The original Age of Empires is being remastered in the Definitive Edition

Adam Isgreen, creative director of Microsoft Studios, appeared on the PC Gaming Show in Los Angeles today with a very special announcement: a remastered version of 1997's real-time strategy Age of Empires is in the works. Check out the exclusive trailer above to see Age of Empires Definitive Edition's remastered 4K graphics and soundtrack, new zoom levels, and improved gameplay.

20 years ago, Age of Empires challenged players to build a civilization beginning from the Stone Age and leading into the Iron Age. It was followed up by Age of Empires 2 and 3, plus a few spin-off games like Age of Mythology, and altogether the series sold some 20 million copies. The original Age of Empires remains a celebrated and highly influential strategy game, but despite the success of the series Ensemble Studios was closed by Microsoft in 2008, which had acquired it in 2001.

Isgreen has been with Microsoft for seven years, prior to which he was a designer and writer on the Command and Conquer strategy series and a creative director for Petroglyph Games, where he worked on Universe at War and Star Wars: Empire at War.

Beta sign-ups for Age of Empires Definite Edition are available at the game's official site. Watch the full PC Gaming Show interview below.

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Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.