Game only shows Menu screen, won't go past that, citing Live connection

Hi! I recently installed AoE: DE from Microsoft Store.
The game will not run AT ALL once it gets to the Menu screen: Every button I click, including Settings and Single Player and Profile, tells me that it has to sync with Xbox Live, and it won’t let me do -anything- except exit the game. I’ve been trying every day, different times, for a few weeks now.
I am signed in to MS in browsers and through Win10.

AoE II:DE, by the way, is doing a similar thing, except it glitches out when the Live Connection error pops up, and it won’t even show a Menu - I have to escape the glitched game via other means and close it from Task Manager.

So anyone have a clue how to get this thing to work? :frowning: