Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition - The African Royals Review Summary

New civilizations, unique mechanics, and historical battles appeal, but severe balance issues, bugs, and thin content for the price ruin the experience.

New Civilizations Praised: The addition of two new civilizations with unique mechanics is widely praised. Players find them fun, creative, and a highlight of the DLC.

New Maps Well-Received: The new maps are frequently described as beautiful, enjoyable, and adding variety. They enhance the overall experience.

Historical Battles Enjoyable: The new historical battles are fun and well-designed. They are seen as a good addition to the game.

African Theme Appreciated: The African setting and content are highly valued for bringing diversity and life to the game. Players appreciate the representation.

Unique African Gameplay: The African civilizations play very differently from European ones, offering a fresh experience. This distinctiveness is praised.

Serious Balance Issues and Unbalanced Civilizations: The new African civilizations are widely considered overpowered, dominating multiplayer and ranked ladders. Balance problems persist, with some players feeling they are not addressed properly and that games can end quickly due to unbalanced mechanics.

Lack of Content for the Price: The DLC offers only two new civilizations and a few historical battles, which many consider insufficient for the price. It falls short of the content volume seen in previous expansions like The Asian Dynasties.

No New Campaign Added: The DLC lacks a traditional campaign, offering only historical battles instead. Many players expected a full campaign similar to previous expansions and consider this a major shortcoming.

Bugs and Glitches in Gameplay: Various bugs affect gameplay, such as treasures that cannot be collected, buildings that cannot be destroyed, and issues with unit upgrades. These bugs detract from the overall experience.

Civilizations Feel Unpolished and Rough: The two new civilizations have unpolished mechanics, missing content, and rough edges compared to other factions. Issues include missing unique units, poor scaling, and unintuitive resource systems.

Historical battles included: The update adds several new historical battles based on real events, providing players with scenario-based challenges. This mode offers an alternative to full campaigns.

New civilizations added: The DLC introduces two new civilizations, specifically the Ethiopian and Hausa factions. These additions expand the roster and offer new strategic options for players.

New maps and scenarios: The DLC adds numerous new maps, including those set in northern Africa and across the African continent. These maps provide varied environments and strategic opportunities.

Unique mechanics for civilizations: The new civilizations feature unique gameplay mechanics that reflect their historical backgrounds. These include special buildings, shipments, and units that differentiate them from existing civilizations.

Influence resource system: A new resource called Influence is introduced, which is used to obtain special military units. This adds a layer of economic and military strategy for the new civilizations.

Frequent game crashes reported: Players report frequent and random crashes across various systems, including after updates and during matches. These crashes occur on up-to-date drivers and prevent completing games.

Hausa civilization causes instability: Selecting the Hausa civilization leads to crashes in both offline skirmish and online matches, with heavy stuttering especially in the first battle. This makes the civilization unplayable for many.

African map loading issues: Players sometimes cannot enter the African map, and loading errors occur when trying to play new factions. This prevents access to new content.

Online mode click lag: In online mode, clicking causes a noticeable lag that disrupts gameplay. This input delay affects responsiveness during matches.

Card crash bug hotfixed: A launch bug caused specific cards to crash the game when sent, but it has been hotfixed. While resolved, it was a significant issue at release.

Widely recommended despite price: Numerous reviewers strongly recommend the DLC and state no regret, often advising players to pick it up alongside the base game. The overall sentiment across most clusters is positive endorsement.

Wait for discount or bundle: Several reviewers advise waiting for a sale, bundle, or discount before purchasing, citing poor value at full price. This is a recurring caveat even among those who otherwise like the content.

Mild recommendation for AoE3 fans: A few reviewers give a mild recommendation specifically for those who already like Age of Empires III. It is not a broad endorsement.

Not for solo campaign players: Some reviewers explicitly warn against buying the DLC if you mainly play solo campaigns, suggesting it lacks content for that playstyle. However, others say single-player skirmish fans will enjoy it.

Incomplete, wait for patches: Some advise waiting for patches or buying only after the company ensures the DLC is complete. This suggests launch quality concerns.

Community fair range: $20.00 - $30.00.

Story completion: 3.0h.

Players report immediate fun with the new civilizations in solo, co-op, and AI modes due to unique mechanics and variety, while multiplayer balance, weak defenses, and performance issues create significant friction.

Friction: Multiplayer imbalance and unfairness; Weak Hausa and Ethiopian defensive structures; Performance stutter and low playability on some systems; Limited historical battle co-op content with only three maps.

Single-Player Skirmish Veteran: Skirmish and compstomp matches versus the AI, plus historical battle scenarios. Motivation: Enjoying new civilizations and historical battles against the AI. Stance: buy.

Competitive Ranked Multiplayer Player: Ranked ladder and online multiplayer focused on balance and the map pool. Motivation: Achieving balanced, competitive ranked matches with a healthy meta. Stance: sale.

Civilization Explorer: Experimenting with unique civ strategies, shipments, and age-up choices. Motivation: Exploring new civilizations, units, and mechanics. Stance: buy.

Monetization: The reviewed content is a set of paid Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition expansion DLCs. Reviews debate DLC price, historical-battle content, sale value, and technical access, with one isolated allegation of multiplayer pay-to-win around DLC civilizations. There is no evidence of an in-game cash shop, real-money gacha, loot boxes, currency obfuscation, battle pass, or post-purchase convenience monetization. Under the scoring rules, traditional paid DLC and expansion complaints cannot push the score above 20, so the monetization profile is assessed as fair and non-predatory.

African civilizations and content added: The expansion introduces African civilizations, new maps, and neutral tribes. It also adds new campaigns, including The Fall of the Hausa.

Comparison to other Age games: Reviewers compare the DLC to Age of Empires II, Age of Empires IV, and previous expansions. Some feel it follows the same expansion model or is not as good as Asian Dynasties, while others see it as a major expansion.

Game and saga underrated: Reviewers describe Age of Empires III as underrated, the black sheep of the saga, and a game that refuses to die. It is part of a great saga.

Players want more DLC: Several reviewers express a strong desire for additional DLC or expansions for the game. This suggests the current content has left players wanting more.

Great quality and price ratio: Reviewers note the DLC offers good value for its campaign and added civilizations, especially compared to Age of Empires II Definitive Edition DLCs. The price is considered reasonable or justified.