age of empires 2 hd vs definitive edition

AGE OF EMPIRES 2 HD VS DEFINITIVE EDITION HOW TO
AGE OF EMPIRES 2 HD VS DEFINITIVE EDITION UPDATE
AGE OF EMPIRES 2 HD VS DEFINITIVE EDITION UPGRADE
AGE OF EMPIRES 2 HD VS DEFINITIVE EDITION FULL
AGE OF EMPIRES 2 HD VS DEFINITIVE EDITION MODS

Strategy game remasters are, in general, a bit of a minefield: the more you tinker with the game, the more likely you are to do something that pisses off the people who loved it in the first place and who you are relying on to come and buy your new version. What is a little surprising, though, is just how outstandingly good this remaster is.

AGE OF EMPIRES 2 HD VS DEFINITIVE EDITION FULL

Given that Microsoft is going through one of its more consumer-friendly phases at the moment, and given that there’s a proven audience for Age Of Empires out there, it’s not that surprising that they’ve taken a stab at a full remaster with Age Of Empires 2: Definitive Edition.

AGE OF EMPIRES 2 HD VS DEFINITIVE EDITION UPDATE

However, while Age Of Empires 2 has certainly aged more gracefully than several of its contemporaries, there was no getting around the fact that the HD Edition was just that – it upped the resolution while doing nothing to update the underlying look of game, and that’s been a bit of a problem as the modern obsession with 4K displays and 144Hz refresh rates intensifies.

A couple of years back I discovered that Age Of Empires 2 now has a thriving esports community with some of the highest viewer counts on Twitch during major tournaments I have enjoyed watching many of those matches myself, and that’s something that probably wouldn’t have happened without the efforts of Hidden Path and Forgotten Empires 1. Hidden Path kept at it, however, fixing those bugs and shoring up the game and providing a base for another studio, Forgotten Empires, to release their own campaigns and civilization packs. Granted it did have Steamworks integration for multiplayer, but on launch the game was plagued with bugs and desyncs and so at the time I didn’t see the long-term value of an AoE 2 with a modern multiplayer backend.

AGE OF EMPIRES 2 HD VS DEFINITIVE EDITION UPGRADE

Back in 2013 I slated the first remaster of AoE 2, Age Of Empires 2 HD, as being little more than a widescreen upgrade for the game. But even with these issues, support for DE is miles better than it was for HD, where u sometimes had to wait a year for a bugfix.First, an apology to Hidden Path.

But of course currently some issues plague the game like slow bug fixing and bad playtesting of patches. In DE you get all of that which is missing/bugged in HD, plus 4 more civs, lots of new campaigns, new matchmaking queue, QOL features like smart walls, shift queuing commands, more hotkey options, UI mods, selecting resolutions, server based MP, better AI and on top of all that more players. Much cheaper to get all content (15 euros DE vs 50 euros HD). Can’t spectate games without occupying a player slot. Can’t select the 1.7 gameplay speed in multiplayer, the one which has been the competitive standard on the Original game/voobly and on Definitive Edition. Unable to Save and Restore multiplayer games. Most annoying issue is the lag, which DE helps with due to you not depending on the network speed of the other players in the game(but ofc DE still has the issue where others PC might lag you). Elo system is buggy, lategame 4v4s always lagging. The multiplayer feels buggy, has some form of inbuilt delay. Here’s the problems of aoe2 HD / aoe2 2013: So if you absolutely don’t want to play DE, then your only option is userpatch 1.5, not HD.

AGE OF EMPIRES 2 HD VS DEFINITIVE EDITION MODS

And I guess currently another good side is compatibility with all the old mods & scenarios, but all of that is included in UP version of the game. But there’s a reason why everyone who was serious about the game switched from HD onto Voobly/userpatch.

AGE OF EMPIRES 2 HD VS DEFINITIVE EDITION HOW TO

It’s only good side - accessibility, because anyone knows how to install steam, and the game can ruin on fairly weak PCs. It is by far the worst platform of the game. Age of Empires 2 HD / 2013 was the buggiest trash ever for years.

Age of empires 2 hd vs definitive edition