Stop right there Sire Holy knight, I a humble Merchant has a treacherous quest for thee, thee need to capture a powerful crazed mage for some unnecessary reason and if you succeed your reward shall be 100 gold coins, do know that this isn’t an easy quest, you might find yourself going through the devil’s realm with food and water. Anyways, before you leave, hear some of my more unnecessary babbling. Ever since childhood, we’ve always wanted to build our own kingdom, Play the Warrior King, conquer other kingdoms and Games Like Age of Empires (maybe it’s just me), sadly we don’t live in that era.
So all we can do is dream and play games where we can build our kingdoms and conquer others, or simply create impressive cities and other things, like in Minecraft. But for medieval-era game lovers like myself, the Age of Empires is the top go-to.
As everyone knows, the Age of Empires is a real-time strategy game where you act as the Almighty and lead your civilization through 4 ages i.e, Stone, tool, bronze, and Iron and gain access to impressive units as you advance. Man! We did love that Cobra car battalion, it saved butts in plenty of tricky situations.
I have fond memories of defending the entire kingdom with just one Cobra car. Anyways, the Age of Empires has many different editions with the latest being Age of Empires II: definitive edition. But Age of Empires isn’t the only strategy game, there are a few others that are worth your time and efforts too, and here we’ll be taking a look at those very games.
Here are the 10 Best Games Like Age of Empires:
Do note: All the games below have been played on Xbox, and have been written for Xbox.
Titan Quest
If you know the Age of Empires, then you must know the Titan quest as it was created by the co-creator of the Age of Empires Biran Sullivan and Randall Wallace (ever read Braveheart?). Titan Quest is a Hack and Slash role-playing game that was originally developed for Microsoft PCs’ but later on it was available for Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo switch.
The game revolves around a player-created Warrior who travels around ancient Greece, China, and Egypt while chewing gum and kicking the ass of legendary creatures and the ancient Titans who have escaped their prisons (and gods are busy scratching their heads). As a mythology lover, I must say that Titan quest has been thoroughly researched and houses around 80 different mythological creatures, Titan Quest also has near realistic graphics with a full day-night cycle.
If we speak of the character, Titan Quest has 30 different character classes and around 150 character skills apart from that, you have over 1200 different items that’ll help your character become more powerful. Mmh! Feels like a good time to me, there are also other versions of this game like Titan Quest: Ragnarok and others.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI is quite similar to the Games like Age of Empires you have to start nothing and turn your civilization into a superpower. But unlike the Age of Empires which reaches only until Iron age, Civilization VI can reach around the Industrial era. In Civilization VI, you have to become a superpower not only in Military might but also in Technology and culture.
Civilization VI is a turn-based strategy game (like chess) where players compete against AI to develop their civilizations by building new cities, or attack and defend across various eras. Civilization VI is cut above the Age of Empires if you take into consideration the ability to improve its technology and trading/negotiating with the other world leaders, all that gives it a realistic outlook.
Unlike the older versions of Civilization VI, it features several more civilizations and special emphasis on the terrain unstacking where you shift a city district to a similar terrain type to get bonus points. Civilization VI also had a Technology Tree on a nearby terrain which helped improve your technological as well as cultural might. Civilization VI got its extensions in 2018 and 2019 which made the game even better, Civilization VI is a mind-blowing game that is worth wasting hours on.
Rise of Nations: Extended Edition
Rise of Nations is a Real-time civilization strategy game. It’s an HD remake packed with modern touches in the Rise of Nations and the Thrones and Patriots. This game focuses on managing the economy, building infrastructure, gathering the resources, and expanding your boundaries. You need to be prepared for invaders because war can start anytime. It’s an in-depth engaging game and might give you a nostalgic feeling.
It Consists of 8 nations where you can build wonders of the world like the Pyramid, Eiffel tower. You can pick any nation and start building a strong civilization. RoN is the game of the year that gives you the entire Human History to manipulate, RoN has a fan base of over 2million and is a tight-packed thrilling game. RoN is a turn-based Strategy game for the first time in the RoN series. If you’re gonna try it… better polish your political and strategic skills.
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
Command and conquer sci-fi real-time strategy game which was developed by EA in 2007 and is a direct sequel to the 1999 Command and Conquer Tiberium Sun. In Tiberium Wars, Tiberium has grown to be a threat to the planet, while the Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the Brotherhood of Nod (someone liked Nodding too much) which are now superpowers are locked in a global conflict and attract the attention on another alien race known as Scrin, which attacks both sides while harvesting Tiberium.
Command and Conquer has brought a few new changes in the gameplay and also has included some of the features in the C&C: Red alert 2. Same as usual, you play the mastermind and overlook the action and control the troop movements, C&C3 also features a construction base in which a moveable base constructs other buildings for resources (gotta fund things y’know?) And as you already know, there are 3 factions in the game GSI with its modern weapons, tactics, and quintessential ion cannon; Nod Brotherhood with their Tiberium weapons, guerrilla tactics, and a nuclear missile; and Scrin with their highly advanced weaponry and Rift Generator that can create wormholes to swallow units.
Single-mode C&C 3 packs 38 missions that are spread over 3 campaigns. Okay, Lazy alert! Describing it is too long so I’ll just say that C&C3 is a must-try if you like or want something better than the Games like Age of Empires on Xbox.
March of Empires: War of Lords
March of Empires is another game that is too similar to Games like Age of Empires but with better graphics. In MoE, you develop your Empire, your Armies, and your civilization to clash with the ambitious powers and become the supreme ruler. In MoE, you can pick between 3 types of rulers–Highland King (It’s over Anakin.), A Northern Tsar, and a Desert king.
The armies of each king have special attributes, so choose wisely and unlock special bonuses and powers. Apart from all that, you can also build your champion varying from Knights to Vikings that shall lead your Armies to its victory, but before that, you have to scourge equipment to boost your champion’s strength and skill.
As a wise king, you must be cunning and strategically sound, so choose your battle formations carefully for the maximum positive outcome. You must conquer the 5 highly fortified castles that house the 5 seats of power, i.e, Seat of Domain, Seat of War, Seat of Heroes, Seat of Accord (must be at Honda plant), and Seat of Order. These seats give you unique alliance perks and the power to bring forth world-changing policies. All in all March of Empires sounds oddly sexy…
Bad North: Jotunn Edition
Bad North got minimalistic vibes. It might be appealing for strategy puzzle fans. Jotun edition is a simple yet brutal game where levels are in the form of islands and you have to defend yourself from Viking invaders by mounting your troops into strategic positions, it’s either that or watching your home and fellow people turn to ashes.
Jotun edition has some interesting features like Time Tactics roulette, where you have to relocate your troops to defend against the Vikings and evacuate carefully; Lockable Upgrades which helps you make your defense sturdier and lead to greater rewards.
Bad North’s style, gameplay, and music designed elegantly and each island is stunningly and unique in its layout and you have just 1 chance to defend them all. It’s not deep but you can spend hours on it. Bad North seems like a lovely and adorable game but it gets bloody too.
Stronghold Kingdoms: Castle Sim
Stronghold series has been a massively played multiplayer strategy game since the days of Stronghold I. As one might guess, it’s about building your kingdom by forging alliances, castle sieges with hundreds of other players. You start as a ruler of a small village and keep on improving and defending your castle before you turn your attention to the rest of the world but to do that you have to ally yourself with the local factions and player-led houses (Did I mention multiplayer?).
Stronghold Kingdoms needs serious political thinking and strategic planning to besiege the castles that have been tagged impregnable, disposing the tyrants, and bankrolling your faction war efforts; Not only that but you also have to raise the cattle and pillage your neighbors’ resources (Sounds like a typical farmer…).
In stronghold Kingdoms, you can also form a community to discuss strategies and build alliances that’ll help you conquer the impregnable. But beware, you start at nothing, and as you go further, you might have more responsibilities and competitors. Stronghold I has achieved a Metacritic score of 75, meaning it’s one of the best games worth playing.
Tropico 5 – Penultimate Edition
Unlike most of the games on this list, Tropico 5 is mostly a construction and management simulator but it is widely known as the Dictator sim. Tropico 5 is set in the early colonial era and on our small island of Tropico where you face interesting new challenges like advanced trading mechanics, exploration, scientific exploration, multiplayer mode.
In multiplayer mode, you can either team up with or team against other players (Definitely team against for me!). Tropico 5 has also brought with it around 100 buildings from various eras. You start your mighty reign during the colonial era and strive hard to survive that great depression, and the World war. The game gets its name “Dictator Sim” due to the need of acting like a dictator during the cold war.
The base game comes with 15 missions split into 2 parts with 1 final objective for each mission, all these missions are set in all four eras so it might be a good idea to put your glasses and poker face on. Tropico 5 includes “Big cheese” and “Hostile Takeover” add-ons and 5 new Xbox One only maps.
Assassin’s Creed® Odyssey
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is an interactive RPG. You can find tons of things to explore, you’ll be rewarded for exploring. The Gameplay is similar to Origins but more refined. If you like Origins you’ll find more things to like about Odyssey. You’ll get to choose between two characters (Kassandra and Alexios) interchangeable characters. Its story is set in Ancient Greece and depicts the struggle between Athens and Spartans.
Assassin’s brought dialogue option for the very first time, the decisions you are making in those dialogues and conversations actually change things in the world, it’s not a game-changer though but it does have consequences. Starting might be frustrating, and it’s slow but it picks up speed gradually and becomes more fun. It’s different from the other series of Assassins. They do have their issues but they make up for it with their game design. Odyssey has some new abilities and moves so you’ll keep on getting new items to invest in.
As already mentioned, the graphics are good, you can see emotions of character without them saying a word. I like their cultural diversity too, you can meet interesting people and visit new places. You’ll get a bunch of quests (similar to Wicher’s). After doing illegal stuff, killing, sinking merchant ships and stealing.
You’ll be hunted throughout the game as you’ll end up with the bounty, which of course you can pay off with the cash (you not going to be short of cash in this game). And don’t forget to kick ass with King Leonidas kick (This is Sparta!!). All in all, it’s an addictive game that challenges you at each step.
Conclusion:
And Thus you’ve finally reached the end of this quest and as you’ve caught the wrong mage, you won’t be receiving you 100 gold hence Sir Holy knight I bid thee farewell and I might as well take along this wrong mage you caught.
As always, there are many more games like Age of Empires, that are worth your time, and adding them all in this might be a huge chore, so I put together the best ones that I know.