In Age of Empires II, five East Asian civilizations—China, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, and Korea—originally shared a common “East Asian-style” religious building. However, as of now, four of these civilizations still use this same building.
Here’s the issue: this so-called “East Asian” religious building is actually a near-exact replica of Japan’s Ise Grand Shrine, the most iconic Shinto shrine in Japan.
From the architectural structure to symbolic elements like the Torii gate, the resemblance is clear.
Shinto is a religion unique to Japan.
It’s extremely culturally inaccurate—and honestly quite bizarre—for China, Korea, and Vietnam to use a Shinto shrine as their religious center. These civilizations were deeply influenced by Buddhism, which is the natural shared religious tradition among them.
To elaborate:
- Korea (Goryeo) was a renowned Buddhist state.
- China has a long and continuing Buddhist tradition.
- Vietnam, though I’m less familiar, also has a significant Buddhist population.
If a unified design is needed, a Buddhist temple would make far more sense. Some might suggest Confucianism, but in China, Confucianism is often seen more as a philosophy than a religion—certainly not something with temple-style architecture representing spiritual worship.
So I propose that the religious building for China, Korea, and Vietnam be redesigned to reflect Buddhist temple architecture.
The current structure is essentially a Shinto shrine, and using it to represent all East Asian religious architecture feels deeply inaccurate—especially to those familiar with East Asian cultures. It might not be obvious to Western players, but for many of us, it creates a strong sense of cultural dissonance.
I hope the development team considers a redesign that better reflects historical and cultural authenticity.