News Liste Age of Empires IV

Age-ing Up Variant Civilizations

While base civilizations like the English and French allow us to explore a broad range of human history, variant civilizations provide a unique opportunity to dive deep into specific moments in time and unearth the stories within. This is a design philosophy the team believes in, and with Knights of Cross and Rose, the team was able to expand upon this concept with feedback from the community fresh in mind.

One thing we heard loud and clear from players is the importance of staying true to history (as much as possible!) while still presenting fun gameplay mechanics – even with variant civilizations. With that in mind, we’ve given the Knights Templar and House of Lancaster a more direct “civilization treatment,” drawing inspiration from the moments in time these well-known groups inhabited and aiming for a high level of authenticity as much as possible.

Not only are we leaning more into history as our compass when it comes to overall design, but we’re also packing in more content. These variants bring with them even more unique units, upgrades and abilities to ensure they stand out from their base civilization in meaningful ways. In the case of the Knights Templar, there are no shared traits, bonuses, units or upgrades between them and the French civilization.

The Knights Templar

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The Knights Templar, while a well-known historical group, were neither a state nor kingdom. As a Military Order, they were comprised of individuals from a variety of nations, this unique situation allowed our team some degree of creative freedom when exploring how to best represent the Knights Templar in gameplay. While their unit roster is powerful, it’s the Knights Templar’s unique recruitment system that we believe will give them a fun strategic edge.

Historically, Templar Commanderies were established in nearly every European Kingdom acting as a source of power and prestige for the Order. With Knights of Cross and Rose, this system is brought to life with the Commanderie Age Up system, in which you can select one of three allies with each Age to receive a permanent bonus and unique unit. Did we mention yet that Knights Templar have a lot of unique units?

Furthermore, the Templars built a lot (like a lot a lot) of Castles, Fortresses and various fortifications around Europe and the Levant. Thus, the Fortress, their unique keep, plays a key strategic role in their overall gameplay.

House of Lancaster

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The House of Lancaster were key players in two of the most formative wars in European medieval history: the War of the Roses and the Hundred Years War. The Lancasters were known for their unparalleled ranged tactics on the battlefield and an unyielding patronage of the arts and sciences.

These historical elements inspired much of the gameplay when bringing the House of Lancaster variant civilization to life in this upcoming DLC. Not only does this variant civilization come equipped with a powerful ability called Synchronized Shot, which allows for a wide-ranging volley shot, but they’re also bolstered by the Manor, a unique building that generates resources.

While the Knights Templar provide several sleek and wholly new gameplay options, the House of Lancaster serves as a departure from their English base civilization while still providing a generally intuitive playstyle that leans toward defensive strategies.

Historical Battles

The new singleplayer mode, Historical Battles, deviates from the traditional narrative-focused campaign by narrowing in on select moments in history notable to the Knights Templar and House of Lancaster. While these Historical Battles aim to enrich the gameplay experience with elements common to campaign – including storybook-style cinematics and voice acting – their vignette quality (as standalone missions) allowed us to take real history as inspiration for a challenging set of objectives that, in some cases, put the power to defy history into the player’s hands. Some of these battles start in desperate situations that were historical defeats for the armies you’ll command, such as the Siege of Safed. This particular setup begs the question: With your wits and cunning, can you hold back the might of Baibar’s army that defeated the Knights Templar?

A core element of these battles is that players are scored and ranked by their performance through an associated medal system, meaning we had to take a fundamentally different approach to the mission design. In the classic campaign format, missions are more linear with a singular focus on describing the actual event. With Historical Battles, we have filled the maps with secrets, traps and more to promote exploration. This leads to the battles being puzzle-like in nature, which means that it’s not a “play once and be done with it” experience, but instead a mode that challenges you to optimize your play over repeated attempts. Players looking for an additional level of challenge have the option of unlocking Conqueror mode based on decisions made during the mission.

We expect this style of content to resonate with a broader audience as it melds aspects of narrative common to campaigns with the replayability and strategic opportunities of skirmish. We’re looking forward to hearing what you think of this approach to singleplayer modes!