Sounds like there might be more Age of Mythology coming, but not for a little while
"We love Myth, we're not going to leave it behind."
Age of Mythology, the classics-based classic, sounds like it will get some attention from Microsoft in the not-too-distant future, although what kind of attention that might be is still a little vague.
Speaking to us out at E3 this year Adam Isgreen, Creative Director for all things Age of Empires at Microsoft, said the team would be taking a look at Age of Mythology "after we get through the Definitive Editions for the three here, and [Age of Empires] 4 is kind of rolling".
For a quick refresher on that, the original Age of Empires already has a Definitive Edition out in the wild, whilst AOE 2 and 3 both had Definitive Edition's announced back in 2017, along with the announcement of AOE 4.
The AOE 2: Definitive Edition was shown off for the first time during Microsoft's press conference at E3 2019, and is due out autumn this year, but there's no date for 3's Definitive Edition just yet. Both of those are being worked on by a freshly-minted internal "group" at Microsoft Game Studios that's solely dedicated to Age of Empires, alongside an independent studio called Forgotten Empires, which specialises in AOE remasters (including 2014's Age of Mythology: Extended Edition).
Age of Empires 4, meanwhile, is being developed by RTS specialists Relic Entertainment (Homeworld, Company of Heroes, Dawn of War) and is yet to receive a release window, although we can, according to Isgreen, expect more news on that "later this year".
What does all that mean for Age of Mythology then? Well, it's worth noting Isgreen was specifically responding to a question from us about whether or not it'd be getting a "similar treatment" to Age of Empires 1, 2 and 3, and so although he didn't rule either out, we reckon his answer is more likely referring to a Definitive Edition than a full sequel. Here's what he had to say in full:
"It's great to see how much love there is for Age of Mythology, 'cause I love it too - it's more of a... less accurate history. It's super loose, people just have fun, and I love that too.
"So we're going to be doing a patch for Age of Mythology [Extended Edition] really soon, because there are some exploits and some things out there that we know players would love us to get rid of, so we're going to be doing that. After we get through the Definitive Editions for the three here, and 4 is kind of rolling, then we're going to look back and see what we can do with Myth. Because I love Myth, we're not going to leave it behind, we'll figure out what to do with it then."
So, maybe an Age of Mythology: Definitive Edition? Maybe a sequel? Possibly neither or both? Either way it sounds like we'll be waiting until at least 2020 for more concrete news, if the studio does decide to go ahead with any plans.
In the meantime, we'll have our behind-closed-doors impressions of AoE 2's Definitive Edition on Eurogamer soon, with a little more detail from Isgreen too, to keep you going.