Age of Mythology: Retold preview – more than a beloved RTS remake

If you spent your teenage years with Greek villagers shouting “Prostagma” as they foraged berry bushes, Egyptian sphinxes spinning into dust storms, and Vikings honouring their gods in battle, you’ll love Age of Mythology: Retold. Clever additions make this real-time strategy revival feel like a step above a standard remake. Its $30 price also comes with a discount for veteran AoM owners. 

In an interview with PCGamer, Microsoft producer Earnest Yuen notes that Retold is “way beyond what we normally do for definitive editions.” During my time with the game, I spotted plenty of surprises beyond visual flourishes. But there’s no denying that the graphics overhaul is the main highlight. Over two decades later, Retold makes lightning strikes and Minotaurs tossing units look even more impressive. While the remixed soundtrack might not hit as hard as the original, it succeeds in getting you nostalgic for the good old days.

Ray tracing and enhanced special effects elevate deserts, glaciers, and coastlines while keeping them familiar enough for returning players. Weapon and armour upgrades alter character models, meaning you can now tell the difference between a Centaur and its upgraded variant. Buildings also gain destruction animations that spice up your conquests and earthquake powers. While chaotic battles seem less readable at a glance, I expect colours and textures to be refined further by the time Retold is released.

Prostagma like it’s 2002

With increased population counts for large-scale combat and manual myth unit powers, Retold offers more granular options for strategic plays. My favourite improvement is that god powers can now be summoned again after a cooldown. This means you’re not hoarding them anymore and can instead fire them at an opportune moment. From turning troops into pigs or calling in a meteor storm, your choice of minor god during each phase lets you pick from a divine arsenal of superpowers. This choice is made all the more important with little touches to these gods’ upgrades and myth units. Armour-ignoring divine damage, damage-over-time poison moves, and reworked Titans breathe new life into Retold’s familiar battlegrounds.

This energy extends to the economy side as well, with villager auto queue options, reworked resource costs, and a new preset mechanic that automatically allocates villagers to resources. While I’m not a fan of the latter, I can see console players benefit from the reduction in micromanagement. And it’s entirely optional, meaning most ranked players will ignore it unless it offers a meaningful advantage. I expect Retold to get a decent start in the eSports community if these flourishes don’t get in the way, especially since casted games are already live on YouTube.

While Age of Mythology: Retold revamps just about everything, some curious changes feel like a step back. While the UI isn’t final, some modern elements feel janky, while old options like resource markers from villagers have been omitted. The campaign’s first five levels leave a mixed taste as well, with inconsistent voice acting and new character portraits that attempt to smooth out the rough edges of the original. While some changes may be more faithful to the source material, they detract from the original’s campy vibe representative of how Greek myths were explored at the time.

Retold’s expansions will bring more civilizations

Age of Mythology: Retold is also launching day one into Xbox consoles. Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition and Age of Empires 4 are already on the platform and while they do have controller-friendly layouts, Retold attempts to simplify things further with its new resource presets. I’m all for making games accessible, especially with optional features. While there’s a case to be made for presets making the game play itself, you’re still in charge of dropping new resource points and dictating how your economy functions.

Players looking for the Chinese civilization will have to wait as Yuen told Windows Central that “we’re going to keep updating and adding as long as people keep playing.” The developer has promised a brand-new civilization as well in Retold’s second expansion so there’s plenty to look forward to. Minor balancing, UI, and tone issues aside, I can’t wait to step into protagonist Arkantos’ sandals again this September.