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Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
42 Civilizations, 229 Campaign Missions, Singleplayer, Co-Op, Multiplayer, In-Game Editor, Mods, Cross-play...It is good to be the king.
In short, Steam reviewers most often praise “timeless deep RTS gameplay” (89 of 103 reviews) and “enormous campaign and mode selection” (16); the most common complaint is “brutal learning curve” (8). What reviewers agree on ↓
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-28 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
89 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“Hesitant to give this a negative review, not because AoE II is a bad game or any glaring flaw, to the contrary, its one of the best RTS games of all time and this iteration on a technical level is flawless. Rather,…”
“A game that passes the test of time (2+ decades) aka still receives updates, DLCs, and is, in my opinion the best RTS ever, can only get the best praise. Where Starcraft 2 and Warcraft 3 failed, Age of Empires 2…”
“The second game in the Age of Empires collection, and the best Age of Empire game...improves upon everything that made Aoe 1 enjoyable and adds many quality of life changes,better ai,more population,bigger maps... The…”
16 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“The second game in the Age of Empires collection, and the best Age of Empire game...improves upon everything that made Aoe 1 enjoyable and adds many quality of life changes,better ai,more population,bigger maps... The…”
“Is a classic rts and has tons of campaigns for single player content. Base game has like 30+ campaigns and is worth it for the old AoK and AoC campaigns alone. Campaigns released after this version was released are also…”
“Love this game, very active multiplayer scene as well as a lot of solid single player content. 10/10”
15 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“A game that passes the test of time (2+ decades) aka still receives updates, DLCs, and is, in my opinion the best RTS ever, can only get the best praise. Where Starcraft 2 and Warcraft 3 failed, Age of Empires 2…”
“This is the definitive and gold standard for all real-time strategy games. Perfectly designed unique civilizations galore. Amazing tech trees and balanced game progression. AOE 1 was the first strategy game I ever…”
“AOE 2...what morter needs to be said? been playing this since i was a teenager in the 00's, amazing that its still going and with new DLC.”
14 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“Really enjoyable, especially in multiplayer mode, but one needs to put some effort into learning to play. Great graphics”
“It's a classic in the RTS genre, and still popular today. It even holds up graphically on modern computers, despite being 20 years old.”
“So amazing to be back in the game got that me into gaming. Remastered really well, and brings back the joy and memories with new civs too”
13 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“Really enjoyable, especially in multiplayer mode, but one needs to put some effort into learning to play. Great graphics”
“Is a classic rts and has tons of campaigns for single player content. Base game has like 30+ campaigns and is worth it for the old AoK and AoC campaigns alone. Campaigns released after this version was released are also…”
“Love this game, very active multiplayer scene as well as a lot of solid single player content. 10/10”
8 of the 103 reviews raise this · 8 of them still recommend the game.
“this is my first time playing this type of game,i play FPS and open world games and this game was my childhood favirote ,the players more than 700 elo are d!ck heads but some players are gold they helped me to get…”
“I have played for over 15 years and can barely beat moderate AI. I am the bottom 40% of players. If you ever thought of trying mutiplayer, you will lose, forever, to the average sweaty guy. If you enjoy suffering,…”
“Really enjoyable, especially in multiplayer mode, but one needs to put some effort into learning to play. Great graphics”
5 of the 103 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“Hesitant to give this a negative review, not because AoE II is a bad game or any glaring flaw, to the contrary, its one of the best RTS games of all time and this iteration on a technical level is flawless. Rather,…”
“15 separate DLC packs. It would cost nearly $300 to buy them all. There are reviews from complete f*ckwits saying this is a good thing. Pro players who stream this game are all gutless boot lickers who seem to think a…”
“I was not a fan of the Chronicles detour, but besides that, this is one of the best RTS games ever.”
4 of the 103 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“Bought the game, started a single player game (no interest in multiplayer). Nice nostalgia boost, blast from the past. Playing for about an hour, decide to manually save the game -> error. Tampering detected. Game…”
“They rolled out a patch that completely broke game audio for me. I've played more than 50 games that have in-game voice chat. The AoE devs managed to implement it in the stupidest way possible, something I haven't seen…”
“Is a classic rts and has tons of campaigns for single player content. Base game has like 30+ campaigns and is worth it for the old AoK and AoC campaigns alone. Campaigns released after this version was released are also…”
4 of the 103 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“Hesitant to give this a negative review, not because AoE II is a bad game or any glaring flaw, to the contrary, its one of the best RTS games of all time and this iteration on a technical level is flawless. Rather,…”
“I think the game is getting worse with civs being added. it is very excessive at this point. I nkow you need to think of a way to make money...but please do not ruin it by adding still more.”
“Battles are long, and the units get repetitive but its still very challenging”
3 of the 103 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“15 separate DLC packs. It would cost nearly $300 to buy them all. There are reviews from complete f*ckwits saying this is a good thing. Pro players who stream this game are all gutless boot lickers who seem to think a…”
“this is my first time playing this type of game,i play FPS and open world games and this game was my childhood favirote ,the players more than 700 elo are d!ck heads but some players are gold they helped me to get…”
“Great game. Multiplayer is quite toxic but the campaign more than makes up for it”
Counted across 103 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 94.9% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“Age of Empires II was my entry point into gaming, back in the CD-ROM days, when the family computer belonged to everyone. I still have vivid memories of being five years old, sitting on my dad’s lap while he played and showed me the basics. After a while, he’d let me take over,…”
— a player, Steam review · 384 hrs played“What can I say about this game that hasn't already been said? The best RTS on the market, a cult game that has everything, but literary everything for at least 1000 hours of fun. I hate missions that are time-limited by the way, that's way the rating is lower, besides all the…”
— a player, Steam review · 445 hrs played“I’ve been playing Age of Empires since the late ’90s—back when a dial-up connection was part of the experience—and it’s been a constant source of enjoyment ever since. I still remember jumping onto the MSN Gaming Zone, sitting in the lobbies chatting with other players, waiting…”
— a player, Steam review · 115 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-10-26.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-10-26). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Server Maintenance - Thursday, October 8
WHAT: Server Maintenance (Matchmaking Servers) WHEN: Thursday, October 8 @ 2:00pm PT / 5:00pm ET / 21:00 UTC ( Countdown ) EST. DOWNTIME: 1-2 HOURS GAMES & PLATFORMS IMPACTED Age of Empires: Definitiv
The Viking Sagas Available Now For Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition!
New lands and plunder await! The Viking Sagas DLC for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is available now, bringing three brand new civilizations, 15 new single player campaign scenarios, and much
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition – Update 185872
Welcome fellow Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition players! This time we are sailing the seas, raiding the shores and earning our place in Valhalla with a Viking-themed content update. Seek shelter
Launch Times for The Viking Sagas
March through hills of heather, fight under the cover of snowy spruce, and hunt formidable elk and seal in Age of Empires II: DE - The Viking Sagas , releasing soon! ⚔️ Check out our latest release ma
The Warriors of The Viking Sagas
Jomsviking attack an unprepared village The Jomsviking is a powerful infantry unit available to the Danes at the Castle . Established in the 10th century by King Harald Bluetooth, the Jomsvikings were
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Strategy |
| Player tags | Strategy · RTS · City Builder · Multiplayer · Base-Building · Historical · Singleplayer · Medieval · Resource Management · Classic · Tactical · Real-Time (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Multi-player · PvP · Online PvP · LAN PvP · Co-op · Online Co-op · LAN Co-op |
| Languages | English * , French * , Italian * , German * , Japanese, Korean * , Portuguese - Brazil * , Russian, Simplified Chinese * , Spanish - Latin America * , Traditional Chinese * , Turkish, Vietnamese, Spanish - Spain * , Poli… |
| Achievements | 357 |
| Official site | https://www.ageofempires.com/games/aoeiide/ |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS: Windows 10 64bit Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD Athlon 64x2 5600+ Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 420 or ATI™ Radeon™ HD 6850 or Intel® HD Graphics 4000 or better with 2 GB VRAM DirectX: Version 11 Network: Broadband Internet connection Storage: 15 GB available space Additional Notes: 2GB of video memory + 4GB of system memory required