I know there’s the definitive editions, but I don’t think it makes sense to pay $20 for a 25 year old game just for the better graphics when I prefer the simplicity of the old graphics.

Any download I’ve found just doesn’t work on newer graphics drivers. It’s sad to think this game may just be dead and unplayable forever now, lost to time.

Open source clones are appreciated too. I’ve heard of openage, but I don’t think that one’s finished yet, right?

  • ksynwa
    3·
    3 years ago

    I was gonna suggest try running it on Linux with wine or proton because sometimes older games work with no issues but looks like that is not the case with Age of Empires: https://www.protondb.com/app/1017900

    Edit: my bad. Seems like you don’t want to play the definitive edition. If you can tell me where I can find the OG game, I can try running it on Linux and let you know.

    • gunOP
      2·
      3 years ago

      The only exe I found that works is for windows. But wine lets you run windows programs in linux right? I may have to try it myself.

      • ksynwa
        3·
        3 years ago

        Yeah. Can be as simple as running wine filename.exe.

  • erpicht
    2·
    3 years ago

    At least with AOE2 DE, the AI saw a pretty big improvement. And the mechanics were updated in minor but impactful ways. Having the ability to queue several research options was one such minor improvement I appreciate. I was skeptical about the Definitive Editions at first too, since I own the originals, but I would consider them worth purchasing.

    Now, you could always try using an older computer running a previous version of Windows, but that’ll probably set you back ~$40. I bought a laptop not too long ago and the owner gave me his Windows XP CDs alongside it.

    If you’re okay playing different (simpler) RTS game while you weigh your options, I have grown to like The Fertile Crescent quite a lot. The early release version I played on itch clearly had a lot of work left to do, but it has a solid foundation and runs on Linux. You might like it.

    • gunOP
      2·
      3 years ago

      Fertile Crescent, that looks pretty cool. Looks like it plays similarly to aoe. I want to know what that massive ziggurat thing does in the trailer. Thanks for the recommendation.