Whether you want to duke out against the AI or human opponents, the skirmish modes give you plenty of options. There are ten modes to choose from, including the new Empire Wars mode, which starts you off in the Feudal Age with a small town up and running, cutting out the early game. As much as I love to meticulously plan the town out myself, I'm starting to appreciate things beginning in medias res—within a few minutes I've got an army ready to go out and find some trouble.

Since the beta ended, there haven't been many opportunities for multiplayer. There's multiplayer lobbies, ranked matchmaking, spectating and leaderboards, with regional servers instead of a peer-to-peer system, and it seemed to be working fine during the beta, but the real test will be when everyone can start playing on November 14. There's still a lively Age of Empires 2 community that plays the HD version, so hopefully it will migrate over and keep the lobby browser full. I'll be playing at launch, so I'll report any multiplayer woes if there are any.

While this undoubtedly goes several steps further than the HD version and the first Age of Empires: Definitive Edition, it also makes me even more eager for a dramatically different take on Age of Empires 2. You won't find that here. This isn't for people looking for something new; it's for people who are already enamoured with the original game, who I still count myself among, and for fans it's the best version of the best Age of Empires game by a wide margin.