So, I’m trying out the brand new Age of Mythology: Retold (2024) this week to mixed success. It’s a rerelease of the original Age of Mythology with major upgrades to some of the core mechanics. Basically, it’s the same game but has some new features, mainly to catch it up to today’s technology, I think.
And I’m not sure I like it. Or, maybe, I’m just having trouble getting used to the new setup. We’ll see.
For literally years, Age of Mythology (2002) from Ensemble Studies & Microsoft has been my all-time favorite game to play on the computer. Seriously, bar none, this is the game I play the most. I couldn’t even tell you how many hours I’ve spent playing it.
Age of Mythology is a fantasy/mythology variation on the historical real-time strategy Age of Empires (1997) game series by the same creators. In the original Age of Mythology, you get to choose between Greek, Egyptian, and Norse civilizations and their various pantheons and creatures. A later expansion added Atlantis as one of the choices plus the ability to summon a Titan unique to each civilization. Then there was the expansion that added the Chinese option with all their mythology.
There are campaigns that basically let you work your way through a storyline following the hero, Arkantos, as he battles his way through the various civilizations and landscapes. I’ve actually worked my way through them all in the past. Not so much nowadays. My preference is the single player skirmish mode (called random in the original game) when I just want to relax for an hour or so. Pick a civilization, an opponent(s) plus what level you want to play at and off you go. Takes about an hour, give or take.
The thing is that the old game has been showing it’s age. Not in playability but sometimes it just glitzes for no reason. Nothing major but just enough to make one wonder how much longer it’s going to perform correctly. So I was extremely excited when news came out earlier this year that they were releasing Age of Mythology: Retold. Not an expansion or even a sequel but a complete update of the original.
Now to spend hours getting used to it. And tackle those campaigns again in the new set-up. I actually tried doing that first but quickly realized that I needed to get use to the new set up plus find out how to lower the difficulty level. Because I was losing. A lot. Once I feel like I’ve figured that all out, I’ll probably do a post about it’s good and bad points.
But, for now, game time.
Oh, & here’s the trailer: