Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition - The Baltic Powers Review Summary

Adds new civilizations, Poland and Denmark, plus fresh and historical maps, but lacks new campaigns and suffers crashes and DLC access/installation bugs.

Fun and unique civilizations: New civilizations are widely praised as fun, distinct, and well-designed, adding fresh strategic options. Players enjoy their unique mechanics and variety.

New maps refreshing and fun: The addition of new maps is considered refreshing and exciting, often featuring unique elements like native alliances, outlaws, and other mechanics. They significantly enhance replayability.

Excellent DLC overall: The DLC is generally regarded as excellent, with many players expressing strong satisfaction. It adds substantial value and is highly recommended.

Danes civilization standout: The Danish civilization is frequently highlighted as cool, tactical, and versatile, with unique mechanics like the Customs House. Many players specifically enjoy playing as the Danes.

Lots of new content: The DLC adds a substantial amount of content, including new maps, units, and skins. Players appreciate the abundance of new things to explore.

Missing new campaigns: A large number of reviews express disappointment that the DLC does not include any new single-player campaigns or historical battles, which many consider a standard feature for Age of Empires expansions. This is one of the most common complaints.

Technical bugs and crashes: Players experience frequent crashes, save file corruption, and other technical issues that prevent them from playing the game properly. These bugs significantly impact the overall experience.

DLC access and installation bugs: Numerous players report that after purchasing the DLC, they cannot access the new civilizations or content, sometimes due to installation issues, cloud errors, or bugs that prevent the content from appearing in-game. Workarounds like deleting saves or disabling mods are often required.

Poor value pricing complaints: Many reviewers feel the DLC price is too high for the limited content provided, such as only two factions, a few maps, and challenge missions without a full campaign. This is a frequent and consistent criticism across multiple clusters.

Danish civilization underpowered: The Danish civilization is often described as weak, boring, or empty, with specific complaints about naval focus, custom house, and units like the Gunboat and Snaphane. They are seen as lacking unique and effective features.

New Civilizations Added: The DLC introduces new civilizations, most notably the Poles and Danes, along with additional European factions. These civilizations bring unique mechanics and playstyles to the game.

Poland and Denmark Features: Poland is a cavalry-focused civilization with unique buildings like the Folwark and Sejm, while Denmark emphasizes naval power, taxation, and versatile infantry. Both civilizations offer distinct strategies and units.

New Maps and Historical Maps: The expansion includes numerous new maps, such as historical maps with native alliances and outlaws, and Arctic maps. These maps often feature unique structures, settlements, and objectives.

New Revolutions and Units: New revolutions are added for existing and new civilizations, along with unique units like the Winged Hussar, Teutonic Knight, and various naval units. These additions enhance late-game strategies.

Polish Economy and Buildings: Poland's economy revolves around the Folwark, which can transform into various buildings, and the Sejm, which provides resources and noble family techs. This supports an aggressive cavalry-oriented playstyle.

Frequent Game Crashes: Multiple clusters report that the game frequently crashes, including during skirmish matches and randomly in lobbies. This instability affects overall playability.

Performance Improvements Noted: Players observe that performance has improved and fluidity is much better. This indicates positive changes in recent updates.

Initial Release Performance Issues: At release, the game suffered from memory leaks, poor optimization, and performance problems. These issues severely impacted the player experience.

Base Game Deleted Files: At initial release, the base game reportedly deleted personal files. This critical bug caused data loss for players.

Launched with Groundbreaking Patch: The game was released alongside a large, groundbreaking patch. This suggests significant improvements were introduced at launch.

DLC recommended overall: Several reviewers recommend the DLC, citing new civilizations, modes, and maps. Clusters 2, 11, 12, 23, 29, and 4 express positive recommendations.

Wait for a sale: Many reviewers suggest waiting for a discount before purchasing. Clusters 1, 17, 22, 31, and 5 all mention that the DLC is not worth the full price.

Not worth the price: Some reviewers feel the DLC is not worth the full price and should be discounted. Clusters 5, 15, 20, and 33 mention price concerns.

New civilizations and modes: The addition of new civilizations, game modes, and maps is a highlight for many. Clusters 8, 9, 10, and 13 mention these features.

Support continued development: Some recommend buying to support further development of the game. Clusters 4, 25, and 27 mention supporting the game's future.

Community fair range: $20.00 - $30.00.

Reports describe a strong, dangerous early game but one says the late game loses momentum; other players praise late-game content, leaving mixed sentiment.

Single-Player Historical Roleplayer: Historical Maps, challenge scenarios, skirmish, and roleplay-oriented single-player battles. Motivation: Immerse in historical scenarios, roleplay, and test themselves in solo challenge content. Stance: sale.

Competitive Ranked PVP Player: Ranked PVP, lobby matches, spectator mode, and balance-aware competitive play. Motivation: Compete in ranked and lobby PVP with balanced civilizations and stable multiplayer systems. Stance: no buy.

Veteran RTS Buildcrafter: Deck and shipment optimization, build orders, revolutions, and experimenting with new civilizations. Motivation: Master new civilizations, shipment/deck builds, and deep RTS mechanics. Stance: buy.

Monetization: The reviews discuss this game's paid DLC (expansion-style content adding civilizations, maps, and units) for what is a one-time purchase title. The dominant complaints concern DLC pricing relative to prior packs and technical access/installation bugs, neither of which constitutes microtransactions. One reviewer explicitly notes that DLC is Downloadable Content, not a microtransaction, and other reviewers praise the DLC as worth the price. There is no evidence of a real-money shop, paid gacha, loot boxes, battle passes, currency obfuscation, or pay-to-win mechanics.

Cancelled DLC revived: The DLC was previously announced, delayed, and cancelled about two years before its release, then secretly brought back. Reviewers are glad it was un-cancelled and finished, and note that the game was considered dead but is now supported again.

Adds Poland and Denmark: The DLC introduces two new civilizations: Poland and Denmark. These new civs are generally well-received for their uniqueness and are accompanied by a substantial patch that changed many civilizations.

Large free patch included: The DLC is released alongside a massive free update available to all players, including quality-of-life improvements, new maps, and balance changes. Some reviewers consider the patch the highlight of the release.

Positive overall reception: Despite criticisms, many reviewers find the new content good and consider the DLC a strong step in the right direction. Some call it the best DLC for the Definitive Edition and praise its high quality.

Overpriced for content: Reviewers frequently criticize the DLC's price, stating it is too expensive for only two civilizations and limited content. Some mention specific prices like 20 euros or 1500 rubles and compare it unfavorably to previous DLC packs.