Age Of Empires 4 Difficulty Differences: Which Level To Choose?

Which Difficulty should you choose in Age of Empires IV? Here are the difficulty differences & our recommendation for your choice of setting.

There are 4 difficulty levels in Age Of Empires 4 – Story mode, Easy mode, Intermediate mode and Hard mode. Although the names are self explanatory, in this guide we will dive a bit deeper into what exactly you can expect in the different settings. Check out all Age Of Empires 4 difficulty differences and which one you should choose based on your prior experience in the genre.

Age Of Empires 4 Difficulty Levels – Which Setting Should you Choose?

Here’s an overview of the difficulty levels in AoE 4’s campaign.

which aoe4 difficulty should i choose

  • Story mode – In this setting, you can experience history through the game without having a challenge. So, the attacks will be lighter and the enemy won’t be a huge danger to you. Expect lower damage and easier wins.
  • Easy mode – A notch up from the story mode, this setting will provide a higher challenge because the enemy will probe your defenses. They will mount single attacks and the damage will be more.
  • Intermediate mode – This gives players a strategic challenge where the enemy AI is much more relentless and attacks simultaneously. If you want to know how the devs want you to play, this is it.
  • Hard mode – This mode will test all your skills in the RTS genre. The enemy AI goes on war footing and is pretty ruthless. Any mistake you make or any weakness you show will be exploited. You need to be one step ahead of the enemy to win and that’s where the whole challenge will intensify. The enemies reach higher ages faster, collect resources faster and have better attack tactics that will test your limits.

Which AoE 4 Difficulty Should I Choose?

Based on your previous experience of Age of Empires games or even real-time strategy genre in general, you can pick the challenge you want.

  • If you have played AoE 1, 2, 3 or all of them, choose Intermediate.
  • If you want to progress in the game with a slight challenge, choose Easy.
  • Players who are masters of the RTS genre and know AoE like the back of their hand, choose Hard.
  • Lastly, if it’s your first time trying out a game like this or you simply want to breeze through the campaign without much frustration or challenge, choose Story.

How to Change Difficulty Settings?

aoe 4 settings

You can easily change the difficulty by heading into the Settings > Game > General > Campaign Difficulty. Click on Save and you are good to go.

This concludes our guide on the Age Of Empires 4 difficulty differences and which setting you should choose. Don’t forget to check out our Age of Empires IV guides that will surely help you along the way.