Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - Victors and Vanquished Review Summary

Diverse and challenging scenarios: The scenarios are frequently praised for their depth, uniqueness, and complexity. Players appreciate the strategic thinking required and the variety offered, which keeps the gameplay engaging and fresh.

High-quality and interesting content: The content is noted for its high quality and interesting elements, including unique gimmicks and detailed design. This makes the gameplay experience more enjoyable and memorable.

Enjoyable and fun gameplay: Many players find the gameplay to be fun and entertaining. The challenges are satisfying, and the overall campaign is enjoyable, contributing to a positive player experience.

Value for content: The DLC offers a substantial amount of content, including many campaign missions and hours of gameplay, making it worth the purchase, especially during sales.

Innovative mechanics: The scenarios introduce new win conditions and mechanics, adding a refreshing dimension to the gameplay. Players appreciate the innovation and the different style of scenarios.

Scenarios are lengthy and difficult: Many players find the scenarios to be too long and challenging, often describing them as tedious and more difficult than average. This includes issues with scenario design and balancing.

DLC quality and pricing issues: The DLC is criticized for not being enjoyable and not worth the full price. Many players feel it is overpriced and lacks sufficient new content.

Boring and uninteresting gameplay: Players find the gameplay boring and uninteresting, with scenarios and missions lacking challenge and being generally dull and forgettable.

Poor voice acting and narration: The voice acting is minimal and poorly executed, with issues such as misaligned voice acting and subtitles, and lack of effort in voice-over.

High and unbalanced difficulty: The difficulty level is perceived as too high and poorly balanced, making the campaign and missions excessively challenging and frustrating.

Historical scenarios and battles: There are numerous historical scenarios and battles, including detailed events and standalone scenarios like Viking campaigns.

Complex and unique scenarios: The game features complex and sophisticated scenarios that introduce new win conditions and mechanics, often playing by their own rules and offering unique gimmicks.

Challenging and difficult content: The game provides challenging scenarios and missions with varying difficulties, including increasing and exponential difficulty curves.

Varied gameplay modes: The game offers a variety of gameplay modes, including co-op campaigns, single-player missions, and objective-based gameplay.

Rich campaign narratives: Campaigns feature detailed narratives and varied strategies, with a focus on historical storytelling and accuracy.

Performance and lag issues: Many players report significant lagging and performance problems, including game crashes and freezing. These issues seem to be widespread and affect the overall gameplay experience.

Buggy gameplay and villagers: Players frequently encounter bugs, particularly with villagers and general gameplay mechanics. These bugs detract from the game's enjoyment and smooth operation.

Buy on sale: Many players recommend purchasing this game or DLC during a sale, suggesting it offers better value for money at a discounted price.

Ideal for Age of Empires fans: Fans of the Age of Empires series, especially those who enjoy the campaign play and historical aspects, are recommended to try this DLC.

Recommended for scenario fans: Players who enjoy curated, challenging, and well-designed scenarios are likely to appreciate this content. It is particularly suited for those who enjoy long and engaging missions.

Great for single-player: This DLC is highly recommended for players who prefer single-player missions and enjoy good single-player action.

Variety and challenge: Players who enjoy varied and challenging gameplay will find this DLC appealing. It offers a range of different scenarios that can be quite challenging.

Community fair range: $6.00 - $14.00.

Game completion: 12.0h.

Story completion: 6.0h.

Session length: 4.0h.

The game is generally perceived as tedious and repetitive, with fun potentially unlocking after significant time investment and under specific conditions like co-op play.

Reported time to anchor: 3h.

Friction: Poorly designed missions; Bugs and technical issues; Overly long and repetitive scenarios; Unbalanced difficulty; Lack of voice acting and storytelling.

Single-Player Enthusiast: Prefers single-player campaigns and scenarios, enjoys a variety of challenges and is willing to invest time in completing them. Motivation: Enjoyment of diverse and challenging single-player scenarios. Stance: sale.

Campaign Connoisseur: Focuses on completing campaigns and scenarios, enjoys historical narratives and challenging gameplay. Motivation: Engagement with rich and challenging campaign content. Stance: buy.

Challenge Seeker: Prefers hard and very hard difficulty settings, enjoys speedrunning and achieving high scores. Motivation: Overcoming difficult and complex challenges. Stance: deep sale.

Monetization: The Victors & Vanquished DLC for Age of Empires II received mixed reviews. While some users appreciated the diverse and historically significant scenarios, many were disappointed by the lack of new civilizations and the recycling of free mod content. The difficulty and length of the scenarios were also points of frustration, and many users felt that the DLC was overpriced. Overall, the DLC seems to cater to a niche audience of single-player enthusiasts and history buffs.

Management and pricing issues: Players have reported problems related to the management aspects of the game as well as concerns about pricing.