Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition cost to play

Age of Empires II first came out in 1999. The Definitive Edition, a remaster by World's Edge and Forgotten Empires, followed on 14 November 2019 and has been adding new campaigns and civilisations ever since. There are no random items or in-game currency, so the cost to play is the price of the game and its expansions.

How it plays

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a real-time strategy game seen from above. The official Age of Empires site describes it simply: you build and expand your empire as the world advances around you, and command armies in real time to defend your borders or take on rival empires.

The Definitive Edition includes the original campaigns and the later expansions, which Xbox Game Studios puts at 229 campaign missions and more than 200 hours of play across 1,000 years of history, with 42 civilisations in the base game. Three expansions, Lords of the West, Dynasties of India and Dawn of the Dukes, now come with it.

You can play alone, in co-op or against other players online, including cross-platform multiplayer, with Quick Play for casual matches. A Scenario Editor and mod support let players make and share their own maps and missions.

What it costs to own everything

On Steam UK the base game costs £25.99 at standard price. That now includes three earlier expansions: Lords of the West, Dawn of the Dukes and Dynasties of India.

Eight more paid expansions are sold separately. At standard UK prices they add up to £102.42:

Expansion	Released	Steam UK price
The Viking Sagas	22 Sep 2026	£14.99
The Last Chieftains	17 Feb 2026	£14.99
Chronicles: Alexander the Great	14 Oct 2025	£12.49
The Three Kingdoms	6 May 2025	£14.99
Chronicles: Battle for Greece	14 Nov 2024	£12.49
Victors and Vanquished	14 Mar 2024	£9.99
The Mountain Royals	31 Oct 2023	£12.49
Return of Rome	16 May 2023	£9.99

So the whole game, with every expansion, costs £128.41 at standard price. Adding the three animated icon packs (£2.49 each) and the soundtrack (£7.19) takes it to £143.07. Steam often discounts the series: on 3 October 2026 the base game was £17.41 (33% off) and most expansions were 20% to 50% off.

Compare that with Black Myth: Wukong, which sells for a one-off £49.99 with nothing else to buy beyond a £10 cosmetic upgrade.

Players

The 30-day peak on Steam Charts was 30,366 concurrent players on 3 October 2026. That is more than 25 years after the original game came out. Its all-time Steam peak is 38,725, in January 2021. The Xbox and PlayStation versions aren't counted.

How we checked

All prices are from the Steam UK store and Valve's store data, read on 3 October 2026, at standard price unless we say otherwise. Steam's store data lists the three included expansions at £25.99 each, the same as the base game, so we treat them as part of the base package rather than separate purchases. The player figures are from Steam Charts on the same day. The gameplay description is based on the publisher's Steam store page and the official Age of Empires site.

Card art and page images: screenshots from the Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition Steam store page. Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition © Microsoft Corporation. GamesChart's Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition page was created under Microsoft's "Game Content Usage Rules" using assets from Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, and it is not endorsed by or affiliated with Microsoft.