A different age

I don’t know if it’s because I’m Greek (probably), but Age of Mythology is one my favorite real-time strategy games. In case you’ve been living under a rock your whole life, Age of Mythology is a spinoff to the popular Age of Empires game, published by Microsoft, featuring three different civilizations and their respective gods. The Greeks with Zeus, Hades and Poseidon, the Egyptians with Ra, Isis and Set and the Norse with Thor, Loki and Odin. The game got an HD re-release in 2014 with a new expansion but I haven’t had the chance to give it a try yet so I’m going to focus on the original game and the Titans expansion, which added a new civilization, the Atlanteans (who are basically another Greek race) and three new gods Kronos, Gaia and Oranos along with the option to summon titans.

The game has anything a man could ever want. Dragons, hydras, krakens, minotaurs, you can control Hades goddammit, the ruler of the underworld. The dude technically is unable to die. There two main modes, the campaign which features 31 scenarios and the multiplayer mode, which is the more popular one, where you get to fight with either your friends or the AI opponents. Even though it’s more fun when you play with your friends, the AI can be quite a strong opponent and it’s a good option when there aren’t enough players.

Now, why the hell would I review a game that’s 16 years and no one knows about? First of all, it’s a great retro game that even though it still has a great cult following, it’s slowly being forgotten, and it’s my duty keeps its legacy alive. But the main reason is I’m still fucking playing the game. Twelve years after my brother first introduced me to the game and I’m still being entertained by the same shit. Two weeks ago I discovered GameRanger, an app that allows hosting servers for old games such as Age of Mythology, that the developers no longer support online mode and gives you the option to play online with your friends (or at least something along these lines, I’m not a computer scientist). And it’s the best thing since sliced bread my friends.

But what I realized when I opened the app for the first time was that no matter how many years pass, if a game is good, it will never be forgotten. There was a never-ending list of game servers of games that were created before I even existed. From Diablo to command and conquer, there was a huge community of people playing these old games. Minutes after I created my first server I was bombarded with messages by people who wanted to join. And I got my ass served and even though I was a bit mad because I thought I was good at playing the game, I was also happy knowing a community I was a part of growing up is still as alive as ever.