Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings
1999 · Strategy · PC
Overview
Age of Empires II refined the original's formula through the medieval period — 13 civilisations, each with unique units and bonuses, competing across campaigns and skirmish maps. The game's balance, historical variety, and well-designed campaign missions made it the most played real-time strategy game for years. Its multiplayer community remained active two decades after release.
Deep Dive
Age of Empires II was developed by Ensemble Studios with Bruce Shelley again as lead designer. The game's civilisation differentiation — each of 13 civilisations with unique bonuses, unit sets, and architecture — created a strategic variety that the first game's fewer factions hadn't achieved. The Age of Empires II HD Edition in 2013 and the Definitive Edition in 2019 kept the game commercially active and its multiplayer community competitive.
Developer Story
Age of Empires II was developed by Ensemble Studios under Sandy Petersen and Bruce Shelley, building directly on the original's engine and gameplay foundation. The team expanded the civilisation roster and refined the balance based on competitive feedback from the original game's multiplayer community. The game launched in September 1999.
Did You Know?
- Age of Empires II has sustained an active competitive multiplayer community for over 25 years — the definitive edition in 2019 peaked at over 100,000 concurrent Steam players.
- The game's Forgotten Empires expansion — originally a fan-made modification — was eventually published officially by Microsoft, with the modders hired to develop subsequent official expansions.
- The memorable campaign missions — including historical scenarios following Joan of Arc, Saladin, and Genghis Khan — were praised by history teachers as an accessible entry point to medieval history.
- Age of Empires II's AI — called 'Hardest' at maximum difficulty — uses documented cheating mechanics: it builds faster and has larger resources than human players, a design choice Ensemble acknowledged rather than concealing.
