Age of Empires IV has debuted on PC and consoles this week. There’s a lot to learn about this game. Players have questions about revamped mechanics like Relics and Trading. There’s also a very much improved Landmarks selection for each faction to learn. And we’re just scratching the surface. Now, the game has also come to Xbox consoles.
And with all these new improvements come some other changes as well. One of the better improvements is in accessibility options. The core focus seems to be on making an RTS title that can appeal to many tastes. Part of that problem is solved by making the game easier, at least if you want that kind of experience.
There are many other accessibility options you can make use of for this game. You can remap keybinds, but that’s pretty basic, there’s so much more. Players who have a hard time reading the screen can turn on in-game narration for prompts. Color filters can also be used to help with color blindness issues. Anyway, back to talking about difficulty in Age of Empires IV.
How to Change the difficulty in Age of Empires IV
There are a few different options you can pick from when it comes to difficulty. The difficulty in Age of Empires IV is broken down into four modes. Here’s a simple explanation of each one.
To change the difficulty settings, follow the steps given below.
- Press Settings in the bottom-right of the UI.
- Open Game Settings and look for Campaign Difficulty. Choose your desired option from the drop-down.
Now, what does each option mean?
If you’re brand new to the series, go with Story Mode. Story mode is one of four campaign difficulty options and is designed for those looking to experience the historical events of Age of Empires IV without a strong challenge. When playing the Campaign using the Story Mode, the combat is basically no longer a challenge.
Then there’s Easy Mode, players looking for a light challenge with attacks coming from an only mildly determined enemy should pick this.
Intermediate is the way the game was meant to be played. This sees enemy factions applying multiple attacks at once on your defenses, spreading you thin. Enemies also use a mix of units.
Hard Mode is for series veterans that want to be pushed to the limit. The enemy will be constantly launching attacks from multiple angles, and you need to respond or risk getting overrun.