Sunrise Parabellum Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition Review

I have just finished Age of Empires III Definitive Edition on PC: 53 hours in, three campaigns and all the historical battles, completed on medium difficulty. I didn't touch multiplayer/PvP, so this review is strictly about the single player side. + Fair warning : I'm no RTS expert.. Take my perspective for what it is. I actually played this when it first came out and I remember it being harder. Still, coming back to it now, I had a really good time. This was mostly a nostalgia trip for me, and it delivered :D ‎ ‎ # What I liked : ============ The game looks great. The visuals are gorgeous, both during gameplay and in cutscenes. Voice acting is excellent + The soundtrack is honestly just peak. Getting into the game was smooth. The tutorial covers the basics well, and you don't need prior experience to enjoy it. That said, don't mistake "easy to start" for "easy to master" because the game still asks you to think. You need some strategy, some planning, and a bit of adaptation depending on the mission. Just like back in the days, I loved the campaigns. Objectives vary enough to stay fresh, and each civilization genuinely looks and plays differently. The writing (dialogue + story) holds up too and it all flows well. I personally preferred the first campaign, but the second and third ones bring a real change of scenery: different settings, different peoples, different energy. I actually don't think I ever played them before, so that was a nice surprise. The historical battles are a solid extra. More challenging, more variety from naval fights, sieges, to survival scenarios, limited units. Locations and factions span a wide range across time. I can't speak to historical accuracy, that's not my area, but it felt diverse and well put together. ‎ ‎ # On the downside, I run into few technical issues. ========================================= Some final cutscenes had no audio and were left untranslated. Same goes for a handful of dialogue lines. I also ran into mini freezes. They don't happen every session, but when they do, it's genuinely frustrating. I fixed it by reducing the number of active CPU threads.. but that's a workaround, not a fix. It takes some tinkering that not everyone will want to deal with. ‎ ‎ ..:‎ Please, wrap it up :.. ================== To conclude, I really enjoyed going through the campaigns. It brought back a lot of good memories. I didn't remember the second and third campaigns at all, so that felt almost new, even if I liked the first one more. The historical battles added some extra challenge, and I could feel myself improving, even if I know I've barely scratched the surface of what the game allows in terms of strategy. Still, I can't judge this from a serious RTS standpoint cuz I simply don't have the background for it. What I can say is this: I don't usually play RTS games, and I'm not here for the competitive side. I just wanted a good time in the campaign and that's exactly what I got. By the end, I felt satisfied. My “Age of Empires” itch was definitely taken care of ^^ If you're in a similar spot, I think you'll enjoy it too. The good news is the game is free to try, and the first act will give you a strong sense of whether it's for you. As for multiplayer, I didn't touch it, so I'll leave that for someone better placed to judge. ~ Thank you for reading me