Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Anniversary Update Available Now, Featuring Battle Royale Mode

It’s time for an Anniversary! We’re celebrating a year of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition with the biggest update we’ve ever shipped, including a new Battle Royale game mode, new features to help welcome our growing community, balance changes, bug fixes, and more!

It’s time for a Battle Royale, Age of Empires style!

With the November Anniversary Update, we’re introducing a new game mode – Battle Royale! This fast-paced mode pits up to eight players against each other in five new custom maps for a free-for-all contest to see who can be the last combatant standing. Each player starts with two hero units and can then scout the map for both supply and military buildings. Resources are on a constant tick and will accelerate if you’re able to maintain control of those supply buildings, but be vigilant – any other player can take those away by eliminating your defenses and achieving proximity. Acquire multiple military buildings to spam units and bring massive armies into the battlefield – all as the map shrinks inward and eliminates both your play space and resources over time.

Introducing Quick Play!

We’ve now made it easier than ever to jump in and play Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. Quick Play allows players to quickly set game type and map preferences, and effortlessly matchmake with others in Random Map, Empire Wars, and Battle Royale game modes. The queue for Quick Play is unranked and meant for convenient play with just a few clicks!

Which Civ is the best choice for your play style?

We’ve updated the Civ Selection UI to include new Civ Information to help inform your play, and we’ve added helpful Hints & Tips to loading screens to better prepare you for the battles ahead. As Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition grows, it’s more important than ever that we create a welcoming environment for new players, as well as make balance changes more evident in updated information about each Civ. Take a look and try something new!

But wait, there’s more – we’ve given the main menu UI a complete overhaul! Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition has always been a game with a lot of content and options, but we’ve seen that be difficult to navigate – with Campaign content, Standard games, ranked and unranked Multiplayer, Art of War missions, an Editor, and more – where does anyone start? The new main menu UI simplifies navigation in just about every way and makes it easier and ever to find the content you care about, and represents the start of more exciting updates coming in the months ahead.

Alongside all of this, we’ve also updated the UI for party invites, making it easier than ever to play with your friends.

We hope you’re as excited as we are to celebrate a year of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition and we’re excited to bring you with us into the year ahead with more still to come!