My absolute dream DLC would be a purely cosmetic one.
Regionalization of generic units, unique appearances for (almost) every Hero unit, and—where necessary—a few new architectural sets.
That would be my personal wish.
In general, I don’t necessarily need new civilizations (though there is, of course, still potential for them); rather, I would prefer a somewhat more “historically and visually lovingly crafted” overhaul of the existing ones first.
I feel there is still plenty of room for improvement—or scope for further refinement—within the content that already exists.
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Simple deduction from the announcement that presented the last chieftain, which was
Here’s a preview of what you can expect in the first half of next year from the Age of Empires and Age of Mythology franchises.
That plus economiscal studying and dates releasing of the depots, 3 new depots and other AoE franchise content, I stay on my 6-8 month of content.
One vanilla dlc soon to be announcement, one chronicle later this year, and eventually one last one either at the very end of the year or early next year. It depends a lot on the type of content of the two dlc we have no info about.
Age of Empires 2 - DLC Release date :
- Lords of the West : 26th January 2021
- Dawn of Dukes : 10th August 2021
- Dynasties of India : 28th April 2022
- Return of Rome : 16th May 2023
- The Mountain Royals : 31st October 2023
- Victory and Vainquisher : 14th March 2024
- Battle for Greece : 14th November 2024
- Three Kingdom : 6th May 2025
- Alexander’s Chronicle : 14th October 2025
- Last Chieftains : 17th February 2026
Age of Empires 2 - Depot Creation date and forum thread :
- Three Kingdom Achivement addition to the SteamDB : ~ 8th February 2025 => (released 3 month)
- Last Chieftain forum topic discussion : 9th December 2025 => (released 3 month after)
- dlc #4073510 (probably next to come) : 29th September 2025 => (we’re 5 month after the creation)
- dlc #4374720 (probably next chornicle) : 27th January 2026
- dlc #4376980 : 28th January 2026
Age of Empires 4 - DLC Release Date :
- The Sultans Ascend : 14th November 2023
- Knights of Cross and Rose : 8th April 2025
- Dynasties of the East : 4th November 2025
- Yue Fei’s Legacy : 7th May 2026
Age of Mythology Retold - DLC Release Date :
- Immortal Pillars : 4th March 2025
- Heavenly Spear : 30th September 2025
- Expansion Pass : 10th February 2026
- Blood and Bones Pack : 24th March 2026
- Obsidian Mirror : 21st April 2026
- Demeter Pack : 21st April 2026
2021
- January 26th : Age of Empies 2 - Lords of the West
- August 10th : Age of Empires 2 - Dawn of Dukes
2022
- April 28th : Age of Empires 2 - Dynasties of India
2023
- May 16th : Age of Empires 2 - Return of Rome
- October 31st : Age of Empires 2 - The Mountain Royals
- November 14th : Age of Empires 4 - Sultans Ascend
2024
- March 14th : Age of Empires 2 - Victory and Vainquisher
- November 14th : Age of Empires 2 - Chornicle Battle for Greece
2025
- March 4th : Age of Mythology - Immortal Pillars
- May 6th : Age of Empires 2 - Three Kingdom
- April 8th : Age of Empires 4 - Knights of Cross and Rose
- September 30th : Age of Mythology - Heavenly Spear
- October 14th : Age of Empires 2 - Chornicles Alexander
- November 4th : Age of Empires 4 - Dynasties of the East
2026
- February 10th : Age of Mythology - Expansion Pass
- February 17th : Age of Empires 2 - Last Chieftain
- March 24th : Age of Mythology - Blood and Bones Pack
- April 21st : Age of Mythology - Obsidian Mirror & Demeter Pack
- May 7th : Age of Empires 4 - Yue Fei’s Legacy
I skept AoE3 content due to it’s current “paused” stage, as it won’t impact the content scheduling to come. So according to dates, considering time is money, and money keeps projects alive, we saw lots of AoM and AoE4 content yet in 2026. The last announcement that gave us some infos about the AoE2 2026 plan was the one showcasing nearly every content already released and scheduled for the “first half of 2026”.
Based on that, due to econoical pattern, we’re more likely to see two more dlc for AoE2 this year and one early next year. I may be wrong for sure, maybe they started to work on those depots for the long term but I still think it’s a fair estimation.
This year, AoE2 got ported to playstation 5 and MacOs, it means more incomes while also costing more to maintain. One of the three dlc could just be a cosmetic one with avatars icons, that could then fits into 2026 release too.
However, since we got no news of any kind, except one on X about issues for consoles to be addressed asap (scheduled next week), sadly we can only wait. June will eventually be the month where we’ll see infos, or maybe july.
Planning 1,5 year in advance is extremly risky in the game industry nowaday, 9month is more reasonable and way less risky.
Keep also in mind there will be an Esport world-wide competition this year, if I’m not mistaken, which can mean “keep the game as it is until competition is over to avoid desynch between playerbase and event tournament”.
About this X post about issues to be adressed for console player, they also joined an image:
Previous image on those kind of post were showcasing kind of a blurry version of a Tatar campaign mission (present in the MacOs Trailer showcase)
I don’t follow enought the X feed to tell if this blurry image is a reused one or if it’s a new one but what I can see on it is:
- Feudal Age african architecture building
- scenario editor fences with herdables inside
- a Blue round icon with yellow shaped “animal” and the tag “Economy” (it’s none of the current ingame civ icon)
- Blacksmith, Market, Farm, Mining Camp, Lumberjack, Dock, Mill icons.
- unit icon that ressemble vaguely to a mountey archer with III on it (maybe a new unit)
- unit icon that ressemble vaguely to a rocket cart with III on it (may be a new unit)
- unit icon that ressembly vaguely to a shield bearer with III on it (maybe a new unit)
- unit icon that ressemble vaguely to a white Horse with green “cloth” on its back with A on it (maybe a new unit)
Isolated versions of the unkown things:
Shapes guessing :
It seems the mounted archer unit hold the bow on his left hands and got a blued non-team helmet thing, using a recurved bow.
The foot unit seems to also got some blued non-team decorations on the both of his left and right handed equipment while having a grey-white style hat-helmet.
The siege unit seems to be close to a traction trebuchet design.
So what african themed famous group used foot soldiers with dual wielding and recurved bow mounted harcher with blue-head decoration and was kinda good at siege with a Blue-Yellow flag ?
EDIT : I found the same image on an older X post so it might just be a randomly used image and nothing of a hint of what’s to come.
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It’s from a screenshot of the Xbox version that showcases the villager command menu:
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Yeah the “A” made me think about Xbox controller. Thanks for the original version !
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Cheers to your creativity. I couldn’t see anything on these blurred images.
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That is still a lot of guess work and no real proof that the DLC pattern is going to change
Yes, just like in AoE 4 and that’s it…
Knowing them, they’ll probably just add the Strelet/Strelsy and make it work similarly to the Janissary…
Exact…
Yes, they were Ivan the Terrible’s military guard…
That’s part of why I hate the Middle Ages. We went from ancient super empires to a super fragmentation of kingdoms and duchies, then to modernity and super colonial empires again… plus, the super fragmentation allows developers to keep overexploiting AoE 2 with civilizations after civilizations dlcs, neglecting other historical periods…
Yes, that would be the idea someday…maybe for the 10th anniversary of 2DE in 2029…
Age of Empires 4 had an anniversary edition in 2022 with Ottomans and Malians, but it was free…
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More to come soon, including some especially exciting things we can only tease by saying stay tuned… more surprises are on the way
xD
soon™
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App # 4376980 got updated 24 hours ago, could be candidate for the next thing to come. But still we have no infos…
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oh cool, the next surprise, the thing that’s just a little different, a teeny tiny experiment, that will surely fit naturally into aeo2. I await with bated breath.
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Other than the viking flags.
Surprisingly this is the newest one among the 3. Although 2 of them are uploaded to steam with just 1 day apart. Is there a chance that these 2 are actually same DLC?
Meanwhile oldest one didn’t get any update.
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AOE4 is getting a Viking and Scots DLC. Hopefully, this means AOE2 is not getting a Vikings split.
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Part of me is wondering if its going to be more a British Isles DLC, maybe Saxons and something like a Scots or Irish civ with the presumed new northern Euro architecture going to Vikings, Goths, and this new Saxons civ and being a sort of fill-in for the non-nomad Barbarian Invasion era civs.
Or maybe more Germanic themed with Vandals in it? Or (and this is probably the least likely) but just Barbarian themed with Saxons and Picts, and working a Celts split in it with a Picts civ and then adding a new Scots civ or something.
Dunno, i’m just spitballing. I would wager the new AOE4 DLC probably gives us some clues on the next AOE2 DLC, but i’m not sure what they would be exactly tbh. But one thing i’m somewhat comfortable saying is i’d be kinda suprised at this rate if there wasn’t a Saxons civ involved. Could be wrong on that but you know.
The one ending by 720 is a chronicle one, the other isn’t. I’d say it’s more two project started at the very same period rather than the same dlc.
So to me the one that was added close to the next chronicle one is “the vanilla one to come after chronicle one” (meaning early 2027 one or just before 2026 end)
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For some reason, I think it will either be an Africa DLC or a Meso-North-American DLC.
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I’d rather it be one of those two, but we also have the previous teaser of the new garrison flag that is Viking-themed, with those garrison flags being tied to architecture implying a new architecture set that would fit Vikings.
Can you provide source on this ? I can’t recall that tease specificly.
Edit: I think I got what you mean, the current ingame eastern-european garrisonflag is indeed the Viking Emblem, but I doubt it’s a hint on a new viking architecture set. I mean Teutons, Huns, Goths also use that architecture set. If a new viking architecture set is to come, then those civ may, for some, be moved to another european new garrison flag category. Then why making the viking themed flag for the eastern european instead of just putting an east european garrison flag.
However, I also got intrigued by this viking symbol on that flag too.
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AoE4 viking dlc just announced 3 hours ago. Vikings may be also on our schedule then, or maybe not.
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