One Month Later – Age of Mythology: Retold – Is it worth it?

Age of Mythology might be one of the most underated games in the franchise, and when it got remade and released in early September, I couldn’t wait to check it out. After playing it HEAVILY for the past month or so, I’m here to tell you that if you’ve been on the fence about checking it out, do yoruself a favour and pick it up! I’ve been playing with a mouse and keyboard on my Xbox Series X, and can confirm it’s been everything I wanted and more.

What I really like here is how much work went into remaking this game. This isn’t just a coat of new paint and some fancy sound improvements. This game has been remade from the ground up, tweaking some of the civilizations and their powers, and providing some great quality of life improvements. We won’t be able to talk about absolutely everything that has changed with this remake, but rest assured they are all positive changes in our opinion.

Let’s hit a few quick things that I think are pretty small, but have a big impact. First of all, and most obvious, is a graphical overhaul. Now, this game still isn’t looking as good as a brand new AAA title, but it looks 1000% times better than the original. Another minor improvement that has a big impact is increased population limits. Age of Mythology was notoriously terrible for not allowing you to build out massive armies. Myth units cost more population points than other units, and together it all just was too little. That’s gone. A third improvement revolves around God Powers. These can not be reused, instead of being one time benefits. They have a cool down timer, but things like the Norse Gold Mine being reusable is MASSIVE, and will change some strategies (i.e. the Norse are now my go-to because of Gold collection).

The one change I never saw coming was the inclusion of an additional age, the Wonder Age. Here, favour is dolled out at one point per second, Myth units have more attack, multiple Titan Gates can be built, and more. It’s not something I love, but the inclusion is pretty interesting I think for those that love to play a long, drawn out game.

There are specific changes within the the civilizations as well. The Norse got a bit stronger in this rerelease, which is a great upgrade form the original where the Norse were definitely the weakest of all the civilizations. I think flying units, especially, have gotten more hit points and attack power – those phoenix units are great now! The Egyptians also got improvements with an overhauled monument system. You’ll have to explore the various benefits, but monuments can now offer an area effect to buildings, units, etc.

Honestly, I cannot get enough of Age of Mythology: Retold. Age of Empires 2 use to be my favourite Age of Empires experience, but Age of Mythology is taking that banner as of right now.