Age of Empires II (2013): The Forgotten Review Summary

Five fun new civilizations and seven campaigns add content, but the campaigns feel poorly designed and unfun, with broken triggers blocking progress and no voice acting.

Adds five new civilizations: The expansion introduces five new playable civilizations—Incas, Indians, Italians, Magyars, and Slavs—significantly expanding strategic options. Reviews highlight this as a key feature that spices up gameplay.

New civilizations are fun and interesting: Players find the new civilizations enjoyable and strategically intriguing, with unique units and balanced design that adds fresh gameplay possibilities.

Includes seven new campaigns: Seven new single-player campaigns are added, with reviewers noting they are well-developed and as good as or better than the originals. Standout campaigns include Vlad Dracula and Alaric.

Best value among Age of Empires II DLCs: With five new civilizations and seven campaigns, this expansion offers the most content of any DLC and is frequently praised for its excellent quality-to-price ratio.

Adds two new game modes: Two multiplayer game modes, Treaty and Capture the Relic, are introduced. These additions enhance the multiplayer experience and strategic variety.

Campaigns are poorly designed and unfun: A large number of reviews describe campaigns as bad, horrendous, boring, tedious, or unredeemable dumpster fires. They are often considered inferior to the original campaigns, with poor writing, unfair difficulty, and little classic RTS gameplay.

Campaign triggers frequently broken preventing progression: Many campaigns and scenarios are unplayable due to broken triggers, bugs, or scripting errors that halt progress or make missions unwinnable. Specific examples include Alaric, El Dorado, Sforza, Bari, Dracula, Cyprus, and Forgotten campaigns, with critical bugs preventing completion.

Missing voice acting throughout campaigns: Multiple clusters report that campaigns lack voice acting entirely, with dialogue delivered only through text. This significantly reduces immersion and atmosphere, especially for players accustomed to fully voiced main-game campaigns, and quest texts can be too short or disappear quickly.

Buggy pathfinding causes units to get stuck: Pathfinding is widely described as abysmal or buggy, with units getting stuck on roadsides, in forests, or on flat ground, and taking winding detours around obstacles. Even attack-move fails, and moving large armies through forests is a disastrous experience.

New campaigns lack polish and feel rushed: The new campaigns are described as unpolished, rushed, and lacking the quality of the originals, with messy instructions, amateurish design, and little attention to detail. They feel like fan-made mods that were monetized without sufficient developer work.

New campaigns added: Clusters frequently mention the addition of new campaigns, with some specifying seven campaigns consisting of multiple scenarios. Campaigns are a major content addition.

DLC content overview: The DLC adds a combination of new civilizations, campaigns, units, and technologies. This comprehensive content expansion is highlighted in several clusters.

Campaign scenarios and objectives: Campaigns consist of scenarios with specific objectives and map layouts. Objectives may change during missions, adding dynamic gameplay.

New units introduced: The expansion adds new special units alongside civilizations and technologies. This is a common point across several clusters.

Multiplayer support: The game includes multiplayer modes, including solo play. Specific modes like 'Contract' and 'Relic Conquest' are mentioned.

New AI causes lag: The new AI is a major performance bottleneck, with lag specifically tied to its improved pathfinding when many units are on screen. This lag does not occur with the old AI.

Scenarios unplayable due to lag: Multiple reports confirm that some scenarios, especially new campaigns with many NPCs, become unplayable due to severe lag. The issue persists in the HD version.

Spectator mode crashes game: Entering spectator mode causes the game to crash, disrupting multiplayer observation. This is a critical stability issue.

Stuttering bug persists until game ends: A stuttering bug occurs during gameplay and continues until the match concludes, severely impacting the experience. It likely relates to performance or AI issues.

Multiplayer lag issues: Lag is a common problem in multiplayer sessions, making online play frustrating. This may be related to the new AI or network performance.

Buy on sale for extra content: Many reviewers advise purchasing only on sale, especially for the extra civilizations and game modes. Full price is often considered too high.

General positive recommendation: A large group of reviewers simply recommend the game or DLC without detailing specific reasons. The feedback is consistently positive but often vague.

Get Definitive Edition instead: Many reviewers advise playing the Definitive Edition of Age of Empires II rather than this older version, as it includes this content and more. This is a clear purchasing recommendation for most players today.

Recommended for Age of Empires fans: Reviewers say this content is recommended for all Age of Empires fans, and that any new content for the game is good. It appeals strongly to the existing fanbase.

Avoid paying full price: There is strong criticism against paying full price for this DLC, with some calling it a scam or not worth it until issues are fixed. Reviewers recommend waiting for discounts.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $20.00.

Session length: 0.8h.

The expansion is widely reported as immediately enjoyable, especially its multiplayer modes and new historical content, though some campaign scenarios are tedious and boring.

Friction: Tedious, unfair campaign scenarios; Campaigns that drag on and on; Backtracking through oversized, under-utilized maps; Boredom during map exploration.

Campaign-Focused AoE2 Veteran: Plays through official campaigns, evaluates mission design, dialogue, triggers, and narrative flow. Motivation: Experiencing high-quality single-player campaigns and completing them. Stance: no buy.

Multiplayer Standard-Game Enthusiast: Plays online standard, team, and new multiplayer modes such as Treaty and Relic Conquest, often with friends or strangers. Motivation: Competitive and social online play with new civilizations, units, and modes. Stance: buy.

Discount-Seeking Content Fan: Buys DLC on sale and plays the added civilizations, campaigns, and multiplayer modes as a content add-on. Motivation: Getting new civilizations and content at a low price while avoiding full-price disappointment. Stance: sale.

Monetization: The audit finds only traditional paid DLC/expansion monetization. Reviews complain about bugs, value, and a free mod being turned into paid DLC, while another reviewer praises the price-to-content ratio. There is no direct evidence of in-game purchases, real-money gacha, loot boxes, pay-to-win, convenience items, currency obfuscation, or a cash shop. The score remains in the Fair range.

Originated as free fan mod: The Forgotten started as an unofficial fan-made mod called Forgotten Empires, created by modders in 2011. It later became official DLC after gaining popularity.

Included in Definitive Edition: The content of The Forgotten is already part of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, which offers quality-of-life improvements. The newer version includes an altered version of the DLC integrated into the core experience.

Campaigns lack voice-over: The new campaigns in The Forgotten do not have voice acting, unlike the standard campaigns. Only text-based dialogue is provided, and cutscenes are not voiced.

Compared unfavorably to other expansions: Some reviewers find the single-player content weaker than The Conquerors and other expansions, and the campaigns are considered worse than the base game. The overall quality is seen as lower than later DLCs.

Developed by original modders: The DLC was created by the original modding team, Forgotten Empires LLC, in collaboration with Microsoft and Skybox Labs. The modders later became professional developers for the Age of Empires franchise.