Age of Empires III

Age of Empires III moved the famous strategy series into the era of colonial expansion between the 15th and 19th centuries, when European powers competed for dominance over the New World and its riches. The campaign followed the fictional Black family across generations and continents, from voyages of discovery through the colonization of America to the fight for independence, tying the individual missions together with a compelling long-term story that was fairly unusual for the series and gave it a more cinematic narrative dimension.

A major new feature was the home city system, which developed as the player progressed across individual matches and sent cards with bonuses, units, or resources to the battlefield - a mechanic linking games together and giving the series a light element of long-term progression that players knew more from other genres. The game also introduced native nations and European trading posts as neutral points of interest on the map, along with a new experience resource that was gathered instead of classic gold and encouraged active movement around the map. The graphics engine was very impressive for its time, with detailed lighting, destructible environments, dynamic weather, and smooth unit animation, making the game one of the technically most advanced strategy games of its era and a showcase of how far the genre could be pushed visually.

The game was received as a dignified and innovative continuation of the series; the graphical presentation, the atmosphere of the colonial era, and the home city system were praised in particular, though there were also reservations about slightly simplified micromanagement compared to the second installment. Age of Empires III remains to this day among the most played titles of the genre thanks to an active community and the The WarChiefs and The Asian Dynasties expansions, and its influence is visible in later strategy games that adopted similar meta-progression mechanics between individual players' matches.

Why play it: For fans of the genre, it offers the atmosphere of the colonial era, the home city system, and an active community around the The WarChiefs and The Asian Dynasties expansions.