The Battles Await!
It’s finally here—Co-Op for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition has arrived! Launching today in the Public Update Preview on Steam, Co-Op is now playable and will soon make its way into the Live game. What’s more fun than leading the charges down the Roman Empire as Atilla the Hun? Charging down the Roman legions with a friend by your side!
With today’s PUP build, we’ll start gathering your feedback and making changes in prep for the complete launch of all Co-Op content in a future update—So make sure you let us know what you think! You’ll find plenty of information below around how to get access, where to leave your feedback, and how we plan to follow up.
For now, here’s the TLDR:
- Co-Op begins Preview today with 5 Historical Battles, specifically selected because of how much fun they create as Co-Op scenarios.
- This Preview version of Co-Op will then go Live in our next Update.
- As we gather your feedback and make those changes, we’ll be readying the release of Co-Op Campaign content, which includes 33 Missions selected from across 6 different Campaigns.
Co-Op Content Breakdown:
If you’re curious about exactly which Historical Battle and Campaign Missions you’ll be able to play with friends, we’re providing a full breakdown here:
First up, these are the Co-Op Historical Battles you can play today in PUP:
- Tours
- Hastings
- Honfoglalas
- Kurikara
- Bapheus
Then, as we work with your feedback, we’ll be fully launching Co-Op in a future update including all of the following Co-Op Campaign content:
Saladin
- An Arabian Knight
- Lord of Arabia
- The Horns of Hattin
- The Siege of Jerusalem
- Jihad!
- The Lion and the Demon
Attila the Hun
- The Scourge of God
- The Great Ride
- The Walls of Constantinople
- A Barbarian Betrothal
- The Battle of the Catalaunian Fields
- The Fall of Rome
Alaric
- The Battle of the Frigidus
- Razing Hellas
- The Belly of the Beast
- The Giant Falls
- A Kingdom of our Own
Tariq ibn Ziyad
- The Battle of Guadalete
- Consolidation and Subjugation
- Divide and Conquer
- Crossing the Pyrenees
- Razzia
Suyavarman I
- Usurpation
- Quelling the Rebellion
- A Dangerous Mission
- Challenging a Thalassocracy
- Nirvanapada
Tamerlane
- Amir of Transoxiana
- Gurkhan of Persia
- Harbinger of Destruction
- Sultan of Hindustan
- Scourge of the Levant
- A Titan Amongst Mortals
Preview Version:
You can access Co-Op through PUP (Public Update Preview) on Steam. To access the build:
- Locate Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition in your Steam Games Library. Right-click the game title and select Properties at the bottom of the menu.
- In the window that appears, select the BETAS tab on the left.
- You’ll then be on the BETAS tab, and you’ll see a dropdown labeled “Select the beta you would like to opt into” – you should see an item labeled “pup_june – Public Update Preview – June” and you’ll want to select that.
- Your game will then receive an update, and you can launch the game from there!
- To return to the Live game, simply repeat steps 1-3, and once on the BETAS tab select NONE in the list. Your game will then update back to the Live build.
This puts Co-Op in your hands right now, and we anxiously await your feedback!
Where to Find Co-Op:
You can access Co-Op content from a few different places in the UI:
- There is a Co-Op button in the Main Menu UI.
- From the Main Menu UI, you can also click Single Player -> Campaigns – > Co-Op Campaigns, select your Mission, then invite a friend to join your Co-Op Lobby.
- Alternatively, from the Main Menu UI, you can click Multiplayer -> Host Game -> and create a Co-Op enabled Custom Lobby.
- Finally, from the (Custom) Lobby Browser, you can search for Co-Op Lobbies using the Game Mode filter for “Co-Op Campaign”.
How and Where to Provide Feedback:
While Co-Op is in PUP, you’ll be able to provide feedback in our normal “Public Update Preview – June” Steam forum, located here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/813780/discussions/8/
*NOTICE: you must be logged into Steam to see and contribute to the forums above.
Once Co-Op makes it live in a future update, we’ll provide Co-Op specific forum options where you can leave feedback and let us know what you think!
What to Expect from Co-Op:
Co-Op Historical Battles and Campaigns bring a cooperative Multiplayer experience to the vivid story-driven Campaign content you’ve been playing for so many years, making it feel pretty new and different from how you’ve experienced it all up to this point. We’re genuinely thrilled to see how you like it, and also use your feedback to improve what’s there before releasing all of the remaining content that’s waiting for you!
You can expect all the same Campaign quality you know, and you get to bring a friend:
- Story-driven historical narratives and objectives.
- That same Age of Empires II gameplay you know.
- In-game dialogue (fully voiced in all supported languages).
- Beautifully crafted maps.
- Additionally, all AI players have been updated to now fight against two opponents instead of one. You’ll need to coordinate to conquer!
Good luck!
—The Age of Empires Team