The aesthetic makes it appealing to anyone interested in history, especially with Age of Empires II's campaign that focuses on actual historical events, with embellishment. Part of what made Age of Empires such a success is that it attracted players that weren't normally into RTS games, or video games in general. Related: Why Age of Empires 3 DE Is Changing Its Native American Civilizations Age of Empires Made the Historical RTS Popularīefore the release of Age of Empires, the RTS genre mainly focused on sci-fi and alternate time-periods. It's little wonder that Age of Empires II went down as one of the best RTS titles ever made, and it still has an active player base to this day.
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Age of Empires II doubled down on that idea of city-building, giving players more options than ever for structuring out their city, including the powerful castle which produces units and acts as a massive defensive structure. These two featured changed the game enough, but there's an entire list of other changes and enhancements the sequel made on the original game. The town bell allowed players to hit a single button to make all villagers garrison in the town center or towers, while the idle villager button instantly let players know when a villager is idle, letting them retask them immediately. On top of a strong single-player offering, Age of Empires II added vital features to the RTS, like the town bell and idle villagers button. The first Age of Empires was the blueprint, but Age of Empires II is where Ensemble perfected everything. The game's wide array of civilizations also bring more variation to playstyles, and how players approach both offense and defense. There's a unique sense of progression that happens in Age of Empires with advancing to each new age and getting a wealth of benefits that go along with it. A big part of this is the massive tech tree the game has, which was only made even more massive in Age of Empires II.
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Almost every building serves a dual purpose, producing units and purchasing research.
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Many RTS games encourage quick offense that ends matches quickly, but Age of Empires bucks that by integrating elements of city-planning on top of typical RTS strategy. A lot of RTS games have a big focus on economy and slowly building up a base, but Age of Empires created a methodical system that encourages expansion and planning.