Age of Empires IV

+ I think the civs are pretty unique, instead of copy pasted like in AoE2 with 1 unique unit and 3 boosts in total to eco/military. They have a unique playstyle from the get-go.
+ No bullshit cards, no call ins from home city etc. This is basically what AoE3 should’ve been.
+ Pretty faithful to AoE2 but unique enough to not feel like the same game remade in a different engine (feels like this is made in the same engine as AoE3 DE was made in)
+ Really like that you can put archers and all ranged units (but not siege equipment) in general, on stone walls. You build a gate inside a stone wall and they just go up there.
+ You DO need a varied army. I tried to mass Elite Longbowmen in my 1st game and they surprisingly uneffective even in 100+ numbers. It seems like they not only nerfed ranged damage, archer HP but also implemented a counter system like in Warcraft 3 (you got light armor, heavy armor, pierce damage, shock etc.) Pretty cool and works well.
If you watch AoE2 at all nowadays, you know archery civs reign supreme. Not in this game. Archers feel like a backline unit (as they should) that supports the frontline of melee and cav. Very happy about this.
+ UNIQUE SKINS for every civilization for the same units. Everyone has access to a basic “archer” unit, even England where Longbowmen are strictly better, but they can make basic archers. This same archer has a different look in every civ, in every age. Very cool.
+ Pace is a little funky, a bit quicker than AoE2 but not the zoom-zoom-blink-and-you’ll-miss-it of SC2.
+ Scouts now are a hybrid of scouts from AoE2 and explorers from AoE3. Excellent change. You explore the map with them, gather sheep to your TC and in Age II (Feudal) you can upgrade them so they’ll hunt deer or boars and bring them to your workers.
+ Optimized surprisingly well
+ Only a select few buildings can train 5-units at a time, and it’s usually a cultural defensive landmark.
Everything else trains 1 by 1.
+ Actually easy to wall. Very clear distinctions where you can build your palisades/stone walls. No more guesswork for “but is it actually walled off or just optical illusion?”

- I CANNOT tell the buildings apart… like, at all. No fucking clue what is a barracks what is a stable and what is an archery range. Just a jumbled mess inside the base. Also, they look fucking TINY, only the cultural landmarks stand out and are big enough IMO.
- gunpowder is retardedly overpowered. I thought it would be a chore to pack/unpack trebs and cannons (and other smaller siege support weapons) but they really pack/unpack in 1 second flat. And oooh boy do they delete walls, castles (called keeps in this game) and every other siege. Handcannoneers also just delete units.
If you played AoE2 you know gunpowder units were very situational at best, and underpowered at worst in that game. The accuracy sucked, reload time sucked, and the further you were from the enemy, the worse were your results with gunpowder. I wish they could find the middle ground.
- graphics sadly do look like they belong in a 2010 MOBA or phone game.
- the units cluster and blob like a MFker and you cant click for shit on what you want. (Can you find the sheep carcass in the middle of workers harvesting it? I can’t… not even in full zoom) Maybe collision size should be increased? IDK.
- the units blend in with their environment, be it on the battlefield or in towns. They should make them pop a little so you can recognize what is a part of the foreground and what is background.
- The camera angle is weird as hell… maybe I have to get used to it.
- The UI is overall crap. The icons for units / upgrades / buildings are so uninspired.