With Age of Mythology: Retold, a unique strategy game is being relaunched in 2024. Now, the first additional DLC for the remaster is on the way – with content that has partly existed before. And back then, it didn’t go down well.
What kind of DLC is this?
- Age of Mythology is a spin-off of the famous Age of Empires, where you fight with gods and mythological figures instead of just historical units. It is one of the best strategy games on the market.
- When Retold was released in 2024, fans were absolutely nostalgic to get a piece of their childhood back. For many gamers, Age of Mythology represents a look back into their youth.
- Now, with Immortal Pillars, the first DLC for Age of Mythology is coming, bringing Chinese mythology into the game. The DLC costs €19.99 by default; those who own the premium edition get it for free. But some content has been there before.
This has existed before: Originally, Age of Mythology was released in 2002 and came out in 2014 as the “Extended Edition” on Steam. In 2016, the second and final expansion was released: Tale of the Dragon.
Tale of the Dragon brought Chinese gods into the game, just like Immortal Pillars does today, along with corresponding units, buildings, and everything that comes with it. There was also a new campaign, maps, and additional features.
On Steam, Tale of the Dragon has a rating of “mostly negative,” with just 33% positive reviews. Players criticize, among other things, that the DLC lacks attention to detail.
The new units are simply larger animals and recycled models; the campaign lacks depth, and the sounds have just been taken from Age of Empires 3. Additionally, there are bugs that plagued the game at the time of the DLC’s release. Especially die-hard AoM fans are disappointed.
Immortal Pillars has partly the same content but is supposed to be completely new
The few positive reviews simply contradict the negatives and state that the new content is indeed fresh, and you even receive new units for existing civilizations. The campaign is not a masterpiece, but it is quite alright.
With Immortal Pillars, starting today, March 4, 2025, at least some of the same Chinese gods from the original with Tale of the Dragon are being reintroduced. Overall, you will receive:
- 12 new gods with new mythical units
- a campaign with 9 levels
- 7 new maps
How much of this content has really been carried over from before and how much is new, we cannot say at this time. At least the graphics correspond to that of the remaster and look quite decent, and the campaign is said to be completely new.
Immortal Pillars is expected to be available at 7 PM.
A major competitor for Age of Empires (and Age of Mythology) in the strategy sector is Total War. The currently largest spin-off of the series is also planning new content, but for free and on a large scale: The big strategy game for Warhammer on Steam changes one faction so much that it sounds like a completely new one
