Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Return of Rome is an expansion to the 2019 RTS, in itself a remake of a 1999 game. The DLC was developed by Forgotten Empires and Tantalus Media.

Mechanics

The expansion doesn't revolutionise the original game's mechanics, mostly focusing on adding new content.

Return of Rome adds eighteen new ancient civilizations to Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. These include

1. Romans,
2. Assyrians,
3. Babylonians,
4. Carthaginians,
5. Joseon,
6. Egyptians,
7. Greeks,
8. Hittites,
9. Macedonians,
10. Minoans,
11. Palmyrenes,
12. Persians,
13. Phoenicians,
14. Romans,
15. Shang,
16. Sumerians,
17. Yamato,
18. Lac Viet.

The expansion also introduces three new campaigns based on the achievements of famous historical figures - Sargon of Akkad, Pyrrhus of Epirus and the Roman Emperor Trajan.

Another new feature is Rise of Rome, a new gameplay mode based on unofficial D3 tournament rules created by Vietnamese fans. It's slower paced and prevents rush, that is, creating hordes of cheap units and flooding the enemy with sheer numbers at the very beginning of the game.

Game modes

Just like the base game, the expansion supports singleplayer and multiplayer.

Technical aspects

Return of Rome is not a standalone expansion and requires the base version of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition to function.

It's worth mentioning most of the expansion's content is directly taken from Age of Empires: Definitive Edition, but all these elements have been reworked to support the gameplay improvements introduced in Age of Empires II: Definitive Editions, such as gates, formations, trading carts and enhanced AI.

Last updated on 16 May 2023