Age Of Mythology: Retold Review

Age of Mythology: Retold is an unmistakably imaginative and pretentious excursion into a period where gameplay was paramount. You will have enough hours of fun from this remaster to not consider playing another game for months. This remaster does its job and gives you the impression that the classics will never go out of style, even with a few oddities here and there.

Age of Mythology’s campaign was one of its best features. Despite having a strong single-player option in the original two Age of Empires games, Ensemble Studios’ efforts to recreate historical events and show them in an engaging manner yielded a varied bag of outcomes. As a result, they decided to leave this as an option for the 2002 game and instead created an entirely new adventure that showcased the developers’ love of old tales and allowed them to try something different. One of the most enjoyable RTS campaigns available today is the outcome.

In contrast to Age of Empires, Mythology commits the sin of settling too much into common regions by drawing heavily from mythology and folklore found in Greece, Egypt, and the Nordic nations. Despite the fact that the title reinterprets the relationships between factions and deities in a few creative ways—particularly when discussing the era in which this adventure is set—the developers managed to create a campaign that feels genuine in its treatment of each group and never attempts to minimise any particular faction. The journey of Arkantos is full of intriguing heroes and villains; some, like Agamemmon, will sound familiar, but the majority of the companions we meet along the way are unique creations who, despite lacking a clear character development, have compelling personalities that make it enjoyable to see them embroiled in a conflict that will spark the imagination of any reader.

Significant improvements have also been made to the character models. It’s as if the 2002 editions and their Age of Mythology: Retold equivalents are completely different. It is just amazing how much detail is included in every unit, from the strongest mythological creature to the lowest peasant. The terrifying Cyclops looms large and menacing above the battlefield, as the centaurs run with a fresh elegance. Every legendary character has been brought to life on film by the artists with great passion and devotion.

One of the first major differences between Retold and the original Mythology is the use of deity abilities. Players can reuse powers as many as they wish by using Favour, a special resource in mythology that is typically used to buy myth units.
Numerous fantastic accessibility features that were added to previous Age of Empires games have also been incorporated to Retold. Seeing text narration, highly customisable colours and outlines, and comprehensive speech-to-text communication in a contemporary strategy game is really encouraging.

Overwhelming is the nature of managing a huge civilisation, particularly when you’re pushing your soldiers to their limits. These quality-of-life adjustments make an otherwise boring activity more pleasurable. Thankfully, if you would rather manage everything manually, you can use this option as little or as much as you wish, so fans of the original gameplay need not fear that it will take away from it.

As always, the single-player objectives are intended to challenge you to get better at the main gameplay loop and test your talents beyond simply providing an enjoyable exploration of ancient planets. Players are urged by the game to go back and complete tasks, find new methods to accomplish goals, and strive for greater scores. It’s not simply about how fast you can complete each scenario—the developers have created several routes to success that reward ingenuity and tactical thinking. There’s always space for development and experimentation, regardless of whether you decide to divide your efforts to focus on several goals at once or make a single, strong push.
The pantheon now looks even more fantastic thanks to major visual enhancements. With amazing changes that manage to maintain character and unit individuality while also feeling upgraded to a current level, textures and effects now seem opulent and contemporary. The crisper appearance of the world’s structures, trees, and even berry bushes gives it a more realistic and living sense while preserving its recognisable stylised character.

The game maintains its distinctive aesthetic while also having a new appearance and sound. Character models have been completely redesigned, with new voice lines and animations, and they look amazing. The best way to appreciate the amount of effort that went into the Retold’s visual refinement is to use the new close-up zoom feature, which lets you get up close and personal with the action as well as the game’s gorgeous new character designs.