Age of Empires II Receives First Official Expansion in 14 Years

Image Source: Forgotten Empires

“Forgotten Empires,” originally a fan-made mod, has received the official expansion status for Age of Empires II HD.

Well here’s something you don’t see every day, Age of Empires II, a game which is over 14 years old, is getting a brand new expansion pack. “Forgotten Empires,” originally a fan-made mod, has received the official expansion status for the Age of Empires II HD Edition, and will be released this fall via Steam.

Forgotten Empires for the HD re-release will add a ton of new features to the game, including:

• Proper spectator features
• Twitch.tv integration (including chat ingame)
• Forgotten Empires civs, units, tech tree and balance changes (can be toggled on and off at will in settings)
• New game modes: Treaty (no rush mode), Capture the Relic (akin to neutral flag CTF)
• New campaigns: Four new campaigns, all set in the Italian peninsula over its long and messy history (Fall of Rome, Mercenary fighters, the Byzantine campaigns to reconquer Italy, etc).
• New map size: Ludicrous (4x the area of the previous largest)
• New map scripts: Acropolis, Golden Pit, new Megarandom, etc.
• New AI: Uses competitive builds and does not cheat.

If you own the original Age of Empires II (not the HD re-release) you can actually already download the mod and try it out for free. It would be a safe bet to assume it will also be a free download when it comes out for the HD edition this fall.

Forgotten Empires includes 5 brand new civilizations: the Italians, Indians, Hungarians, Slavs, and the Incas, 30 new technologies, 9 new units, and a population increase to 1000. You’ll be able to play with these new toys on 11 new maps.

Source: Gamechup