Age of Empires 2: The Three Kingdoms DLC Review

As one of the oldest RTS’ to grace the genre, I’m continually impressed that Age of Empires 2 still receives regular updates. Perhaps more impressive is how these DLCs continue to innovate, and The Three Kingdoms is no exception. With some heavy lending from last year’s Battle for Greece DLC – and a little sprinkle of Age of Mythology to boot – the latest entry continues to remind strategy aficionados why Age of Empires 2 is so important to the genre, even if it might be the series’ most divisive entry to date.

Ah, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. You’ve probably heard the tale if you’ve even a passing interest in Chinese culture. If you’re a seasoned gamer, you’ve likely picked up most of the story beats from the likes of Dynasty Warriors, one of many pieces of media that’s adapted the story in some way or another over the years. Acting as a semi-fictionalised account of the aftermath of the fall of the Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms centres on the Wei, Shu-Han, and Wu states as they battle for supremacy in a fractured China.

The DLC’s campaign does a decent job of summarising the many backstabs, betrayals and battles that took place during the period. Whether it’s through the inky artwork that keeps the narrative flowing between missions or through regular events that pop up during missions, it makes for a great ‘beginner’s guide’ to one of the most fascinating tales in China’s history.

The campaign, of course, is the real bread and butter behind the DLC, with fifteen missions available; five for each of the main parties involved in the saga. These missions offer plenty of variety, and, more than anything, I was impressed with how each felt so well tailored to the specific set of characters it was based around. It helped create the feeling that each of the key characters has their own time to shine, for example, Cao Cao’s heavy use of cavalry felt like a genuinely key aspect of the Wei’s set of missions, whereas the Wu campaign makes much heavier use of infantry and fire archers. I also liked how each campaign ended with a different take on the Battle of the Red Cliffs in a sort of ‘What If?’ type-scenario, and it feels in line with the more experimental path that the recent Age of Empires 2 DLC has been going down of late.

Another continued trend from previous DLC is each mission’s bounty of optional activities to complete across each map. Completing these typically grants a bonus to be used in later missions, like gaining access to specific heroes or receiving buffs to troops. On the flipside, failing these missions can also have negative repercussions. It gives the campaign a dynamic feeling that adds a layer of complexity to missions while helping create the feeling of a continually flowing narrative across the campaign. Again, we’ve seen this before in previous Age DLC – particularly in the fantastic Battle for Greece – but it’s something I think works really well with the Age of Empires formula and especially in Empires 2. While granted, this is the Definitive Edition, it’s easy to forget the foundations of the game are nearly 30 years old, so I genuinely think it benefits from these occasional modernisations – even if they aren’t always that popular.

This DLC wasn’t without its complaints, with perhaps the biggest one centring on its use of Hero units. I must admit, it’s a strange inclusion, and while it makes sense from a narrative point of view (the Three Kingdoms story has some larger than life characters), I’m still on the fence whether it works in a game like Age of Empires 2. The game is no stranger to ‘hero’ units in one sense, but these are typically reserved for campaign missions, and usually come with a game over if they die – but in the Three Kingdoms DLC, heroes can be recruited from a new building called the Hall of Heroes. It feels very similar to how heroes work in Age of Mythology, but while it makes sense in the latter’s fantastical setting, it’s a little jarring when Age of Empires is more firmly rooted in history.

This is especially the case when you realise that heroes have special powers. It feels quite strange in a game like Age of Empires to be summoning ground shakes that hurt all enemies within its wake or powers that instantly heal your surrounding units, and it’s not quite fitting with the rest of the game. I can even forgive it as an addition to the DLC’s campaign, but it’s an aspect especially jarring as a multiplayer addition, and sticks out as a particularly strange choice in ranked mode.

I also found it quite strange how much the difficulty seems to have been toned down in this DLC. As a lifelong Age of Empires player, I typically feel the heat when playing missions on Hard mode, but the Three Kingdoms felt a total breeze. What’s more strange is that it has its own Legendary difficulty unique to the DLC, but even then, I worked my way through the missions, barely breaking a sweat.

As well as the three campaign-centred civilisations, the DLC also comes with two others for use online and in skirmish mode, namely the Jurchens and Khitans. Just like the three main campaign civs, these each come with their own unique units and quirks, but it’s worth noting that all the civs use the Chinese civ as their base. This makes sense, but it would have been nice to have a bit more variety than such heavy use of the China units.

But it’s difficult to be negative about Age of Empires 2 DLC these days – the game has simply never felt this good. The DLC benefits from Age of Empires 2’s vast amount of improvements, not least the hefty patch that dropped alongside the Three Kingdoms DLC. With a recent focus on quality of life and making the game feel modern (despite its years) the Three Kingdoms DLC is testament that there’s life in the old dog yet.

4/5