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. 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.
