Before today’sAge of Empires fan event, developer Relic Entertainment sat down with Microsoft and Xbox Game Studios for a Q&A roundtable on the upcomingAge of Empires 4. The franchise’s next installment was not the only game the developers discussed, as they also hinted at the potential future ofAge of Mythology, a beloved-spin off of theAge of Empiresseries.
Released in 2002, Age of MythologysubstitutesAge of Empire’s historically grounded factions with armies and gods of Greek, Norse, and Egyptian legends. Despite releasing almost 20 years ago,Age of Mythologyis still apopular strategy game on Steam. Unlike most strategy games from the 1990s and early 2000s, Microsoft has not abandonedAge of Mythology, as the company re-released the game on Steam in 2014, and later released a full expansion,Age of the Dragon, in 2016. However, unlike the mainlineAge of Empiresgames,Age of Mythologyhas not received a definitive edition.
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A possibleAge of MythologyDefinitive Editionis still plausible, however, asAge of Empirescreative director Adam Isgreen hinted during yesterday’s roundtable interview. When asked about the possibility ofAge of Mythologyreceiving the definitive edition treatment, Isgreen said, “I have not forgotten aboutAge of Mythology… I love mythology in general. We love the franchise. We’re not pretending it’s not there or anything like that. We know." While Isgreen did not outright confirm that a new edition or sequel is in the works, his response seems to at least hint thatRelic Entertainmenthas something planned for the future ofAge of Mythology.
As to what that might be remains a mystery. A definitive edition remaster seems most likely, especially givenAge of Empires 1, 2, and 3have already have definitive versions. A comment made in the interview byAge of Empiresexecutive producer Michael Mann seems to support this. “We’re 100 percent listening to that request," Mann said, responding to the possibility of a definitive remaster.
An expansion is also possible, asRelic Entertainment used today’s fan eventto announced more expansions for the definitive editions ofAge of Empires 2and3. Fans were surprised when 2016’sAge of the Dragonexpansion was announced almost 15 years after the base game released, so it does not seem like much of a stretch for Relic to release a follow-up.
Some optimistic fans may even hope that Isgreen may have been referencing a full-on sequel, though this seems unlikely. A sequel would have to be built from the ground up, which seems like something Relic would not have the time to do, especially since the developer iscurrently focused onAge of Empires 4.
