Age of Empires IV features two new launch civilizations, a newly revealed campaign, naval combat, and Joan of Arc.

The teams at both Relic and World's Edge have shared that players will have the choice of the English, Mongols, Chinese and Delhi Sultanate at launch, and two more civilizations have been revealed: the Abbasid Dynasty and the French.

The Abbasid Dynasty's focus on technology, powered by their unique landmark, the House of Wisdom, will allow players to choose unique upgrade opportunities. Their unique units include Camel Archers and Riders.

The French were revealed alongside the 100 Years War campaign, allowing players to place themselves in the battles fought between the English and French in the 14th and 15th centuries. The French thrive in trade, with the Chamber of Commerce and Royal Institute landmarks helping strengthen a player's late game. Royal Knights are one of the civilization's special units with a fearsome charge ability.

Making a heroic appearance in the trailer is French heroine and icon Joan of Arc. Teenage Joan rallied her country and led armies into battle against the occupying English.

Taking the battle to the water adds a whole new dimension to player strategy and adds new meaning to "sink or swim"!

With updated controls, intuitive UI and a fresh approach to the campaign, Age of Empires IV is the most accessible Age of Empires game yet while taking everything fans love about the franchise to the next level.

The Age of Empires team announced the Age of Empires 25th Anniversary Broadcast, celebrating a huge milestone for the franchise.

The broadcast will take place on Tuesday, October 25 and can be viewed on Twitch , AgeofEmpires.com, and the official Age of Empires, Xbox and Red Bull Gaming YouTube channels. There will be announcements, interviews with the team, and plenty of surprises.

That’s not all that we have to share today though. 

October 25 will be a big day for the franchise as we are also releasing Age of Empires IV: Anniversary Edition on Steam and Microsoft Store! This new version of the game will include the base game, all updates released thus far and the Anniversary Update, featuring our two new civilizations, the Ottomans and the Malians.

Existing Age of Empires IV owners will get the Anniversary Update for free — including the Ottomans and Malians, new mastery challenges, fresh achievements, eight new maps and two new biomes to explore and conquer.

We’ll also be kicking off Season Three, adding Ranked Team Games, improving naval balance and introducing waypoint markers. Season Three has some specially themed rewards, so get involved to see how you can join the party. One year on from launch, there’s never been a better time to get started, come back to see what’s new or push forward your play in new ways.

The Age of Empires IV Anniversary Update on October 25 will also add eleven languages to the game! Players will now be able to experience Age of Empires IV in Hindi, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Czech, Norwegian, Greek, Hungarian, Polish, Finnish, and Portuguese (Portugal) in addition to the languages we launched with.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition and III: Definitive Edition will also join the anniversary soiree with in-game challenges and exclusive rewards. Stay tuned to official channels for more information on these.

The end of the week will culminate in the finals of Red Bull’s Wololo: Legacy tournament, the biggest Age of Empires competitive event of all time!

Head to the event website for all the latest information and be sure to watch as the world’s top players come together to battle it out live from Heidelberg Castle in Germany.

Key Features:

• Stunning 4K visual fidelity
• Eight diverse civilizations, including the Mongols and Chinese, along with naval gameplay support
• Four campaigns with thirty-five missions spanning 500 years of history
• Cooperate or spectate with up to seven of your friends in PVP and PVE multiplayer modes
• Best-in-class game and platform services, including a World Editor in early 2022, tutorials and a story mode to help onboard new RTS players

Age of Empires IV is available on PC (Steam) for $59.99.