Age of Mythology: Retold - Immortal Pillars

Immortal Pillars, the first expansion for Age of Mythology: Retold, will be released today. It is entirely dedicated to the Chinese civilisation. Fittingly, the expansion is being developed by Virtuos Shanghai Studio. This DLC is probably a way for World's Edge and Xbox Game Studios to target the Chinese market.

The first expansion for Age of Mythology: Retold is all about Chinese culture and mythology - for the record, the base game did not include the 2015 expansion Tale of the Dragon, which was only available for Age of Mythology: Extended Edition and not the original Age of Mythology. However, Immortal Pillars offers much more than Tale of the Dragon. It is a classic expansion that builds on the core game and introduces 12 new gods, including the three major gods - Fuxi, Shennong and Nüwa - and lesser gods such as Gonggong, Zhurong, Chiyou and more, each offering unique god powers and mythological units such as Qilin (heals nearby units), Baihu (leaps at enemies) or Taotie (gains extra strength by devouring human soldiers).

In general, the Chinese civilisation plays differently than the others: They excel at expansion. Each building expands the Favored Land, generating Favor and bonuses based on the chosen god. The bigger the empire, the more powerful the Chinese become. There are two types of workers: Peasants are less efficient than the villagers of other cultures, but they are supported by the Kuafu, giants who specialise in building construction. Military buildings can be upgraded with Towers or Training Yards to provide defensive or offensive advantages. Despite a lack of early cavalry, China is strong in siege warfare.

The Chinese civilisation can be played in a new nine-mission story campaign and in skirmish/multiplayer mode, which has also been expanded to include seven maps featuring typical Chinese environments or biomes. Virtuos Games, based in China, was involved in the development of Age of Mythology: Retold - Immortal Pillars. "We are honored to have this opportunity to describe a Chinese civilization as a Chinese developer, and to have the opportunity to introduce our Chinese mythology, culture, stories and ancient civilization to the world. This is a very proud thing, because the Chinese mythology has so much content that we can explore and deliver to the world as a unique culture. (...) For many of us, we loved stories of myths and monsters when growing up and spent a lot of time playing Age of Empires. To bring those things together is magical and we’re so lucky to work on something so close to our hearts. We hope to offer you all an enthralling journey through the annals of this ancient pantheon."

Age of Mythology: Retold - Immortal Pillars will be released on 4 March 2025 for PC and Xbox Series X|S. With the release of the expansion, Age of Mythology: Retold will also be available on PlayStation 5, as well as Immortal Pillars. In addition, Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition will be released on PlayStation 5 this spring, along with a new DLC expansion. This is Xbox's way of catering to an underserved audience on the PlayStation console - and both Age of Empires games support cross-play.

Speaking of the franchise. Two new expansions for Age of Empires IV are also planned for 2025. The first of these, Knights of Cross and Rose, will be released this spring. "In addition to adapting the variant civilization concept, we're also exploring unique game modes in both 2025 DLCs that focus on shorter and repeatable experiences," said Michael Mann (Studio Head, World's Edge). A PS5 port of Age of Empires IV has not yet been announced. Looking back to 2024, the developers report that they have reached the milestone of 60 million Age of Empires players worldwide - and that the franchise has reached ten million new players.

Conclusion

Age of Mythology: Retold - Immortal Pillars enhances the main game in a compelling way and easily surpasses Tale of the Dragon.

Features

• Major expansion focusing on China
• New gods, units and powers
• Story campaign with nine new missions