The original Age Of Empires was released in 1997, right in the middle of the genre’s golden age – although it was its sequel that was the franchise’s real gem and is still remembered today as one of the best examples of its type.

The reason? As good as they were almost every game played exactly the same, whether it was set in deep space or the ancient world. And yet within little more than five years the genre was essentially dead. Age Of Empires 4 – it feels old-fashioned in more ways than one (pic: Microsoft)Īfter 16 years the Age Of Empires franchise finally gets a new sequel but is the latest entry too similar to the old ones – or not enough?įollowing the release of Command & Conquer in 1995 real-time strategy games became the most popular game type on the PC, with every Western publisher in the world rushing to make one.