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'Hello Age Insider, We're reaching out to let you know that the DxDiag currently associated with your Insider Profile does not meet the minimum system requirements listed for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition on Steam and the Microsoft Store. As a result, we're unable to provide you with an invitation to the Age II: DE closed beta.' What does a remaster of an RTS game from 1999. Age of Empires, the pivotal RTS that launched a 20-year legacy returns in definitive form for Windows 10 PCs. Bringing together all of the officially released content with modernized gameplay, all-new visuals and a host of other new features, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is the complete RTS package. Age of Empires 2 is a classic strategy game, and with its new release, you might be looking for an Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition beginner's guide to help you get caught up to speed.

The Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition closed beta community has been focused on multiplayer, and as a result, we’ve gathered a ton of helpful data and community feedback to ensure the matchmaking and lobby experiences give our players what they want.

If you’re lucky enough to get the Beta access of Age of Empires Definite Edition, you probably got an email today for you to access the game. Currently, the beta let you play multiplayer game online and requires at least 1 opponent to play with. You also have an option to add Computer AI as other players, the definitive edition also has a lobby system where you can look for games to join or create your own game and let other player join.

Here was the email look like when you have access on the beta.

Congratulations and welcome to our closed Beta!

Let me be the first to say welcome to the Age of Empires: Definitive Edition Multiplayer only closed Beta. The team is very excited to hear what you have to say about the game.

First things first! Below are the instructions for getting access to the Age of Empires: Definitive Edition Beta.

Installing the Age of Empires: Definitive Edition BETA

Now it is time to install the Age of Empires: Definitive Edition Beta onto your Windows 10 PC. You can download the game now through the Xbox Insider Hub which is available from the Windows 10 Store. Please note: you will not get a code to download the game; access is linked to your Gamertag so the title will simply appear in the Xbox Insider Hub. You can follow the steps below to get everything installed now.

1. Open the Windows 10 Store.
2. Ensure that you are signed into the store with the correct MSA! You must use the one assigned to the Gamertag you used to register for the beta.
3. Search for, download, and launch Xbox Insider Hub from the Windows 10 Store.
4. Sign in with the MSA assigned to the Gamertag you used to register for the beta.
5. Select Insider Content on the left hand side.
6. Select Age of Empires Closed Beta.
7. Select Join.
8. Download the Game.

As of receiving this email you should have been granted access to the exclusive Closed Beta forum, where you can access our support forums where you can get help from our team should you have any technical issues with the game. If you have any issues installing the game or accessing the Beta forums please email us at DallasFlightSupport@microsoft.com. It could take up to 24 to 48 hours to get a response so please be patient as we invite a lot of new participants.

Please check out the Latest Known Issues for the current issues with the game. It will be updated with every new build (released almost weekly). If you do find new issues, please file a bug on the support forums located here.

We have an unofficial discord channel setup for players to help find games. This is not for discussing the BETA and materials pertaining to the BETA should not be shared on this channel. Discord is not affiliated with Microsoft and is subject to its own independent Terms of Service.

Thanks again for your participation and feedback,
Justin Robey and The Age of Empires: Definitive Edition Team

We tried playing the game online and it was a great experience playing one of the best game in my childhood days. What we don’t like in this beta is some player tends to quit the match for some reason. And I was able to play the game victorious because my last opponent decided to quit the game as well. Each single match could take hours of game play from 2 to 3 hours, depending on the aggressiveness of your enemies.

When it first came out in 1999, I played a lot of Age of Empires 2. Its blend of historical real-time strategy, with detailed rock-paper-scissors military unit management made it one of my favorite games of all time. I love the rhythm of having my villagers collect resources while I improve the village’s defenses, build and upgrade its soldiery, and ultimately launch invasions of my enemies.

So when an updated HD version came out in 2013, I gave it a try. I was disappointed. Although it was a decent update, which offered a lot of modding tools and a general visual improvement, it didn’t catch my imagination. It was, in essence, a nostalgia play.

A new version, called Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition, has captivated me entirely. Developer Forgotten Empires and Xbox Game Studios have done a fantastic job of taking a 20-year-old game and making it feel fresh. Although it’s really the same game, the Definitive Edition has made enough changes to make it feel like new, especially while we wait for Age of Empires 4 to arrive.

Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition looks better than ever before, with support for 4K resolution. It has a richer color palette, better lighting, and a host of redesigned units and buildings. I’m especially taken by the way buildings crumble to the ground when they finally succumb to siege. The ability to zoom in on the action is nicely implemented.

Music and voice acting have also been updated, giving the game a more grandiose feeling, especially during the campaigns, which are heavily narrated.

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Download

All the old campaigns have been included, with updates, as well as a new campaign based on the waning days of the Khanate. This includes four new civilizations and three story campaigns that offer a rewarding challenge.

Age Of Empires 2 Definitive Edition Strategy

In one new campaign, there’s a timed challenge that pits Tamerlane (aka Timur) against the heavily fortified city of Delhi. It’s reasonably easy to use catapults to get past the outer walls, but the city’s cramped streets are heavily defended by war elephants. Unit management becomes more difficult as the enemy takes out my seriously vulnerable bombardment units, leaving me unable to destroy the city’s last citadel. As I say, it’s a nicely designed challenge.

New game modes have also been added, including one called Empire Wars, which drops the player into a town with a ready-made population of villagers, all busily collecting a balanced portfolio of food, wood, gold, and stone. This takes the chores out of the early game, for those who tire of such things.

Much-needed game-control improvements have also been added. Unit queues are now more efficient.

Each building in Age of Empires games builds multiple types of units. Stables, for example, can build light cavalry, heavy cavalry, scouts, camel riders, and more. In the past, I could only queue up one type at a time — say, 10 knights — and then go back and queue up the next desired units. Now I can queue in any order. It’s nice to create archers and spearmen alternatively, so that I have a more balanced ranged army right from its creation.

Civilians can also be instructed to construct certain buildings in a particular order. So, I can direct them to build a network of, say, towers, a gate, and defensive houses, and leave them to complete the job.

The most useful change is the ability to automatically reseed farms. In the old games, exhausted farms had to be relaid manually, which was a nuisance in the middle of a frenzied campaign. Unwary players could find themselves bereft of food, one of the game’s four essential resources. Now, I can stack up a lot of wood, and order multiple auto-reseeds that leave me free to ignore this tiresome chore, especially late in the game. The same goes for fish traps.

These useful changes show that Forgotten Empires and Microsoft have paid attention to the kinds of “quality of life” improvements rival games have made, and that strategy players now expect.

Playing online is a totally different experience than playing computer-controlled opponents, almost to the point of being a different game. There’s a bunch of hard lessons to learn about common strategies. Now, the transition from AI to human enemies is eased with a specific tutorial called Art of War, that can save a lot of dismal defeats online.

The transition to playing real humans is now much smoother. Online play has also seen a lot of user interface improvements as well as a switch to server-based contests.

In single-player mode, the game’s AI has been spruced up. Perhaps it’s this change that I like the most or, to put it another way, it was the AI’s limitations that I liked the least in the 2013 re-release of Age of Empires 2. Path-finding is much better too; units generally go where I want them to go. AI enemies are less likely to feel like they’re cheating, or worse, to behave self-destructively.

AI has come a long way in the last two decades, and Definitive Edition’s improvements in this area really show. On the whole, this is an excellent update which I believe will please lapsed players looking to return to an old favorite, as well as new players who are curious about a genuine classic.

Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition is out now on Windows PC. It’s also available on subscription service Xbox Game Pass for PC.