Welcome, friends and medieval historians, to the first major update for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition! We are proud to introduce the December game update, which is accompanied by a *looooong* list of bug fixes, our first major civilization balance changes, as well as new gameplay additions and features we’ve prepared for Age of Empires II.

What’s changed in today’s build?

As the first major update since the game’s release last month, the short answer is: A LOT! The teams have been working hard to improve everything from the stability and performance of the game to balance changes that bring some of the more powerful civilizations in line with the rest of the roster. This (of course) includes some much-needed (and much-requested) love to the Steppe Lancer, which has been a major point of contention over the past month.

You’ll also notice a few new features and gameplay improvements implemented with today’s patch. Ranked Matchmaking has gained a few new maps, as well as the ability to ban out maps based on the number of players. On the single-player front, campaigns will now display completion medals based on the difficulty on which you completed them, and several achievements have been fixed so you strive for that 100% completion.

Overall, there are over 100 fixes in today’s build; the biggest highlights of today’s update can be found below, while the rest of the update notes highlight everything coming to Age of Empires II.

You are also welcome to visit the official Discord server, where you can organize games, troubleshoot issues, engage with the development team, and interact with other Age of Empires players:

Finally, I want to pass along our heartfelt THANKS for being a part of this journey, for your passion, and for your patience as we work to collect and communicate the changes coming to the game. Many of the fixes below started as a discussion thread or bug report on our forum, which we have been scouring over the past month to establish your list of priorities for the game. The development team is already working hard on next month’s update—which will include more changes based on your feedback—so keep your thoughts and ideas coming! We’ll be working to improve the way we communicate issues, priorities, and goals for the future, and can’t wait to share what we have in store for Age of Empires II.

For now, we hope you enjoy December’s update; happy holidays to you and yours!

—The Age of Empires Team

Download on the MICROSOFT STORE Remember that you’ll need update your game in the Microsoft Store: Open the Microsoft Store. Click the [ ∙ ∙ ∙ ] symbol next to your profile picture. Select Downloads and updates. Press the Get updates button to automatically detect, download, and install the latest changes to your game! Open the game. The title screen should read Build 34055 That’s it; you’re ready to play! Download on STEAM Open Steam. Click on Library to see your games list. Click Downloads at the bottom of the Library window. [If the new build does not download automatically,] click the Download Now button to manually download the new update. Open the game. The title screen should read Build 34055 Remember that you’ll need update your game in Steam: That’s it; you’re ready to play!

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