Age of Empires IV civilizations will play very differently from each other

Age of Empires IV gameplay was finally unveiled during Microsoft's X019 presentation yesterday, and already, more information about the medieval era-set RTS game's mechanics is starting to trickle in.

In an interview with PCGamesN, Age of Empires creative director Adam Isgreen has revealed that unlike previous games in the series, where separate civilizations would only have some unique units and tech differences, Age of Empires 4 will have civilizations that play very differently from each other.

Speaking regarding the English and the Mongols factions seen in the gameplay trailer, Isgreen explained that veteran players should feel familiar with the English playstyle - even with some of the changes - due to it being similar to the Britons. However, the Mongols will not "play anything like the English."

"We have this wide spectrum of civilisations that go from very understandable if you’ve played a previous Age game, to 'you need to learn a lot to really play these ones well,'" added Isgreen.

Age of Empires IV hasn't been assigned a release date just yet, but the gameplay trailer did paint a picture of a game that's pretty far into its development cycle. Other than the graphical upgrades, It seems Relic is keen on revamping gameplay mechanics with this entry to shake things up while still giving long-time fans of the series some ground to stand on.