You may ask, how do you know? do you have a source?..
well…just by looking at the new deluxe edition artwork of the game, we can clearly see the setting, the old world, no mesoamerican or american civilizations (no Aztecs, Mayans, Incas, etc), it’s clear they will lock it behind an overpriced DLC that only people from the first world wil be able to buy (the latest DLC’s have been overpriced!)
And people are always dissatisfied with anything that devs do, good to see that our world are so stable
It’s called having a little shoutout and respect to civs outside of the “old world”, mate…, do you understand
Agree with OP that it’s kinda a shame American and African civs are just expansion pack afterthoughts while they could easily be implemented in the base game.
Especially with the tag line that the civs are way different to each other.
What an easier way to make a civ unique than not giving it cavalry.
Exactly, and a lot of people tend to use the argument of “oh but the aztecs aren’t close to their timeline, oh but this, oh but that”, then they forget the Mayans existed way back before the Aztecs and Incas.
I don’t mind buying DLCs but it would be better if they just put all the civs in the base game. I think that would be better for the player base.
Indeed, better for the playerbase, but not for their never ending thristy wallets…
You are quite right about that 
I had a little bit of hope, now I’m very sad 
Remember, it’s always OK for the English, who never got off their island during the Middle Ages without getting a black eye, to fight against the Chinese and Mongols in AoE. But the Maya or Inca? Tut tut, they are too far away for serious game design.
True, the hypocrisy is off the rails in this community
Wonder how they went to france or fight in the crusades.
This is SOOOO disappointing. It kills half the hype to play the game, the same way the last two AOE 2 DLC’s did adding only 2 new civs, both european (still waiting for DotD to complain)…
Why lock the vanilla civs to Eurasia? Why are devs choosing to follow the prejudice that the Medieval Age is all about that part of the world?
Honestly, it would be a total nonsense making an AoE game with only 8 civs and including mesoamerican, south-eastern asian, or central-african ones imo. All of those are obvious potential DLC material, and if the game is a success (hope so, I’ll be there pushing for it) we will probably see at least a few of them.
For the base game, putting the focus in the main classic medieval board (Europe, Asia and northern Africa) is a good and understandable option imo.
no problem. AOK came with 12 civs and expansion came after.
Yes, but those expansions weren’t overpriced, like tthe ones they are pulling out are
That’s understandable because: (1) civs with greater asymmetry are harder to make (2) mesoamerican civs did not interact with most other civs most of the time period.
So mesoamericans might come with a dlc pack with a distinct theme and storyline.
However if there are no africans in the release I’d really be disappointed.
If we count the remaining slots:
English
French
Deli
Chinese
Mongols
Arabians? (from the screenshot)
Maybe Rus? (from the guy on the right)
One slot left. Very likely to be Germans or Vikings.
No more place for anyone outside of the old Eurasia.
It was not supposed that what differentiated this new game with AOE II is this asymmetry between civilizations?
by the way, you say you would be disappointed if there was no African civ, but none of the civis you put is African.
So, all that talking about how History is seem, studied etc changed in the last 20 years and how it’s important to apply these changes to a game based on History is shallow? Would the game flop if they had one american, one afican, one middle eastern, three european and two asian civs? Eurasia is still more represented, but you also break a bit of the classic and conservative idea of Middle Ages.
Weird to cut my sentence to fit your straw man argument but OK. But even with England’s involvement in some of the crusades, my point stands. It’s totally imaginary to put the English army against the Chinese or Mongols. That’s totally fine ofc and in keeping with the entire cartoony spirit of age of empires. What’s weird is arbitrarily refusing to extend the same imagination to the Americas. Who cares if the distance was land or an ocean — many civs didn’t meet in person.
