Age of Empires 2 is unequivocally one of the most important strategy games ever made — a defining title that shaped the future of real-time strategy, and launched an obsession with history for thousands of players, myself included. In particular, the campaigns of Age of Empires 2 were fantastic examples of a hand-designed single-player experience, while weaving in real events and characters that can spark curiosity. But robust RTS campaigns have nearly vanished as the genre changed and lost popularity, simultaneously grappling with the rise of multiplayer. It’s almost ironic, then, that Age of Empires 2 has come full circle and given me that campaign experience I’ve been craving, with its surprise Battle For Greece expansion.
In 2019, World’s Edge and Xbox Game Studios released Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition, an updated version of the classic that completely overhauled the visuals and applied a variety of changes and fixes. Since then, the studio has liberally updated the game with new content and campaigns, but nothing quite on the scale of Battle For Greece — an expansion that feels like it follows in the footsteps of another beloved game, Age of Mythology — my personal favorite RTS campaign of all time.
Most of the campaigns in AoE 2 are short affairs consisting of just a handful of missions, and are intentionally designed this way. Battle For Greece, on the other hand, is what could be seen as a “grand campaign,” telling a continuous story that takes place across 21 missions and has persistent elements on top of that. It’s the first instance of the game’s “Chronicles” series, with an epic story that focuses on the dominance of the Persian Empire, spanning the Ionian Revolt and Greco-Persian Wars. You aren’t going to find any super complex storytelling here, but it’s a fun romp with some quirky characters to keep the action moving. And, yes, there’s plenty of detail for the history nerds.
It all sounds good on paper, but the execution makes Battle for Greece even better — an enthralling experience with hand-designed missions that all feel unique and distinct. It’s honestly surprising how different this expansion feels from the base game, despite using the same gameplay foundations. The presentation is exceptional with animated cutscenes, full voice acting, and a retooled aesthetic that fits the new Persian civilizations better.
Battle For Greece’s missions play out on a massive scale, with humongous maps that are filled with multiple objectives (including optional ones), and generally more than one way to achieve victory. The actual mission design really shines through here, with diverse challenges that really make you adjust your strategies. In one mission, you’re racing the clock to save districts of your city before they burn down, even though braving the smoke-filled streets saps your unit's health. In another, you find a visiting Empress’ lost horse to gain her aid, gaining the ability to direct her forces for a combined siege.
As you go through missions, there are also opportunities to get permanent buffs to a specific kind of unit, like foot soldiers or archers, and those bonuses carry over across the entire campaign — meaning it's in your best interest to explore the map.
Each and every level feels distinct, both in its design and objectives, and it’s that sense of variety that really makes this expansion compelling. It reminds me a lot of Age of Mythology, or even StarCraft 2, in terms of how there’s such an emphasis put on making each mission feel distinct.
I can’t get over how ambitious and experimental the whole thing feels, especially in a game that’s technically over 20 years old. Battle For Greece practically feels like a completely different game, with smart tweaks that play into the single-player strategy — like being able to tweak if your town center focuses on resource acquisition or military projection, or options to gather more resources using sea vessels. Even the scale of the maps themselves feel far grander than anything else in AoE 2, forcing you to juggle multiple armies and plans of attack at once. It’s a serious strategic challenge, on top of everything else.
Over the last decade, I can count the number of RTS campaigns I’ve truly enjoyed on one hand, and that hand doesn’t even get full. For years, I’ve been so disappointed that a key reason I grew to love the genre has just been entirely absent. Battle For Greece gives me hope that there’s still an audience, and third to make, this kind of ambitious single-player strategy campaign. It’s also clearly the first part of a larger plan, and I hope that future Chronicles entries can double down even more on persistent elements that carry across the entire campaign. Battle For Greece is good in its own right, but it’s incredibly promising as a foundation for AoE 2 to continue building on.
Every few months I try and find a new RTS campaign to play, and usually end up defaulting back to the same handful of games because nothing holds my interest. Battle For Greece is the most fun I’ve had with this kind of experience in nearly ten years, and it genuinely makes me excited for the future of a game that ten years ago was just a fond memory.
