Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition’s Knights of the Mediterranean DLC gets a release date

Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition’s next content update, Knights of the Mediterranean, will release on 26th May, 2022.

Confirmed by way of a shiny new video teaser, Ensemble Studios revealed more about the new content’s Italians and Maltese civilisations, a brand new “casual friendly Tycoon game mode”, and the first-ever set of Historical Maps, which it reckons will bring “endless replayability with a historical twist”.

Here, check it out for yourself:

The Maltese civilisation is special because – as “one of the Mediterranean’s epitomes of a melting pot” – it can “guard the Mediterranean against incursions with unique fortifications, don shining armour to fend off attacks, and shell opponents from afar with Fixed Guns”. You also have access to “superior logistics” when fighting, and special Order Galleys, too.

As for the Italians? “Fabulously wealthy merchant republics, kingdoms, duchies, and even the Papacy had driven the Renaissance and dominated the trade networks of the Mediterranean,” the official website explains. “However, when the Italian polities were not engaged in conflicts abroad, they fought each other nearly incessantly, until the Risorgimento gave rise to the new Kingdom of Italy.”

As well as two new civilisations, there’ll also be 30 new random maps, nine new minor civilisations, eight historical maps, and two new modes: Diplomacy and Tycoon. The former allows players to change their allegiance to other players during the course of the match, whilst tycoon – which accompanies Supremacy, Deathmatch, and Empire Wars – has been designed to “focus on the economy-building of Age of Empires 3: Definitive Edition” where players concentrate on creating the “strongest economies for their empires” without having to bolster armies or defend sieges.

Knights of the Mediterranean can be pre-ordered now from Steam and the Microsoft Store for £8.

ICYMI, co-op has finally arrived in Age of Empires 3. Players can now band together to experience “story-driven historical narratives and objectives”, including all the same gameplay you know “but tailored for the cooperative experiences”, as well as fully-voiced dialogue and enemy AI that can take on two opponents instead of just one.