Wah waaaaaaaah . The sad trombone is here to announce that the official Age of Empires II FAQ has revealed that the Steam re-release of the RTS classic won't have LAN play. The single player will be playable in Steam's offline mode, but you'll have to have an internet connection to play multiplayer. It's not all gloomy tidings, though. Read on for a break-down of what we know about the game so far.

The Bad News

As mentioned, no LAN-based multiplayer.



You can't redeem your old AoE2 CD key for a copy of the HD edition. To be fair, we weren't really expecting that.



There are currently no plans for Mac or Linux support.

On the other hand...

The Good News

The new multiplayer features Quick Match matchmaking, with an ELO-like system to pit you against players of similar skill. There won't be any "leagues"—ELO is purely a behind-the-scenes value.



No Games for Windows Live!



Other multiplayer modes, including private/custom games for up to 8 players, and a game lobby browser, will be available for online multiplayer.



Steam Workshop support is fully integrated.



No Games for Windows Live! Did we say that one already?



The mechanics are unchanged from the 1.0c version of the original game.

AoE2 HD is set for an April 9 release. You can read more about it in our announcement post .