Later this week, select Age Insiders will be invited to join us for the Age of Empires IV Closed Beta on the Microsoft Store and Steam. This marks our largest hands-on event to date and will see thousands of Age Insiders carve out their own space in Age of Empires IV history by being some of the first to grow their empires!
WHEN:
The official Age of Empires IV Closed Beta will run from Thursday, August 5 through Monday, August 16.
WHAT:
During the closed beta, selected Age Insiders will be able to:
- Brush up on the basics with our tutorial mission, Mission Zero. Arm yourself with knowledge by rebuilding a township, learning important lessons on economics, early combat, and other core skills.
- Test your mettle in multiplayer or vs. AI matches, including up to eight human or AI players. You can play against other Insiders or take the AI for a spin — we’re collecting data on a variety of match types so we encourage you to try out all the different modes!
- Experience a wide range of maps that allow you to customize your own experience. You’ll be able to select from only a sample of our intended release maps during the closed beta, but don’t fret for choices: each map allows the user to select a variety of sizes and appearances (called “biomes” in-game).
- Try out four of the eight launch day civilizations. Hone your strategies with the Mongol, English, Delhi Sultanate, and Chinese civilizations – all of which you can learn more about HERE.
- Observe the games of others. Given its importance to the Age community, the closed beta build will allow participants to check in on the games of others (so long as the match host approves!).
WHY:
Our community is important to us, as is player feedback. At this stage of development, we’re interested in getting Age of Empires IV into the hands of the player to:
- Fine-tune our existing systems, which means that if you’re invited to the closed beta, Relic and World’s Edge are depending on you to play as many matches as you’re able to while trying out the various matchmaking systems.
- Arm our development team with impactful bugs or balance feedback. Balance is ongoing, so the unit balance you see during the closed beta isn’t necessarily reflective of what you’ll see when the game launches or as the meta evolves.
- And begin collecting your ideas on how to best grow Age of Empires IV post-launch. While our primary focus at closed beta is to ensure stability and lend overall polish to the game by conquering impactful bugs, the Age IV team is dedicated to continually improving and growing the game. As a beta participant, you help guide our vision.
GET INVOLVED:
Make sure that you’ve completed the following steps to improve your chances:
- Sign up as an Age Insider by Tuesday, August 3, 4:59 pm PT / 7:59 PM ET / 2359 UTC.
- [REQUIRED] Upload your DxDiag file to your Age Insider profile (the closed beta has its own “preview spec”, separate from the released title’s recommended specs).
- Verify your email – you’ll receive an email from us immediately after joining the program that will walk you through this step.
- If you’re interested in playing from Steam, link your Steam account and sign up for “Steam betas” under Beta Preferences.
Already an Age Insider? Remember that you can update your Insider profile at any time. Once signed in, you can also check your hardware against the preview spec using the beta cards on the Insider landing page.
We hope to see you in the closed beta!
—The Age of Empires Team
♦ ♦ ♦
The closed beta preview specs are:
OS: Windows 10
Processor: 1.7-2.7GHz (turbo) 4 core: Intel Core i5-4460T (35w) / AMD FX-6300 or better
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 760 / AMD Radeon R7 260X or better with at least 2 GB of VRAM