This 94 percent-rated RTS is half-price on Steam, and now’s the perfect time to play it

You can't miss it.

A town artwork from Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition.
Image via Xbox Game Studios

Classic games often get decades of praise, and a few even get remastered. This is exactly the case with Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition. If you haven’t bought it yet, now’s the perfect time, as it’s currently on sale on Steam.

Recommended Videos

Right now, you can get Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition for 50 percent of its original price. If you still haven’t played one of the most iconic RTS games in history, you can get it for just $9.99.

Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition released in November 2019 on Steam and was followed by an Xbox One and Series X|S launch in January 2023. It’s a remaster of the original Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings, which launched in 1999 to universal acclaim from critics and players alike.

Chances are you heard of the game growing up, or perhaps you were lucky enough to play it. In the early 2000s, when many people got their first PCs, Age of Empires 2 was one of the first games they played—and it still holds up as one of the best RTS games out there.

Fortunately, the remaster of the 1999 original is nothing short of amazing. On Metacritic, Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition has a Metascore of 84, based on 34 critic reviews. Casual players are loving it as well, as there’s a user score of 8.8. On Steam, it boasts a “very positive” overall review score based on more than 125,000 opinions so far.

The original entry in the franchise quickly reached legendary status and became an RTS that many other developers drew inspiration from. Getting Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition for only $10 feels like daylight robbery, and it’ll probably suck you in for hundreds of hours.

Author
Image of Mateusz Miter
Mateusz Miter
Freelance Writer at Dot Esports. Mateusz previously worked for numerous outlets and gaming-adjacent companies, including ESL. League of Legends or CS:GO? He loves them both. In fact, he wonders which game he loves more every day. He wanted to go pro years ago, but somewhere along the way decided journalism was the more sensible option—and he was right.