I didn't knew this labor of love for us RTS players existed...

Hello there! Yes, Im the Northgard guy, again!

This time I want to talk to you about Age Of Empires Online... This was a Free To Play real-time strategy and MMO title that went live on August 16, 2011; originally developed by Robot Entertainment and of course, published by Microsoft. This ambicious RTS had multiple problems after launch, like an aggressive micropayment system (which a lot of players like me hate) or some of its core progression mechanics, to name a couple of them. At the same time, it depicted colorful graphics and delicious animations, good and effective unit and base control, as well as single-player missions, PVE and PVP content as well. So, in short, the game had a few years of life, and its servers were shut down three years after its launch, during the year 2013, due to the content being too expensive to maintain.

Age Of Empires Online tried to deliver a new style of gameplay, combining the classic RTS with persistent civilization management and let me be clear, this was a great idea; but unfortunately, the execution was not. But hope wasnt lost at all...

During more than four years, people were unable to play this game... Until the year 2017 arrived, when the service was re-established using Microsoft's publicly released developer-kit for the game. So, Project Celeste was born, and it was a sort of Age Of Empires Online 2.0, with all content unlocked, free of micro-transactions or micropayments, frequent updates and even new civilizations, missions and events. Everything for free!

I discovered Age Of Empires Online and of course Project Celeste less than a year ago... It has given me a lot of enjoyment with its unique formula of real-time strategy and MMO mechanics blended together, so...

As I said before, I think it is time for you to play Project Celeste, why? Well...

First, if you loved Age Of Empires, Age Of Empires II - The Age Of Kings, Age Of Empires III or Age Of Mythology, youll love this one as well! The gameplay mechanics are almost the same we all knew; in general you start at your base with a few workers, a scout unit, some trees and a fruit bush nearby; you develop your base, train units and fight your enemies until you achieve victory, or until you are defeated! You also develop your selected civilization and get different perks and rewards for your units, as well as resources and upgrades to improve them, these are only available during single-player or PVE missions, which keeps the PVP matches balanced. In general, the gameplay mixture that Age Of Empires Online delivers its quiet unique and fun; believe me, you should try it for yourself to get a better glimpse of it. You have nothing to lose!

Second, as of now you have different civilizations to choose from like Celtics, Egyptians, Romans, Persians, Greeks, Babylonians and Norse; each one with unique campaigns, unique gear, unique 3D building and 3D unit models, and distinctive gameplay aspects. To give you an idea, until now, I have only played with the Egyptians and my civilization has already passed level 10, I have completed a lot of main and side quests and I have not known boredom. It feels really good to know that I have a lot of content ahead of me in Project Celeste...

Third, the scale in variety and quality of content in this game is astonishing... All units have been exquisitely modeled and animated, so you can admire them running, fighting, working or dying in detail. You have a lot of biomes to play in, from steppes, to winter plains, to deserts, to forests, among several others; all of them are beautiful and have been richly detailed. You have seasonal events to play like during Halloween, you have main and side quests, among a lot of stuff you should check yourself...

Fourth, Project Celeste has beautiful and detailed graphics and an even better soundtrack!

Fifth, freedom of choice in how you play.

In a nutshell, I think patient gamers will enjoy this beautiful and fun RTS-MMO experience, that has aged like fine wine. Let me know your thoughts if you have played or currently play Project Celeste! As I said before, I did not knew this labor of love existed, so thank you Project Celeste devs, you are the best!

Download and play now!