Age of Empires

Age of Empires, released for Microsoft Windows on October 15, 1997, was developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Designed by Rick Goodman with contributions from Bruce Shelley, it presents real-time strategy through the development of ancient civilizations rather than through a single continuous protagonist’s story. Players begin in the Stone Age and can advance through the Tool, Bronze, and Iron Ages, expanding settlements, gathering resources, researching technologies, and defeating opponents.

The original game contains twelve playable civilizations: Assyrian, Babylonian, Choson, Egyptian, Hittite, Minoan, Persian, Phoenician, Shang, Sumerian, Yamato, and Greek. Their differences are expressed through bonuses, available units, technologies, and architectural styles. Egypt, for example, receives advantages connected with priests, while the Greeks field distinctive hoplite and trireme forces. Each civilization is built around food, wood, stone, and gold, with villagers collecting these resources from the map and constructing buildings that unlock military and economic options.

Its historical campaigns are organized around four cultures. The Greek campaign follows episodes associated with the rise of Athens, the Trojan War, and Alexander the Great. The Egyptian campaign moves through conflicts involving the Nile kingdom, while the Babylonian campaign focuses on Mesopotamian power struggles. The Yamato campaign centers on the unification of Japan. These scenarios use historical names and settings, but their objectives and chronology are simplified for strategy-game play.

Age of Empires also includes random-map games, deathmatch rules, naval combat, diplomacy, and an editor for creating custom scenarios. Players can build fishing boats, trade ships, warships, walls, farms, temples, academies, and wonders. A wonder becomes a potential victory condition when a civilization completes and protects one for the required period. Relics, guarded artifacts that priests can capture and return to a monastery, provide another route to victory in suitable matches.

The expansion pack Age of Empires: The Rise of Rome arrived in 1998. It added the Romans, Carthaginians, Macedonians, and Palmyrans, introduced new units and technologies, and expanded the campaign material. The Roman civilization became especially recognizable for its legionaries, centurions, and powerful siege options. Together, the original game and expansion established the series’ signature formula: historical themes filtered through accessible resource management, asymmetric civilizations, and age-based technological progression. Its success led directly to Age of Empires II, released in 1999, which moved the series into the medieval period while retaining the original game’s central structure.