Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition

 PC
User Score
7.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 163 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 105 out of 163
  2. Mixed: 22 out of 163
  3. Negative: 36 out of 163
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  1. Huemen
    Dec 2, 2021
    3
    Buggy, umpolished, and umbalanced. It was released in a poor state, and it still suffers from it. Hopefully they already fixed the bug where it would brick your pc, but otherwise, it is a bad adaptation of what was otherwise (originally) a good game.
  2. GutiOut
    Oct 17, 2020
    3
    Worse than the original game, 15 years later. Is this what they meant by it would be epic?
  3. D4vid
    Jun 12, 2021
    0
    The game itself is easily a 10/10. It is balanced, it improves the gameplay from previous entries of the saga.

    The problem comes to the Definitive Edition itself: not only is full of bugs (new bugs come with every update), but the game has also received some unnecessary changes. It’s a game about COLONIZATION, don’t start on the moral high ground and talk about how colonization was a bad    The game itself is easily a 10/10. It is balanced, it improves the gameplay from previous entries of the saga.

    The problem comes to the Definitive Edition itself: not only is full of bugs (new bugs come with every update), but the game has also received some unnecessary changes.
    It’s a game about COLONIZATION, don’t start on the moral high ground and talk about how colonization was a bad thing and so on. I don’t care about it: I WANT TO PLAY THE GAME.

    Devs invested so much time about this politically correctness non sense: if half of this time were invested in fixing bugs, then we would have a working game.    … Expand
  4. chrissyboi85
    Nov 12, 2021
    0
    This game was created by Ensemble Studios, not the current developer. The current developer has essentially taken credit for everything ensemble built and has tried to erase history of ensemble. Do not trust the reviews on steam, they are fake. Age of empires 3, definitive edition doesnt deserve your money.

    We must fight the fake reviews on steam. Unfortunately you have to buy the game    This game was created by Ensemble Studios, not the current developer. The current developer has essentially taken credit for everything ensemble built and has tried to erase history of ensemble. Do not trust the reviews on steam, they are fake. Age of empires 3, definitive edition doesnt deserve your money.

    We must fight the fake reviews on steam. Unfortunately you have to buy the game on steam to review on steam which doesnt make sense if you dont support the current developer.    … Expand
  5. aKtivEE
    Oct 17, 2020
    0
    I'ts a shame this game is not even near the old one made in 2007!. it's totaly bugged nothing works like should be in 2020 like good connections, a good broswer to filter matches a good graphic a fluid gameplay. its totaly bugged seems its made from people that never played age! (also never coded maybe). How it possible you are not ranked how to make fair teams? you should play age 3I'ts a shame this game is not even near the old one made in 2007!. it's totaly bugged nothing works like should be in 2020 like good connections, a good broswer to filter matches a good graphic a fluid gameplay. its totaly bugged seems its made from people that never played age! (also never coded maybe). How it possible you are not ranked how to make fair teams? you should play age 3 before doing remaster of it. i'm also secure that those people are not from relic because also coh is way better than this. you should give money back to everyone and apologize that you have ruined a title and you are not any good to make a game also with a huge base and not making it from zero. it's a shame that microsoft let do it to this companies where the **** you come from do indie insted of competitive rts.… Expand
  6. Shiranui
    Nov 17, 2020
    1
    An absolute disgrace to Ensemble Studios legacy and everything they built. They have the gall to think they know better by reworking the foundational mechanics of some of the in game factions. As a result it has produced new game breaking bugs like crashes and a completely disfunctional AI. Shame on you Forgotten Empires.
  7. ClubNeige
    Oct 20, 2020
    1
    J'ai passé des 100ènes d'heurs sur age of empires 3 original.
    C'est un jeu qui fait partie de mes jeux les plus cultes.
    Mais je pense que je vais pas rester longtemps sûr cette version car j'ai déjà envie de retourné sur l'ancienne version. Points positifes - Plus beau et plus fluide que l'original - Nouveau contenu Point négatifes - Le jeu crash une partie sûr deux. - Le jeu    J'ai passé des 100ènes d'heurs sur age of empires 3 original.
    C'est un jeu qui fait partie de mes jeux les plus cultes.
    Mais je pense que je vais pas rester longtemps sûr cette version car j'ai déjà envie de retourné sur l'ancienne version.

    Points positifes
    - Plus beau et plus fluide que l'original
    - Nouveau contenu

    Point négatifes
    - Le jeu crash une partie sûr deux.
    - Le jeu bug
    - Plus aucun intérêt d'augementé le niveau de ces civilisations
    - Tous est débloqué depuis le début = Sentiment d'avoir jouer pour rien = Frustration
    - Censures progressistes habituelle 2020 oblige
    - Problème de changement de langue dans le jeu
    - Campagne encore plus bugé que le reste du jeu    … Expand
  8. Luddeman
    Oct 17, 2020
    3
    I wrote s long review but metacritic didn’t upload it. Anyway, the game is NOT an improvement of age3 but instead feels like a worse chinese copy where they added some extra features that barely work.
    Its like they said: ”hey, you should buy age4 :)”
    Will maybe buy again if they fix the game, but for now I’ve requested a refund
  9. RaptorX3
    Aug 3, 2021
    0
    Terrible optimisation, annoying cheap mobile game like UI, no shortcuts for town center etc. , lots of bugs, waste of money. I actually deleted after playing one game. I prefer the old one over this trash. Can't wait to see aoe4 LOL. Good luck with this franchise. RIP aoe..
  10. Andrusus
    Oct 17, 2020
    0
    Compared to the original this version is bad bad bad. The lag is horrific. Did they use the same servers as the original or they did invest in new servers? Because this game feels like it's lagging even worse than the original. The sound is terrible and to be more specific I think the problem lies in the sound effects. The sound effects are way off the mark for example when a villager isCompared to the original this version is bad bad bad. The lag is horrific. Did they use the same servers as the original or they did invest in new servers? Because this game feels like it's lagging even worse than the original. The sound is terrible and to be more specific I think the problem lies in the sound effects. The sound effects are way off the mark for example when a villager is building something instead of the sound of a hammer beating on a nail or a hammer beating on wood it actually sounds like someone getting wiped with a belt. I think what made the original AOE 3 great was the feel and that is what was removed. Historical accuracies are not necessary. it's a video game and there really is no need to be politically correct. We miss Ensemble Studios who had a passion for this game and had they done this version I bet it would have been great.… Expand
  11. L140
    Jan 25, 2021
    2
    Просто кусок параши вместо нормального ремастера, графика осталась ровно такой же как и в далеком 2008, зато фпс проседает так, словно я зашел в рдр, еще я умолчу про бесконечное количество багов и вылетов, из плюсов это две новых цивилизации и... все, но это не может компенсировать общую неиграбельность (из 8 партий я смог доиграть только 4, в других нас с друзьями просто кикало/отключалоПросто кусок параши вместо нормального ремастера, графика осталась ровно такой же как и в далеком 2008, зато фпс проседает так, словно я зашел в рдр, еще я умолчу про бесконечное количество багов и вылетов, из плюсов это две новых цивилизации и... все, но это не может компенсировать общую неиграбельность (из 8 партий я смог доиграть только 4, в других нас с друзьями просто кикало/отключало от сервера/игра вылетала)
    26.01.2021 UPD: сейчас многое пофиксили, подправили, в общем, стало играбельно. Оценку менять не буду, потому что то, что они выпустили на старте, нельзя простить    … Expand
  12. Zeev
    Oct 16, 2020
    2
    So I am playing the first campaign and after some missions I am being switched to a completely different campaign and half of its missions are unlocked.
    If a dev studio cannot hire QA to perform a simple task as going through all its missions and validating that they are being unlocked in a correct order, I cannot imagine what other bugs (new and regression) I can come across with this    So I am playing the first campaign and after some missions I am being switched to a completely different campaign and half of its missions are unlocked.
    If a dev studio cannot hire QA to perform a simple task as going through all its missions and validating that they are being unlocked in a correct order, I cannot imagine what other bugs (new and regression) I can come across with this "Definitive" edition.    … Expand
  13. Sidcritic
    Oct 16, 2020
    0
    Age of Mythology is not historically accurate so why try to make AOE DE historically accurate? People want a game that they enjoy playing not a history lesson. They could care less if it is historically accurate or not. They didn't back when the original AOE was released why would they care about it now? Again like I said we do not want a history lesson. We want to play a game. Instead,Age of Mythology is not historically accurate so why try to make AOE DE historically accurate? People want a game that they enjoy playing not a history lesson. They could care less if it is historically accurate or not. They didn't back when the original AOE was released why would they care about it now? Again like I said we do not want a history lesson. We want to play a game. Instead, more time should have been invested in making a bug free game. This game seemed more like a downgrade than an upgrade. The sound is very low quality and inaccurate. The graphics for some reason don't seem too impressive as they should be maybe because of the inaccuracies of the sound. Something seems off. Like I said bugs should have been a priority.… Expand
  14. Dwail
    Oct 20, 2020
    3
    The netcode is disastrous, it has not been updated at all. You have connection problems, lag and lack of smoothness in the animations of the units in the online. I give it a 3, as long as they don't fix the netcode of the online multiplayer.
  15. The_last_magyar
    Dec 2, 2021
    4
    Aoe3 DE by itself is already a problematic game, but the fact that this was a remaster done by one of the largest companies on earth trully shows that the Dutch Diseases may also be present on the gaming industry.

    For starters: I have no idea of why the game is so heavy and badly optimized (I will put my two cents on the new models). There are mods and fan projects of the original game    Aoe3 DE by itself is already a problematic game, but the fact that this was a remaster done by one of the largest companies on earth trully shows that the Dutch Diseases may also be present on the gaming industry.

    For starters: I have no idea of why the game is so heavy and badly optimized (I will put my two cents on the new models). There are mods and fan projects of the original game with good enough designs that were infinitelly lighter than this one (and mind you, with a better color pallete and saturation).

    Secondly, the multiplayer does not properly work. The age of Empires remakes and HDs are known for being bad, but the last AOE and AOE3 DE really settle a lower a bar from what was already underground.

    Third: The game fortunatelly adds some aspects of fan patches of the original aoe3, but their insistency in archaic mechanics (like the way that some natives colect gold) leads to a more slugish game, as many of those mechanics dont fit here.

    The menus got clumcky and confusing. Homecity cards are just ''thrown'' in the Metropolis without any visual consideration. Honestly, the visual designers don't seen to have put much tough on the subject at all.

    Lastly, regarding the changes to some ''Problematic'' age names and abilities: Changing the Natives power of converting animals was a good move (even back them it was a Pocahantas steryotype) but everything else? Changing colonial to commerce, plantations, etc. They put their hand on a fire on purpose being fully aware that people would take that bait, and sure as hell it brought atention. But i don't recomend you biting it. Unecessary changes that only serve to havoc the community.

    If you want to play Age Of Empires 3, buy the complete colection. It is cheap, it is light, it has a great fan patch (Esoc) and it works online.    … Expand
  16. garnerwills
    Nov 2, 2020
    3
    This has been such a lazy remake of an original game. Despite some improvements, there are a tonne of bugs and continued issues from the first game.

    Pros: * Graphics look great * Audio including theme songs sound fantastic * Card system improved (although new cards could be added as feels more basic) to make your game your own Cons: * Disconnection issues with players not being    This has been such a lazy remake of an original game. Despite some improvements, there are a tonne of bugs and continued issues from the first game.

    Pros:
    * Graphics look great
    * Audio including theme songs sound fantastic
    * Card system improved (although new cards could be added as feels more basic) to make your
    game your own

    Cons:
    * Disconnection issues with players not being able to reconnect to games (why is this a thing in
    2020 especially after this being a problem on the original
    * Tonnes of bugs of characters getting stuck on things
    * Upgrades for units to go from Veteran to Guard etc, there aren't directly below each unit (this was a
    problem in the original, the whole point of a remaster is to fix problems...
    * Steam update not at same time of Xbox update so can't play with friends on Steam due to them not
    pushing updates at the same time and have to wait till they both get updated.
    * Renaming to be politically correct on a game that is set in the 1800s is ridiculous and so SJW
    focused
    * AI bot games, sometimes enemy character's economy stays at like 60 as they don't build their
    empire as glitched out
    * Lots of lagging with times when it takes up to 15 seconds to register a click
    * Poorly optimised and runs at a very low FPS
    * Stuck at 200 population (now that hardware is more powerful, maybe allow this to be changed to allow for bigger battles. Also allow you to select more than 50 units at a time.

    Overall this is merely a slight refresh with some very minor improvements but a tonne of issues of things not fixed and other bugs. Glad I didn't buy it on Steam but play on Xbox Game pass in my subscription.    … Expand
  17. Assisstent
    Oct 17, 2020
    0
    Как игра age of empires 3 definitive edition - всё ещё точно такая же хорошая ртс, но как ремастер - кусок вонючего, мерзкого, противного говнища, с кучей червей и мух. Если вы думаете, что ремастеры делают, чтобы добавить новые идеи и улучшить старые, то вы очень сильно ошиблись, когда подумали так про эпоху империй. У старой игры был ворох проблем. Во-первых, итерфейс. Угловатый,Как игра age of empires 3 definitive edition - всё ещё точно такая же хорошая ртс, но как ремастер - кусок вонючего, мерзкого, противного говнища, с кучей червей и мух. Если вы думаете, что ремастеры делают, чтобы добавить новые идеи и улучшить старые, то вы очень сильно ошиблись, когда подумали так про эпоху империй. У старой игры был ворох проблем. Во-первых, итерфейс. Угловатый, занимающий полэкрана и просто выглядящий отвратительно со своими этими иконками мяса и дров - он полностью перекочевал в ремастер и теперь бесит своим видом и в 20(мать его!)20 году! Сука!! Интерфейс в империи - это так как делать НЕ НАДО, но разрабы этого не поняли, они подумали, что это фишка серии или еще что-то и облажались. Во-вторых, это графика. Клянусь, дать вам два скриншота и вы никогда в жизни не поймете, где ремастер, а где оригнал. Как может в 20(СУКА!!!!)20 году игра выглядеть точно также как в 2008? - спросите у кретинов-разрабов. В результате весь ремастер - это переиздание старой игры в новом году. Гениально, сука! 10 из 10 толстых членов вам в рот.… Expand
  18. Mortuzzo
    Oct 18, 2020
    3
    Unfortunately, the creators are leftist morons, who allow themselves to censor the word colonial. Plus the game is buggy and poorly optimised.
  19. Hdwc_
    Sep 3, 2023
    3
    Terrible execution, I play AOE since 90ties and games in general and I have developed a good taste. The QoL (Quality of life) in this game is terrible, no User Interface (UI) direction, terrible programming and art design is absent, totally uninspired. They have used a Golden Yellow color all over the place, panels do not allow a seamless hypertext navigation of the lobbies and multiplayerTerrible execution, I play AOE since 90ties and games in general and I have developed a good taste. The QoL (Quality of life) in this game is terrible, no User Interface (UI) direction, terrible programming and art design is absent, totally uninspired. They have used a Golden Yellow color all over the place, panels do not allow a seamless hypertext navigation of the lobbies and multiplayer area is extremely clunky. Adam Isgreen, the director, should shame himself for such an execution and Xbox Games Studios be aware of what games they allow to be released, such a big responsibility for such a saga and a franchise which underperforms in tons of elements (besides the gameplay that anyway is constantly changed by disrespectful constant meta edits that keep people grinding and having to change their strategies over and over despite the game already allows to create tons for years if it was never modified: it's basically a procedural grinding system connected to the DLCs publishing uiniting a constantly steep curve maintenance to a money making machine).
    The entire game is oriented to naive of the RTS, casuals, the actual player base that was looking to compete or looking for team mates to play with against others is disregarded completely.

    Wishper (messaging) system is another of the many clunky things: you need 4 clicks in order to reach finally the field where to type the message but if the player is offline (thing that the game strangely doesn't tell you before) your message won't be reaching the recipient (and game will mock you with a "Player is Offline").

    There are tons of things like no online status visibile on players. The ladders and elorating with all the data has not been made in house yet and with the lack of aoe3jpcommunity we have still to rely on kind of not well executed third party web sites that anyway are not there forever and anyway do not show well information nor have them all nor are well executed how it was the hyper minimalistic but extremely well informing aoe3jpcommunity stuff (check online what it was.. still some videos available despite the best is a video in dutch u can still see what the developer should offer!)

    The masks background are terrible stuff, extremely basic things so much it seems a degradation of the original game. There has been also a lot of WOKE stuff into the game like "removal of Colonial age".. now Commerce age! Sure because we went to USA to commerce, not to eradicate the locals. Ok. Some stuff ahs been well done.

    Ratings here are clearly biased like the entire system of videogames reviews from Steam which is a lobby to make Valve gain more by selling more, shutting down anything intelligent written in the forums, to these venues that do not really show a game for what it is.

    Terrible Art design, and uninspired from the fonts to the game windows, masks anything
    Zero UI direction and worse ever QoL seen in years.
    Mutiplayer experience EXTREMELY frustrating.

    I am a competitive player, I play this game since 20 years. I know what I am saying and I have a wide array of games.. completed and I do not just play games.

    This is not how you manage a project, this is the worse and without dignity execution ever.

    Microsoft should be ashamed of what they have published and allow release from Tantalus Media and Forgotten Empires. THis is a cash cow that aims to sell pay to win Civilizations included in additional "expansions" every now and then and doesn't care for the pillars that make a game work.

    They have jumped directly to the pocket of the people without first understanding you must make a proper game to gain some respect from the public.

    Seen the votes coming even positive for this, I understand the passion or the enthusiasm (I am passionate too and this is why I haven't abandoned what has been instead clearly abandoned by devs) it is quite evident where gaming is going. PURE TRASH experience because people have zero idea what gaming design should be and what quality is and today people just buy anything.

    No wonder why people without any talent and totally unable to make a game do actually manage to pull it off and make money...

    https://youtu.be/oe5B6QaDYSI    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

66
#66 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
75

Generally favorable reviews - based on 48 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 28 out of 48
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 48
  3. Negative: 0 out of 48
  1. CD-Action
    Feb 8, 2021
    75
    The developers did a great job at ironing out imperfections of the original game and expanding it without messing with its core. There are some visual shortcomings and performance issues, and the AI needs more work, but I longed for a good strategy game and Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition filled that void for me. [13/2020, p.50]
  2. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Jan 4, 2021
    60
    Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition is a decent addition to Age of Empires family. While not surprisingly good, it is still a good game, which unfortunately suffers from its technical state. [Issue#307]
  3. GameOver.gr
    Nov 13, 2020
    70
    This is surely the best way to experience a classic and beloved game. Age of Empires III Definitive Edition is a major upgrade to the original even though its gameplay shows its age.
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