Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition — Update 44725

January 25, 2021

Welcome to another monumental week for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition! Not only are we kicking it off with a transport ship full of features and fixes, but we’re laying the groundwork for the first official expansion—Lords of the West—which introduces two new civilizations, three new campaigns, and expands the tools with which to build your empire!

Update 44725 lays the groundwork for the expansion with improvements to the stability and performance of the game—including fixes for the multiplayer performance setbacks following the November update—along with several new features, a new in-game event, and other challenges to improve your experience. Check out some of the highlights:

Join the New Year Celebration and unlock exclusive new icons and mods!
Owners of the Lords of the West expansion get early access to the two new civilizations in multiplayer: the Burgundians and Sicilians!
Numerous fixes to multiplayer performance and stability issues
The profanity filter now targets specific ##### words rather than the whole ***** sentence
Building blueprints can no longer be used to “scout” terrain that doesn’t have visibility
Five new maps: African Clearing, Amazon Tunnel, Atacama, Coastal Forest, Seize the Mountain
Unofficial mods are now disabled upon game update to prevent compatibility issues
AI and pathfinding improvements galore!
…and more!

We’re hoping this helps kick 2021 off to a *great* start, and creates a solid foundation for not only the expansion, but everything we have in store for the year to come (so much good stuff). As always, this includes input from all of you—the community—so come say hello:

Official Forum Steam Forum Join Discord

We look forward to joining you for the big launch tomorrow, and hope you enjoy everything today’s update brings to the game! ♥

—The Age of Empires Team

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Download on the MICROSOFT STORE

Remember that you’ll need to update your game in the Microsoft Store:

Open the Microsoft Store.
Click the [ ∙ ∙ ∙ ] symbol next to your profile picture.
Select Downloads and updates.
Press the Get updates button to automatically detect, download, and install the latest changes to your game!
Open the game. The title screen should show you on Build 44725

If you are unable to launch the game after downloading the update, make sure you add (or re-add) the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition client or folder as an exception to your firewall and antivirus program.

That’s it; you’re ready to play!

Download on STEAM

Remember that you’ll need to update your game in Steam:

Open Steam.
Click on Library to see your games list.
Click Downloads at the bottom of the Library window.
[If the new build does not download automatically,] click the Download Now button to manually download the new update.
Open the game. The title screen should show you on Build 44725

That’s it; you’re ready to play!

♦ ♦ ♦

Please note that custom mods may not be compatible with the latest game update. If you are experiencing issues launching or playing the game after downloading the new build, try disabling your installed mods before trying again.

Still having trouble? Visit our support site!

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition — Update 44725

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