Age of Mythology has been something of a go-to since my childhood. My father introduced me to the world of strategy games with the second Age of Empires. When he brought Age of Mythology into our lives shortly thereafter, my lifelong passion for fantastical beasts, dashing heroes, and obsessive micromanagement began.
Now along comes Age of Mythology: Retold, which feels fashionably late at this point after far more attention has been diverted to what I’d consider the less interesting entries for the remake/remaster treatment. Mythology just strikes something deep within me, lights a spark, gets the blood pumping. It’s just more interesting and engaging than its plainer cousins. Forget the Romans; give me the Greeks.
The Classical Age - Back To Basics
Retold is a faithful (pun intended, sorry I’m a hack) remake of the original strategy wonder, with a gorgeous new lick of paint and a significant amount of effort put into balance and fine-tuning. It comes with the Atlanteans and their titans, naturally, but forgoes the rather unpopular and quite overpowered Chinese pantheon that was added to the enhanced remaster of the original in 2014. That’s no big deal, though - the game is meaty enough as it is and I’m sure the Chinese pantheon will be added down the line, whether as an update or as DLC.
Some totally new additions include two twists to original mechanics. Most important is the fact that god powers can now be cast more than once per game. This comes with Favor costs and rather long cooldowns, but this will completely uproot tried and true strategies conceived when god powers were single-use. Having multiple Forest Fires or Plenties has been enough to tip me from crushing defeat to a resounding win several times.
Retold also has a bevy of wonderful accessibility options added that were introduced in other Age of Empires games. It’s very heartening to see features like text narration, heavily adjustable colours and outlines, and in-depth speech-to-text chat in a modern strategy game.
The second big addition is an AI villager priority system, which allows you to eschew villager micromanagement and allows the computer to handle it for you according to player-set goals, and requires only a little intervention when hiccups arise. I don’t know exactly how I feel about using it right now since it feels like micromanagement will lead to better outcomes, but it certainly will make for a good learning tool for more inexperienced players who would otherwise feel overwhelmed.
I’m no competitive expert, but the balancing does feel like the biggest change overall in Retold. While gods keep their identities and general utility levels, some serious effort has gone into making each choice you make feel more impactful. Age-old strategies are still relevant in the most general sense but will need updating, build orders might need rethinking, and previously crucial minor god picks might now be outclassed. As someone who is only lightly into the competitive scene, I’m interested to see what developments and discoveries will be made by more skilful players than I.
The biggest balance change for me seems to be the removal of the Hunting Dogs technology. Less serious is the name change from Hippikon to Hippeus, which is likely more accurate to Greek but is less fun to say.
The graphics have seen significant improvements, making the pantheon dreamier than ever. Textures and effects now look lush and modern, with fantastic updates that manage to retain character and unit identity while still feeling elevated to a modern standard. Buildings, trees, and even berry bushes look sharper, making the world feel more realistic and alive while maintaining its iconic stylised identity.
This is especially true when it comes to Mythic units, which now feel far more legendary and awesome (as in, ‘evoking awe’, but also ‘totally rad, bro’). Pegasi are majestic creatures, Leviathans are supremely terrifying, and Wadjets are far more than limp snakes now. God powers have received a fantastic overhaul, too - Tornado and Meteor are two specific highlights, but I also cannot help but enjoy how very demure it feels to cast a beauteous light over my farms with Rain.
The Heroic Age - Campaigning For Greatness
While I’m sure many people come to Age of Mythology for the skirmishes and fighting other players, I’ve always been a big fan of the campaign. The main story sees Arkantos, an Atlantean hero, travel across the world and gain favour from various gods from all three base game pantheons. This always stuck with me as a brilliant way to give the player a taste of every mechanic the game has to offer, alongside a deeper look at its mythical cast of characters.
I do miss the cheesy clunk of the original voice acting and special effects, but that just shows what a stark contrast there is between the original and this new offering. Principal characters have fitting accents, and lines are delivered so competently that it often feels a bit out of place. This is not meant to be a negative critique, merely a comment on how elevated the campaign feels in comparison to what we were stuck with back in the old days. It’s a surprising reminder of how much the medium has evolved, but also how beloved classics such as this still hold up with only a few major enhancements.
And if, like me, you miss the good old days, there are already ‘classic voice replacement’ mods available via the in-game mod repository.
One thing I deeply appreciated upon launching the game for the first time was the updated tutorial, which gives a far quicker yet far more useful introduction to the game’s main mechanics, actually managing to throw you into combat and god powers without spending a full seven minutes teaching you how to move units around a map.
I played a decent chunk of the campaign on the dreadfully named ‘Standard’ difficulty, which would be better named ‘Easy’ or ‘Child’s Play’. I am not very good at RTS titles historically (another intended pun, sue me), but Standard turned a normally stressful campaign into a snoozefest. Cranking the difficulty up a bit made for a far more even playing field.
The same can be said for the same difficulty in Skirmish mode. Trust me, and go for Moderate or harder if you want to actually play a game.
If you’ve yet to experience the highs and lows of Arkantos’s campaign (not to mention that of his son’s, which delves into Atlantean mechanics), now is the perfect time.
The Mythic Age - FH Hop Tox Raid TC Rush Strats.
GG.
Age of Mythology: Retold is a far better update to the classic than Extended Edition ever was, and this is self-evident through even a few hours with it. The effort put into making this the best Age of Mythology that has ever been oozes throughout, and it’s a resounding success. This remake easily becomes the platonic ideal for Age of Mythology and makes it the true successor to the original.
Age of Mythology: Retold
Played on PC
4.5/5
Pros
- Faithful remake of the original with meaningful, clever balance changes
- Additional mechanics feel natural and add to the strategic element
- Revamped campaign mode is well done
Cons
- Difficulty options are badly named
- Not much in the form of actual new content
