Published , by Josh Broadwell
Published , by Josh Broadwell
If you’re the kind of RTS fan who gets excited over phrases such as “peasants can build oxcarts” or “sentry towers get boiling oil,” then you’re the kind of person Age of Mythology Retold is built for. World’s Edge overhauled the 2002 classic and its 2014 enhanced edition with improved visuals, dozens of balance changes, and some modern quality-of-life features that make it easier to pick up than ever. Retold is still fun even for those who aren’t that kind of mega fan, but the significance of most of its alterations – and the reason for its existence – is harder to grasp.
The basics, first. Age of Mythology Retold repackages the Age of Empires formula – specifically, AoE 2, which released three years before Mythology’s first launch – with a literal godly twist. Rather than following a broad range of civilizations through time, Mythology lets you pick the Greeks, Norse, Egyptians, and Atlanteans, the latter of which always seemed like an odd distinction given how drenched in Greek myth Atlantis was. Each civ’s tech tree is tied closely to their patron deities, but making Poseidon or Set happy does more than just let you build heavy armored infantry or make berserkers hit harder.
Unit types feel appropriately distinct and have some refreshing ties to the myth concept. In place of scouts, for example, the Greeks and Atlanteans get Oracles, units whose field of vision increases the longer they stand still and cast their mind’s eye further afield. Then you get heroes, which are, admittedly, a lot like Age of Empires’ heroes, but with flashier, god-given powers, and a selection of units unique to whatever civilization you chose – high-tech siege weaponry for the Atlanteans, for example, or chariots for the Egyptians.
You don't get the Chinese civilization, though, not unless you purchase them as DLC later, an annoying decision for those who already purchased the same DLC for the game's previous version.
What’s even better than unique civilizations is when Age of Mythology Retold lets you unleash monsters and gods in battle. You can send stone giants, horrible mummies, and other creatures of legend onto the field to wreak havoc, soar over settlement walls with a dragon, or stomp an entire squad with a well-placed cyclops. Age of Mythology Retold embraces chaos in a way the mainline games simply can’t. It’s an absolute blast to play, and even the way creatures behave is full of personality. More importantly, you can’t just summon a god’s power and expect to win immediately. Mythology expects you to think carefully about how and when you deploy your otherworldly powers, and using them incorrectly is a good way to find yourself on the losing side of a battle.
The caveat is that it often takes a lot of trial and error to finally reach the point where you can do these things. Another feature that sets Mythology apart from Age of Empires is just how aggressive you have to be, something that hasn’t changed from the game’s previous incarnations. If you aren’t building a sizeable army and establishing outposts immediately after a campaign starts, you’ll spend far too long trying to fend off invading forces that start with established villages and strong armies just so you can eke out small gains. It’s not impossible, but the lack of emphasis on building smart unit formations and defensive structures means that, when battles start, Mythology Retold often devolves into the RTS stereotype of just throwing everyone in a murder pile to see who walks away.
Story-driven campaigns lack the historical foundation you get in mainline Age of Empires. That’s understandable, given this is a tale of myths, though they make up for the lack of structure with a scrappy, underdog feel as you follow a small group of warriors trying to find favor with the gods and their place in the world. Campaign missions also give you additional tasks to complete aside from the usual “build X, destroy Y” objectives, such as finding passages through difficult areas or fulfilling certain requests to make your gods happy. It’s a small touch that helps make each playthrough and civilization feel distinct, and having varied objectives is just a lot more fun in general.
Campaigns also frequently make little sense, though. I picked the Atlantean campaign first, a story of Atlantis’ survivors struggling to rebuild a life for themselves 10 years after their city vanished beneath the waves. For reasons, World’s End shoehorns a Kronos story in that imitates Disney’s Hercules film, where the Titan of Time tries to unleash his brethren to wreak havoc on the world. It’s odd and has few ties to Atlantis, but coherent narrative is hardly the reason to play an Age of Empires game.
All of this likely sounds familiar if you’ve played either previous version of Age of Mythology. Aside from visual enhancements and some quality-of-life improvements, most of Mythology Retold’s changes are small and easily overlooked if you’re a casual player. These balance adjustments and unit tweaks seem aimed at PvP, as it’s hard to see specific differences in action or benefit from them in the controlled circumstances of a campaign.
Age of Mythology Retold is fun, don’t get me wrong. The visual overhaul alone is enough to make playing this 22-year-old game easier, and the quality-of-life improvements sand down some of the older versions’ more annoying edges. However, with more substantial structural improvements in later Age of Empires games, plus with the likes of Ara: History Untold just around the corner, I’m just not sure Retold needed to exist.
The publisher provided the PC copy of Age of Mythology: Retold used for this review. Age of Mythology: Retold is available now in early access for PC and Xbox Series X|S players who purchased the deluxe edition and launches for everyone else on Sep. 4, 2024.