How AOE4 won me over

If you're thinking about getting into Age of Empires IV but you're still on the fence then this video is for you. I was a long time holdout before I finally got the game and became a fan. In this video I go in-depth on the things I like most about the game.

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Chapters
0:00 Intro
0:36 A Brief History of AOEIV
2:53 1. Sound Design
5:21 2. Historical Authenticity
8:10 3. Civilization Diversity
11:16 4. Base-Building & Influence
13:08 5. Emergent Gameplay
14:51 Recap and Conclusion

[TypeErrorDubs]

This is legit content. All the relevant B-roll could not have been easy to put together. And I couldn’t agree more with the conclusion! Especially the sound design 🎉

[Zempashino]

I love the way the game becomes more and more enjoyable.
AOE4 in 2023 is in great shape, I can't wait for the new DLC
thanks for the video

[alexs]

You are quickly becoming my favorite AoE4 content creator and have inspired me to finish my deep dive into the history (or lack thereof in some cases) behind all the civs technologies. I would definitely watch any future videos on historical related aspects of AoE4.

[AsaTJ]

Spot-on. I love AOE2, but the difference is:

AOE2DE: Lots of unique stuff per civ, that is not always historically resonant, can be hard to remember, and has a deceptively small impact on gameplay.
AOE4: A handful of unique stuff per civ, that is historically resonant, is easy to remember, and has a deceptively large impact on gameplay.

The other thing I'd add is that the Light/Heavy armor distinction opens up more opportunities for counterplay. I think you just end up seeing more interesting armies fielded in AOE4 because of this and other factors. It's not always just, which three units make sense for this matchup?

[TheMinepath]

Great video, Chilly. Really hits on all the things I love about AOE4.

[Beispielname]

My favorite nitpick is that if an unit is Attacked from far away it actually Sounds like someone shouting from you from afar

So you immediatly know just from hearing "ok that must be my scout" for example

[sethvanniekerk]

Very high video quality and editing. Perfect for retention yet still focusing on the topic of the video, massive respect to you sir.

[MilkShaikh]

I’ve only ever played AOE for the single player campaign since RoR. Wish AOE4 had more. Which is why AOM had one of the best campaigns in the series.

[adams]

I really dislike the "cartoony" criticism, since it seems to come from a view that video games can't be colorful. It's the sort of criticism that thinks Gears of War is the ultimate in aesthetic design, with grey and brown everywhere. It confuses what the speaker thinks is realistic for quality. If a medieval strategy game were realistic your soldiers would take days at the least to train: knights would take years, and battles would be over in a few hours. Sieges would be 90% sitting around and waiting, and most soldiers would die of natural diseases. The cartoony criticism always seems to come from self important over serious people who don't understand or care for good aesthetic design, and think everything they do has to be utterly po faced. Nevermind a grey and brown color palette would render the units and buildings nigh on impossible to see. That and I'm sick of the stupid "bigger number always good, " idea that fewer civs are automatically worse when they showed one of the most radical departures from AoE formula, with the Mongols, in that first reveal. It sounds like the sort of myopic bean counter bull that can't think past pure mathematics.

[collinhadley]

Interesting take on the release. I was pretty excited as you were there at the beginning, but was absolutely thrilled since day 1 and have been playing it weekly since then. I hadn't even noticed that the game had been considered "dead".

[DM-oxjq]

Great video Chilly! You are absolutely right. This game is alive and kicking. Can't wait for the DLC. Keep up the great content.

[benwozak]

Thanks man, You sold me. I'll be picking it up for sure next time it goes on steam sale!

[vinster]

This is great, I only wish more people that dont play aoe4 would see this. I think it's a great pragmatic take on the game

[SonofPlonky]

Thank you for mentioning sound design and attention to unit detail, I truly think this attention to detail probably was part of the cause of the less than ideal release, but after the jank was straightened out, the little flourishes really make it wonderful to play.

[GoblinxChild]

AoE4 has quickly become my favorite of the series. One thing you forgot to mention is the fantastic campaigns. I genuinely learned about history and felt like I was partaking in it. Excellent production that feels ripped straight from a docuseries.

[makingivan]

I was hooked right from the launch. It was not perfect but I know it’s the future of the franchise. Still playing it now.

[hunterkarasaw]

great vid, for me it was the differences between civs, you could think they are similar like aoe2 or aoe3 but after playing the gamethey feel almost like AOM different

[boon]

great video, never played any AOE but i enjoy watching rank and competitive matches, the only RTS i played way back was stronghold.

[TheArcherGilgamesh]

I've actually been won over by this. Ive been kinda curious about AoE4 for a while and it getting a significant influx of civs it making me want to give it a shot. It also helps that after a thousand hours in AoE2 I'm a bit burned out on it. Still, this is the video to actually tip the scales.

[funkymonk]

You convinced me to get it. Amazing review honestly, your style is excellent - to the point, light humor, fast pace and lots of insightful and passionate content. Great job dude.