Age of Mythology

Did You Know?

• A board game adaptation, Age of Mythology: The Boardgame, was released in 2003 by Eagle Games.
• Age of Mythology: Extended Edition was released on May 8, 2014, adding Steamworks integration and Twitch support.
• Age of Empires: Mythologies is a spin-off for the Nintendo DS developed by Griptonite Games.

Campaign synopsis

The campaign follows Atlantean admiral Arkantos, who leaves Atlantis and his son Kastor to pursue the minotaur Kamos, who stole a trident from a statue of Poseidon. After recovering the trident, Arkantos assists King Agamemnon in the Trojan War with heroes Ajax and Odysseus, winning through a Trojan Horse. Traveling to Ioklos, Arkantos and Ajax find the city enslaved by the cyclops Gargarensis and Egyptian priest Kemsyt. Rescuing the centaur Chiron, they discover a dig site hiding an entrance to Erebus, where Gargarensis attempts to break a metal door. The group destroys the ram but is trapped in Erebus. After praying to Zeus, they find a route to the surface. In Egypt, they meet Amanra, who seeks to revive Osiris. Learning that Kemsyt opposes this, they search for Osiris's scattered body.

Development

Ensemble Studios began work on their first fully 3D engine, the BANG! Engine, alongside development of Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. Announced in January 2001, it was used for a game codenamed RTSIII, later revealed as Age of Mythology. The studio moved away from historical settings to avoid staleness, allowing new ideas. A trial version with five campaign scenarios and two random maps was released; only Zeus was playable, though nine gods appear in the full game. Debate arose over balancing god powers; the team limited them to one use per game to maintain fairness. Extensive beta-testing aimed for a balanced, competitive game. Greg T. Street noted that active testing by the development team contributed to the game's popularity. The official soundtrack, released October 22, 2002, was composed by Stephen Rippy and Kevin McMullan. Rippy cited Peter Gabriel, Tuatara, Bill Laswell, Talvin Singh, and Tchad Blake as inspirations, and described writing for a seventy-piece orchestra recorded in Washington.

Reception

Age of Mythology sold 870,000 copies in the United States by August 2006, earning $31.9 million, and was the country's 10th best-selling computer game between January 2000 and August 2006. Combined sales with its expansion reached 1.3 million units in the US. It received a Gold sales award from ELSPA for at least 200,000 UK sales. The game sold an estimated one million units within five months and was nominated for Computer Game of the Year and Computer Strategy Game of the Year at the AIAS Interactive Achievement Awards. GameSpot named it best computer game of November 2002. Graphics were widely praised: IGN's Steve Butts rated them 9/10, citing fantastic effects and believable animations; GameSpot's Greg Kasavin also gave 9/10, noting bright colors and detailed animations; PC Gamer's William Harms admired detail and animations. The soundtrack was praised but sometimes called repetitive. Game Revolution highlighted the sound's attention to detail and multilingual audio snippets.