The game had been mostly MIA in recent years until an April 2021 fan preview event lifted the curtain on what’s coming next. Originally announced at Gamescom 2017 during a celebration of the franchise’s 20-year anniversary, Age of Empires IV is being developed by Relic Entertainment.
One of the longest-running and most popular franchises in the subgenre will soon get another mainline sequel with Age of Empires IV. We’re talking about the sort of game where a humble group of villagers works together to gradually build up a sprawling empire over several millennia. 4X strategy games put a lot of emphasis on four core goals: Explore, Expand, Exploit, and Exterminate.