Age of Empires III

The next major installment from Ensemble Studios, Age of Empires III continues the Age of Empires franchise in the 1500–1850 era, following Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings. You play as a European power driven to explore, colonize, and conquer North and South America while building a growing empire. Age of Empires III adds major new gameplay features, including the Home City system and an enhanced combat model, alongside new civilizations, random maps, and a distinctive single-player campaign. It also features striking visuals powered by a revolutionary graphics engine designed to push PC graphics technology.

The story-driven campaign is made up of connected scenarios with preset objectives, such as destroying a specific building. In Age of Empires III, the campaign follows the fictional Black family across three Acts, spanning three generations. All three Acts are narrated by Amelia Black (Tasia Valenza). Rather than playing as a standard civilization, you command special civilizations tied to each Act’s characters and era: the Knights of St. John in Act I, John Black’s Mercenaries in Act II, and the United States in Act III. Most player units speak English, with exceptions for unique units such as Spanish Rodeleros and Lancers, or German Uhlans and War Wagons. Act I: Blood In the late 16th century, Morgan Black—a Scottish-born mid-level commander of the Knights of Saint John—defends their last stronghold on Malta against Sahin “The Falcon” of the Ottoman Empire, in a telling of the Great Siege of Malta. After the Turks retreat, Morgan and his superior, Alain Magnan, uncover a stone library describing the Lake of the Moon, the Fountain of Youth (a rumored source of eternal life), and a secret society called the Circle of Ossus that seeks the Fountain for its own gain. Alain orders Morgan to sail to the New World to search for the Lake, but Morgan is attacked by the pirate Elisabet “Lizzie” Ramsey and ends up in the Caribbean. Morgan later re-engages and defeats Lizzie. His men recover navigation charts and sail to New Spain. In Yucatan, Morgan’s forces destroy an Ottoman base, but Spanish conquistador Francisco Juan Delgado de Leon captures Sahin. Morgan then defends his new Aztec allies from the Spanish and discovers that Delgado has been searching for a map to the Lake of the Moon, hidden as a town square mosaic. Morgan sails for Florida, but a hurricane damages his fleet, forcing them to dock in Havana, Cuba. There, he earns Lizzie’s respect and promises her the gold from the Spanish treasure fleet if she takes him to Florida. In Florida, while Alain claims the lake, Morgan and Lizzie seize Spanish treasure ships and capture Sahin, killing Delgado in the process. Sahin tells Morgan he only wanted to prevent the Circle from claiming the Fountain. Alain orders Morgan to execute Sahin, but Sahin and Lizzie convince Morgan that Alain is actually the leader of the Circle of Ossus. At the Lake of the Moon, they capture an enormous stationary cannon called a “Fixed Gun” from the Circle. Using the Fixed Gun, along with Lizzie’s fire ships and Morgan’s ground forces, they hold off the Circle’s elite Boneguard soldiers, kill Alain, and destroy the Fountain. After the battle, Sahin returns to Turkey. Lizzie, having lost her Spanish gold, leaves for the Caribbean, though it is hinted she and Morgan will reunite. Morgan quietly wonders whether they truly found the Fountain of Youth, then refills his empty canteen with water from the lake.