Originally touted as Civilization meets Warcraft, some reviewers felt that the game failed to live up to these expectations when it was released.

[citation needed] Despite this, it received generally good reviews, and an expansion pack, titled The Rise of Rome, was released in 1998.

This tool is simpler and easier to learn than comparable editors used in more modern games, but it has fewer capabilities as a result.

In late 2005, it was discovered that by modifying various data files, units present in the beta versions of the game could be made available in the editor.

Other significant discoveries include new terrain templates, a mode to triple each unit's hitpoints and a tool to edit map sizes.

[15] Players choose to play as one of 12 civilizations: the Assyrians, Babylonians, Choson (Koreans), Egyptians, Greeks, Hittites, Minoans, Persians, Phoenicians, Shang (Chinese), Sumerians, and Yamato (Japanese).

Their primary function is to collect resources, cutting down trees for wood, mining for stone and gold, and hunting, foraging, farming or fishing to acquire food.

So, for example, a Korean Choson broad swordsman is identical to a Persian or Phoenician one, as are bowmen, axemen, short swordsmen, cavalry, and so forth.

In scenarios with Standard Victory conditions, a player can win by constructing a wonder and keeping it from being destroyed for 2,000 years (about 10 minutes in the real world).

[20] The designers received much of their inspiration from the game Civilization, with its proven historical setting; this was noted among reviewers as something positive.

[25] He created the original music in Age of Empires using sounds from actual instruments from the periods in the game, as well as their digital samples.

[27] Age of Empires was mostly written in x86 32-bit assembly code totalling approximately 13,000 lines, similar to that of RollerCoaster Tycoon 1.

[32] According to Microsoft, The Rise of Rome demo received one million downloads from its official website alone by April 1999,[33] and another 350,000 from CNET's Download.com.

The editors wrote that it "added whole new campaigns, refined rules, and a fresh new gaming experience for a title that was already highly regarded.

"[36] In the United States, Age of Empires debuted at #7 on PC Data's computer game sales rankings for October 1997.

This performance made it the United States' most successful real-time strategy game during late 1997: a writer for PC Gamer US noted that its sales surpassed the combined totals of rivals Total Annihilation and Dark Reign over the same period, and were over four times greater than those of Myth: The Fallen Lords.

[41] Age of Empires was a hit in the German market,[44] where it debuted at #1 on Media Control's sales rankings for the latter half of October 1997.

[46][47] The following year, Age of Empires placed consistently in the top 3 through March, when it rose again to #1 in the last two weeks of the month.

[44] It received a "Gold" award from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) in August,[53] for sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

[55] At the 1999 Milia festival in Cannes, Age of Empires took home a "Gold" prize for revenues above €15 million in the European Union during 1998.

[60] Age of Empires was generally well received by critics, and scored highly on review aggregator websites[74] including an 8.3 out of 10 on Metacritic,[62] an 87% on GameRankings,[61] an 85 out of 100 on MobyGames.

[64] GameVortex wanted less of a combat-oriented gameplay, but praised the modes of play, commenting that "the random map generation [...] really keeps the game spiced up.

"[78] GameSpot decried the level of micromanagement necessary to control the game (which was due to absence of production queues and low AI of the player's units) calling it "a poor idea", which "seriously diminishes [Age of Empires'] enjoyability.

"[77] GameVortex echoed this criticism,[78] while PC Gameworld pointed out the subsequently released patches improving some of the faulty AI programming.

"[6] Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "Having been in development for nearly an eternity, Age of Empires has largely delivered what was promised by Civilization co-creator, Bruce Shelley, and his team at Ensemble Studios.

[83] In June 2017, Adam Isgreen, creative director of Microsoft Studios announced Age of Empires: Definitive Edition at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017.

New features include overhauled graphics with support for 4K resolution, a remastered soundtrack, online multiplayer through Xbox Live servers and other gameplay improvements, such as better pathfinding.

[87] Age of Empires: Definitive Edition was released at first exclusively through the Windows Store and met with mixed or average reviews, with a weighted score of 70 out of 100 in Metacritic.

[91] On August 19, 2019, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition was released with a new client on both the Windows Store and Steam, with cross-play available between the two platforms.

Existing Windows Store players needed to manually download the new client in order to receive game updates and multiplayer compatibility.