Age of Empires IV beta begins this week

Finally! A new age is upon us. Windows 11 is not the only product Microsoft is launching later this year. The company is also hard at work on Age of Empires IV, the newest entry in the iconic RTS series.

The game marches onto PC on October 18.

But before that happens, a closed beta will be held to fine tune the systems, balance gameplay, and hunt down bugs. The event is set to kick off this Thursday, and Age Insiders will get a chance to get their hands on the game and see what it is really like.

Well, this is what it looked like some three months ago:

Since then, the developers have been slowly refining and polishing the game as it nears launch. One beat they seemed to have missed is community interaction, as there is a lot of details under wraps as of this writing.

Hopefully, this soon changes, and more information gets to be revealed.

Canadian developer Relic Entertainment promises that testers will be able to try out a solid array of content. These include four civilizations, multiplayer against AI and other players, and more. The beta will also include the tutorial mission that will teach players building, economics, and combat mechanics.

The closed beta gets underway on August 5, and is set to run until August 16.

Age of Empires IV will be offered both on Steam and the Microsoft Store.