It is a series I’ve enjoyed and revisited many times over the years. Now, this long-awaited sequel has finally arrived – was it worth the wait?Īs a 90s kid, many of my early PC gaming experiences came from RTS games and many of those hours were spent playing Age of Empires II and eventually, Age of Empires III. That changed back in 2017, with Microsoft partnering with Relic Entertainment to modernise the series and deliver Age of Empires IV. The last mainline game, Age of Empires III, released back in 2005 and for well over a decade, it looked like we would never get a sequel. Not long ago, Age of Empires was a dormant franchise, forgotten and left behind as Microsoft shifted its focus to Xbox.