[4][5] Many gameplay elements are similar to the Age of Empires series, while mythological creatures and supernatural powers move it beyond the realm of realism.

Its campaign follows an Atlantean admiral, Arkantos, who is forced to travel through the lands of the game's three cultures, hunting for a cyclops who is in league with Poseidon against Atlantis.

[23] Atlantean admiral and war hero Arkantos finds himself leaving his home of Atlantis and his son Kastor, in order to pursue the minotaur Kamos, who raids his homeland to steal a trident from a statue of Poseidon.

[24] Whilst Kamos manages to escape, Arkantos recovers the trident and returns it home, before proceeding on the instructions of the Atlantean council to assist the Greek king Agamemnon in the Trojan War.

Leaving Troy, Ajax accompanies Arkantos to Ioklos as he seek assistance in repairing his ships, only to find the city occupied and its people enslaved by an army led by Gargarensis, a cyclops warlord, and Kemsyt, an Egyptian priest.

Finding the site hides an entrance to the underworld of Erebus, the group venture below and discover Gargarensis attempting to break open a large metal door.

When he finds his prayers to Poseidon unanswered, Chiron suggests to him to pray for Zeus' blessing, which leads to the Greek god showing favor by providing the group with a route to the surface.

Travelling out of Erebus, the group find themselves in the deserts of Egypt, where they befriend Amanra, a Nubian leader seeking to revive Osiris following his death at the hands of Set.

During their search for the first piece, Arkantos is visited by the goddess Athena in his dreams, who reveals that the incident in Erebus was being influenced by Kronos, one of the Titans who ruled over Earth until Zeus imprisoned them.

Seeking his freedom, Kronos is influencing Poseidon and Gargarensis to find the Tarturus gates, adamantine doors that seal the Titans' in their prison and break them open, in exchange for granting them what they most desire.

Managing to restore Osiris, the Egyptian god thwarts Gargarensis' plan by sealing access to the gate under his pyramid, and forcing him and Kemsyt to flee Egypt.

Aided by the valkyrie Reginleif, who sent the Norsemen to Egypt, they eventually find the next Tartarus gate within the Norse underworld Niflheim, whereupon Chiron sacrifices himself to stop a horde of fire giants pursuing his friends.

Needing to prevent the gate from being opened by another battering ram, Arkantos is surprised when Brokk and Eitri turn up with pieces of Thor's hammer, which Loki had attempted to destroy.

Pursuing Gargarensis to the surface, Arkantos receives fresh reinforcements from Odysseus, allowing their forces to capture the cyclops, with Ajax beheading him.

Upon arriving on Atlantis' shores, the group discover the main city occupied and fortified, with Poseidon having possessed a colossal statue to guard it.

As both brothers race to complete the boar in the great forge, Skult steals the finished piece and holds it in Loki's fortress.

[30] There was debate during Age of Mythology's construction concerning the unbalanced nature of god powers and how to make them "fair" while still maintaining an element of fun in them.

[31] Age of Mythology underwent a large amount of beta-testing during its developmental phase, as Ensemble Studios attempted to create a more balanced and competitive game than its predecessors.

Greg T. Street commented that one of the reasons Age of Mythology became so popular was because the development team spent many hours working on the game through active testing, rather than just taking advice from a "faceless drone in another building".

Rippy cites musicians such as Peter Gabriel, Tuatara, Bill Laswell, Talvin Singh and Tchad Blake as inspirations for the soundtrack.

Semerad was also astonished, and appreciative, of the use of instruments such as the ney flute, tabla and toy piano, all of which he said produced "some innovative analog and synthesized electronic effects".

It adds Steamworks integration, Twitch support, an enhanced observer mode, native HD widescreen and improved water and lighting.

It was made in Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition's version of the Bang Engine and all units and animations were completely redone.

[58] Meanwhile, GameSpot reviewer Greg Kasavin also rated the graphics 9 out of 10, stating that "Age of Mythology is a great-looking game, filled with bright colors and carefully detailed animations.

[52] PC Gamer reviewer William Harms admired the graphics, "The environments, units, and buildings are packed with detail," and excitedly commented on the effects: "What really impressed me, though, were the game's animations.

IGN described it as "great, if repetitive, music",[58] whilst Game Revolution declared that the sound "really showcases Ensemble's continued attention to detail", before going on to praise the audio snippets in various languages.

[58] However, GameSpot was slightly critical of it, claiming that "while some of the campaign missions do feature some unusual circumstances or objectives that change, the game's story isn't incredibly engaging."

This was compromised by stating that Age of Empires fans wouldn't expect an amazing campaign; they would "make a beeline for the game's random map mode, anyway".

[59] PC Gamer elaborated more on the campaign however, saying: "many of the missions are extremely well-crafted", and that "sprinkled throughout these encounters are moments of genuine comedy — a truly delightful surprise".

[61] Age of Mythology's artificial intelligence (AI) was used by four Austrian researchers—Christoph Hermann, Helmuth Melcher, Stefan Rank, and Robert Trappl—in a study into the value of emotions in real-time strategy games.