“Graphically, Age of Empires 4 takes a different approach compared to prior Relic Entertainment games and it’s certainly quite different to AOE3, which was very advanced for its time period. Relic tends to push RTS visuals in its games, but AOE4 goes for a more simplistic look, relying on a clean style with limited complexity. To be fair, identifying unit types based on their silhouette or size is easy in this game, so it’s most definitely not aiming for the busy, detailed look we have seen in prior series entries. As a part of this, Age of Empires 4 is seemingly targeting lower-end systems in how its graphics and simulation scale - so certain graphical elements take a hit. Geometric detail and LOD switching is fairly basic, while even the highest quality assets are not exactly rich in detail, with even hero units looking basic, even when viewed at close distance…Other graphics oddities include the quality of the shadow maps and ambient occlusion, which are lacking even at the highest quality settings. Even with the camera sitting still, it is possible to see a visible flicker and aliasing in the shadows from static buildings and even more so from moving geometry or foliage. The flickering is at odds with AOE4’s otherwise very clean presentation of geometric edges and colours. Also disappointing is how destruction physics run at 30fps, giving a very ‘framey’ look to animation - almost like it’s running in slow motion. What’s needed here is a full frame-rate ultra setting for destruction and based on what I’ve seen, there’s certainly the GPU overhead to do it, though I recommend checking out the video embedded above for a more detailed look at performance, particularly if you’re on an AMD card…Other graphics oddities include the quality of the shadow maps and ambient occlusion, which are lacking even at the highest quality settings. Even with the camera sitting still, it is possible to see a visible flicker and aliasing in the shadows from static buildings and even more so from moving geometry or foliage. The flickering is at odds with AOE4’s otherwise very clean presentation of geometric edges and colours. Also disappointing is how destruction physics run at 30fps, giving a very ‘framey’ look to animation - almost like it’s running in slow motion. What’s needed here is a full frame-rate ultra setting for destruction and based on what I’ve seen, there’s certainly the GPU overhead to do it, though I recommend checking out the video embedded above for a more detailed look at performance, particularly if you’re on an AMD card…What I’d really like to see are some more ambitious graphics settings, though first of all, there are some technical issues that really need to be addressed. To begin with, the game is highly reliant on performance from a single thread, meaning that CPU frequencies trump the amount of cores you may have, leading to massive underutilisation of today’s many-core processors. This is somewhat bizarre for a DX12 title and definitely holds the game back. Secondly, GPU load increases to an extraordinary degree (anything up to 2x) when the camera moves, leading to highly inconsistent frame-times and frame-rates, as the image above demonstrates. Given how commonplace camera movement and scrolling are in an RTS game, I really wish this did not happen as it makes the game look ‘janky’ even if it does not impact the immediate micro-management frame-rate”
So the main problem about the low textures on many models Is related to " the single thread".
And i already said in my review, the main models are quite good and they Need also a bit more details.