twist for the series, Age of Mythology: Retold now offers controller compatibility on PC. This innovation leverages the villager priority system initially introduced in the Xbox adaptation of Age of Empires 2, making it simpler for newcomers to grasp the intricacies of strategy games. During my playthrough of the campaigns, I frequently switched between keyboard and controller inputs.
It’s practically guaranteed that exploits will surface over time and necessitate adjustments via updates. However, throughout the campaign stages and skirmishes I engaged with, I was consistently enjoying myself immensely, and it ranks among the most entertaining experiences I’ve ever had in the Age of Empires series.
The only real gameplay issues I encountered came in the form of pathfinding. It was never too much to deal with, but I did notice from time to time that ranged units could have a hard time forming up correctly, even if nothing was really in their way. Meanwhile, melee units could get distracted and wander off if they weren’t heavily micromanaged.
Age of Mythology: Retold review — Visuals and audio
There’s evidently a lot of hard work put into the revamp of Age of Mythology, and it’s truly captivating to see. Both male characters and monstrous figures have been meticulously redesigned, maintaining a decent level of detail even when viewed up close. The settings are equally stunning, with tranquil landscapes that evoke peace before the clash of battles begins.
Retold smoothly. On my RTX 3070, I managed to crank up all the graphics settings, even ray-tracing options, without any performance problems and maintaining a constant high frame rate. Installing the game on an NVME SSD significantly reduced load times, keeping them under just a few seconds.”
As a thrilled gamer with an RTX 3070 graphics card under my belt, I cranked up every graphic setting, even the ray-tracing ones, and it ran like a dream, keeping a steady frame rate without a single hiccup!
During the Trident campaign, specifically mission sixteen titled Good Advice, I experienced an unusual technical glitch. Every 20-25 seconds, the game would pause momentarily until we were close to the end of the level. This issue was unique to this mission and I couldn’t reproduce it later, but I thought it necessary to bring up here anyway.
Age of Mythology: Retold not only offers a refreshed take on the original soundtrack but boasts an excellent remastering job, keeping the iconic tunes largely intact while ensuring they remain true to their essence. The game delivers immersive audio quality throughout, offering clear cues and guidance about the action unfolding both on-screen and off-screen.
Age of Mythology: Retold review — Accessibility and approachability
Age of Mythology: Retold offers an extensive array of accessibility features designed with thoughtfulness in mind. Players can personalize faction color choices along a spectrum that caters to each individual, making the game more inclusive for people with various types of color blindness. Moreover, players have the flexibility to adjust text and menu font sizes, modify player text colors, activate a full-menu narrator, among other customizable options.
As a researcher diving into Age of Mythology: Retold, I can attest that the user-friendly controller support has significantly eased my entry into this game, offering an intuitive setup that reduces the stress of managing villagers and economy. The developers at World’s Edge have made it their mission to make this title the most accessible in the Age of Empires series, and upon hands-on experience, I can confidently say they’ve succeeded. Frankly, I haven’t encountered an RTS as effortless for newcomers as this one in quite some time.
Should you play Age of Mythology: Retold?
Despite a few minor glitches, Age of Mythology: Remastered does an exceptional job at not just reimagining the original game but also pushing the series forward, paving the way for future additions and enhancements. I can’t wait to invest countless hours more into Age of Mythology: Remastered, and I eagerly anticipate the introduction of new pantheons due in the coming months.
As a tech enthusiast who’s always on the lookout for great gaming experiences, let me tell you that if you were captivated by the original Age of Mythology, this one is definitely not to be missed! Even if you’re new to the strategy genre and feel hesitant about diving in, I encourage you to give it a go. With its updated gameplay mechanics, controller support, and numerous accessibility options, this world filled with gods and monsters provides an excellent starting point for your strategic adventure.
On September 4, 2024, Age of Mythology: Retold will be released for Xbox Series X|S and Windows PC platforms, and it will also be accessible through Xbox Game Pass. If you’re a Premium Edition owner, you can start playing the game as early as August 27.
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2024-08-27 17:11