Age of Mythology: Retold Review

'Age of Mythology,' a name that will always bring back memories to many. A beloved game brought to us by Ensemble Studios saw a very loyal following over the years. A unique Real-Time Strategy game much like its cousins in Age of Empires 1, 2, and 3, Age of Mythology: Retold was a long time coming, with the Definite Editions of the other Age games being released in waves throughout the previous years.

Age of Mythology: Retold is a remaster/remake of the Age of Mythology, which was finally released on September 4, 2024, after much anticipation among fans. It was made by a comparatively large group of developers, including World's Edge, Forgotten Empires, Tantalus Media, CaptureAge, and Virtuos Games.

The narrative experience remains mostly the same, except for the new mechanics, visuals, and gameplay overhauls. For a fan, you revisit Arcantos and Co. throughout their adventure through Atlantis, Greece, Egypt, and Scandinavia. For new players, you receive a generally well-put-together narrative experience, with each scenario being a fresh challenge.

While the overall narrative remains decent, less can be said about the cutscenes. The new visual upgrades certainly add a lot, but the scenes feel soulless and lack a clear tone. It's a shame since the new visuals are wasted here; any detail is lost due to the lack of expression from both the animation and voice acting. It really makes you appreciate what the original game did, all that with so little to work with.

The voice acting in Age of Mythology: Retold also detracts from the experience, sometimes feeling out of place and monotone. Again, this is a shame since some of the voice actors are doing really well, and their accompanying accents make things more authentic.

The campaign is one of the best in the Age series and one of the best RTS games in general. This doesn't always translate into Age of Mythology: Retold, but aside from the issues mentioned above or gameplay hiccups, the campaign remains a treat. In the game's highest difficulty mode, the campaign is brutal and one of the most difficult campaigns in any RTS game.

Age of Mythology: Retold brings the enjoyable, repayable, fast-paced gameplay the Age series is known for in the Mythological world. For now, you get to pick between four factions; the Greeks, Egyptians, Atlanteans, and Norse. They each also have a major god that you select that changes the specific mythical things you get access to, serving as the 'civilizations'.  The four factions, or cultures as the game calls them, have wildly different ways of playing them.

Being the main campaign faction, the Greeks are sort of the standard culture, with the simplest gameplay and mechanics. They are a good place to start for newcomers and, overall, do a good job of welcoming new players. This doesn't mean the other factions are overly complex or convoluted; almost all the factions and sub-factions are easy to understand and learn.

At the start of a match, you gather resources, construct buildings, and create units to grow their economy and, eventually, build an army to overcome the enemy. One of the main aspects of the game is the usual resource collection. You can access 4 resources; Food, Wood, Gold, and Faith. Food is used to recruit units and for some upgrades and is gotten through animals, bushes, and farms. Wood is mainly used to construct buildings and is harvested from trees.

Gold is mainly used for upgrades and is found in patches of mines. Favor is a unique resource used to recruit mythical units or powers and collected in different ways. So far, the Greeks have received it from praying in temples. The Egyptians get it from building monuments. The Norse get it from fighting. And finally, the Atlanteans get it from oracles.

You also have to keep track of your population; each unit takes up a certain amount of population space. You can increase your population by building houses or town centers. Your town center is the main building that produces villages, and you can only place it on specific sites, making it very valuable.

Each faction has its own units for gathering resources, but generally, it is the villager. Similarly, each faction can construct certain buildings that give them a closer drop-off point for resources and eventually provide upgrades for them.

Once you have enough resources and complete certain prerequisites, you can go up an 'age'. There are four ages, and aging up gets you access to specific technologies, myth units, and a god power. You get these by picking between two minor gods. These let you further specialize in your games.

Eventually, you build military buildings and recruit between melee and ranged infantry, cavalry, or naval units, as well as your myth units. You have to balance resource collection and military units to continuously supply resources for your battles.

Units have specific counters and uses, so a good deal of strategy goes into that. Of course, units can also be upgraded to be stronger through the many technologies. Most cultures and sub-factions focus on specific unit types, making them really strong, so keep in mind your faction bonuses when army-building.

You can assign your units into control groups, using them for situations where they'd be best. The basic unit counters in the game work like Heroes > Myth Units > Generic Units. That means Heroes are great against myth units, while myth units are great against generic ones. Most heroes will hold their own against generic units, but there'll always be more generic units, so you may lose them if you're not careful.

God Powers in Age of Mythology: Retold offers a cool element of interacting with the environment [and enemies!]. They are incredibly useful but contain a cooldown, and you only get one free use, after which they need a favor to be used again. God Powers can do many things, from incredibly destructive spells to bonuses to units to summoning mythical creatures.

During the endgame, you can get access to Titans. Great mythical monsters that are literal avatars of gods or legendary mythical creatures. These gigantic beasts have huge stats and can take on entire armies. They are also toggleable in skirmish mode, but generally, they make the game way more fun.

You'll get access to the villager priority tab in Age of Mythology, which can be enabled/disabled in skirmish games. This tab allows you to automatically assign villagers to certain resources based on percentages. This adds another layer of making things easy for newcomers. Still, it remains an inferior option to micromanaging and manually assigning your villagers.

The new interface is a big upgrade from the old one, not only looking visually appealing but also making things much nicer and more compact. Some texts, however, appear too small; things sometimes feel slightly off overall. The key binds are confusing for new and old players and make things much harder, detracting from the array of otherwise good changes.

Visually, things look stunning overall. The changes add more depth and detail to the game. The art style is more of an overhaul than a redo, keeping things their original charm. Even new assets are done in the style of existing assets, giving it a sense of coherency. The game art, especially of the gods and icons, also leaves much to be desired, often making many think they are AI-generated.

The audio remains a classic, giving you that extra bit of nostalgia. The various music pieces aren't too overbearing but maintain their thematic grandeur. The voice acting might leave a lot to be desired. Still, much of the actual unit voice lines are pretty engaging.

The gameplay remains fresh, no matter how many hours you put into it, with many different playstyles at your disposal. The game keeps a door open for casual players but, at the same time, lets fans of the genre shine with their skills. The game isn't completely the same; aside from the array of quality-of-life changes you get, it also changes things in terms of starting technologies. This gives you a completely new experience, so older players have much more to draw towards.

Currently, pathfinding has its own issues. Sometimes, units get stuck on buildings or walk into each other, creating traffic jams. Military units also collide when fighting or moving, making you rearrange them after each fight and making many fights inefficient.

With all that said, Age of Mythology: Retold is a great modernized experience of a classic old game. It keeps the best things from the old game, including the charm. It adds a lot, providing a new experience with added nostalgia. The original game was already a great RTS game, and Retold maintains this status.

It compares pretty well to its cousins in the other Age games and more than well with other RTS games. In a genre that has failed to bring its renaissance, the Age of Mythology: Retold stands strong as a mythical figure, risen from legends forgotten. It is a must-get for players, be they fans of the old game, Age games, or just RTS games in general. Prostagma!