I would think people would want a unique representation over a simple copy paste job…
Also, hoping they give them a real name rather than this Viking nonsense. There’s so much more to their culture to explore!
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Obviously there are a lot more to do than simply copy pasting units
There is Unique music, voicelines, architecture that must be built
Pretty expect this brand new campaign, but I see devs have said ‘inspired’ in this article, and I have a bad feeling about this.
Hope they make the campaign more historical accurate, instead of ‘Oriental fantasy’ , like they named ZXL as Jade Empire before.
After all, the game slogan is ‘make history your story’, not ‘make story your history’.
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I have no idea if there will be identical or similar units…
But this has already happened with other civilizations in AoE4.
Mongols and Byzantines use units from other civilizations…
It’s likely that other civilizations in the future will do this… just look at the Templar Knights variant that uses units from other civilizations that are not yet present in the game, but may appear in the future.
Obviously I agree with your suggestions for new units… but let’s see what they decide to do in a future promotional trailer.
But I hope to at least see new units…
I would really like to see warriors with round shields and one-handed axes. xD
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Did you ever seen how many People asked for Campaigns and new civilizations? The most of them in everywhere (from reddit to YouTube) and also streamers asked for them. So, yes, those were the SP most requested contents
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Indeed, the Macedonian variant is good because it’s a good way to represent the Swedish Vikings during their Viking Age, specifically the Varangians, who were already very, very difficult to depict on their own, as they would be “very weak.”
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They wouldn’t have landmarks; they were separate tribal peoples, not a kingdom.
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They wouldn’t have much armor; again, they were in a very tribal period.
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The Varangians were Swedes who migrated east and had two fates: they either became Rus’ or worked as mercenaries for the Byzantines. Some returned to Sweden after fighting in Byzantium, leaving behind several runestones as evidence of their adventures.
In fact, including them as a Byzantine variant was a good way to represent the early Byzantine army: without much gunpowder, and with a Varangian Guard full of pure Vikings, of all types and sizes, wearing heavy Byzantine armor. This also makes the Cataphracts a special unit and not just basic cavalry, which is too overpowered for standard Byzantines.
And well, that’s it. The Varangian Vikings were one group, but the most well-known were the Danes and Norwegians, who invaded England, and they’re the ones who still need to be represented.
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Indeed, “Vikings” wasn’t a race, a demonym, or a country. It was actually an insult, literally meaning “pirate” in Old English.
As far as we know, European kingdoms, which preserved Roman maps, already had the notion of a legendary island called “Scanda” from which various barbarians migrated, and it was believed that the Vikings came from there.
For this reason, they were also called “Norse,” which would be a more accurate term. They were also called “Danes.”
The idea of calling them all Vikings comes from a romanticization during the 18th and 19th centuries (1700-1900), when English literature always referred to them as such. They didn’t call themselves that, nor was it common in the Middle Ages, but well, that’s how it is, and it’s good to clarify.
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I’m aware. That’s a different goalpost though. Doesn’t change the fact that the Crucible is also “true” SP content. I’m happy we’re getting other content as well.
In other news (sorry for the doublepost), it looks like Relic are still very much involved in AoE IV:
Source is LinkedIn.
This year the team at Relic supported Age of Empires IV’s Knights of Cross and Rose DLC and developed the Dynasties of the East DLC alongside the PS5 port. These expansions brought new variant civs, game modes, maps and biomes to the game.
There’s more to come in 2026, with two new expansions on the way. The first, releasing in Spring, will feature a sweeping story inspired by Chinese history, told via a new campaign. Later in the year, another new campaign will introduce two new base civilizations, including the Vikings! The Crucible mode has also been well received, and, while we don’t have specifics to share, the team is looking into expanding this further in the future.
2025 was a record-setting year, with Dynasties of the East setting the record for Age of Empires franchise’s fastest-selling expansion pre-order ever! We’re excited for our continuing partnership with World’s Edge and look forward to taking the game in new directions in 2026.
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Well, the last four variants (Sengoku, Great Hall, Tughlaq, and Macedonian) were made by Relic.
The guys can make good civilizations; the trick was finding the right formula, even for variants. The first four suffered from a lack of historical accuracy and innovation. Thanks to Forgotten, we got Lancaster and Templar, and it became clear that variants could be interesting if done well.
Now that they’re more confident, they can release new civilizations, both main and variant, without fear of failure.
I’m very happy that we have an idea of what’s to come, even before the new year begins. Personally, I really needed to read or hear new base Civs are coming, I didn’t buy the last DLC bit now I’m more inclined to, I see there’s a good reason to support the game.
Vikings
Around 2021-2022, many ways to represent them were theorized. Some believed it was best to first make them “Danes” and then show their evolution from Vikings to Danes. Variants weren’t considered because they didn’t exist.
When the first four variants were released, they were hated, so there were no theories about Vikings with variants.
But when Templars and Lancasters were released, seeing that variants no longer had to be 90% identical copies of their base civilization, people were encouraged to consider how to create Vikings.
There were at least three approaches:
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A) Three Nordic civilizations.
Create three civilizations for each type of Nordic country with a Viking period: Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. -
B) One civilization from the Viking period to the Nordic Kingdom.
Create a single Scandinavian Viking civilization that evolves into Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. -
C) Vikings and Christian Variants
First, create a Pagan Viking/ Nordic civilization, and then a variant set in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden if it’s successful.
Based on the official announcement of “The Vikings,” they will continue with path “C.”
At least during their legendary period, Denmark and Sweden were controlled by Ragnar the Red, who carried out massive invasions of England and France. His sons then continued his legacy, seeking revenge for Ragnar’s death, or at least taking advantage of it to recruit more invading forces.
Another period of a united Norse kingdom was that of Cnut the Great around 1030, when he controlled England, Norway, Denmark, and part of Sweden.
I really hope the first DLC doesn’t just contain story only. At least two variations (RUS, Ottomans) would be desirable. A story alone isn’t enough.
For the second DLC, I’d like to see the Aztecs or the Spanish.
I kind of doubt it will be ONLY campaign, just because they have to know a bunch of people wouldn’t buy it. They’ve done campaign only for AoE2 before though.
We already know the 2nd one has Vikings and some other main civ. So it won’t have both Spanish and Aztecs.
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Nice to see Relic Entertainment being very committed to AoE IV
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There’s not much else for them to be committed to unfortunately. It’s nice to see Microsoft being committed to AoE4 rather, and investing a little more this time.
They’ve been very busy with DoW: DE, doing a lot of good work there above and beyond the original scope.
They’ve shipped Earth vs. Mars, and recently added controller support.
And they have ongoing plans for CoH 3, which show no signs of stopping anytime soon.
For a small studio, they have a fair bit going on.
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I know some other studios that have been polishing their old games lately (Blizzard, Firefly). Hopefully they’re also gonna make new games.
I’ve heard about Earth vs Mars - cute little Advance Wars clone that some 5 people are concurrently enjoying.
Ouch.
First DLC probably going to be 2 variants to go along with the campaign.
I’m guessing the second DLC is going to focus on water mechanics, civs related to that more than likely. Spain is a strong contender there, but I would rather see them introduced simultaneously with Portugal or Italy.
Honestly, I kind of want American civs over yet more Euro civs, and we could even see them implement our first North American civ in the period.
Maybe we even get variants for Rus and Ottoman in DLC 2!
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I kind of think they need to cool down a little with the rate of variants because otherwise they will run out of civs without one.
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