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Age of Empires IV feels almost shockingly like Age of Empires II. Given the backlash Relic faced a few years ago over its experiments with Dawn of War 3, it’s perhaps not surprising that this time out, the studio has hewed much closer to the established order.
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Whether there’s room left for a demanding, macro-driven series like Age in the modern landscape is very much an open question, but one thing is clear: this is Age of Empires almost exactly as you remember, and some more besides. Age of Empires IV arrives like a long-lost claimant to the RTS throne – one whose titles have since been absorbed into neighbouring kingdoms. Real-time strategy games have never really gone away, but the past decade has seen their glory much diminished from the heady days of StarCraft’s peak.
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