Age of Mythology: Retold — Discussing the Reimagining of a Classic with Kristen Hanlon-Parrillo

As the release date for Age of Mythology: Retold draws near, we had the privilege of speaking with Senior Game Designer at World’s Edge, Kristen Hanlon-Parrillo, leading the charge on this eagerly awaited reimagining of the classic strategy game. Set to launch on September 4, 2024, Age of Mythology: Retold is poised to bring the legendary world of gods, monsters, and heroes into the modern era of gaming.

Unlike a typical remaster, Age of Mythology: Retold is a complete remake built on the Bang Engine . This reimagining includes fully redone units and animations, a new symphonic soundtrack, and updated gameplay mechanics. The game retains its beloved Greek, Egyptian, Norse, and Atlantean cultures, allowing players to command mythical creatures and harness the power of gods in epic battles.

Kristen Hanlon-Parrillo, a seasoned veteran in the game design industry, took the time to sit down with CGMagazine to discuss her role at the forefront of this ambitious project. With her extensive background in strategy game development, Kristen has led the team at World’s Edge in creating a game that not only honours the original but also introduces innovative features and breathtaking visuals. In our conversation, she delves into the challenges of reimagining a classic and offers insights into what players can expect from this thrilling new chapter in the Age of Mythology saga.

There’s a lot of nostalgia for Age of Mythology and the series in general. Why now? What was the impetus for bringing this game back for modern audiences?

Kristen Hanlon-Parrillo: There’s a couple of reasons for why now. One is that we’ve been wanting to do this for quite a long time, and we were waiting for the right timing in terms of our product lineup. Another reason is that many of the design changes that define Retold as separate from our other titles involve larger changes to the overall game. These changes probably wouldn’t have been possible with the hardware even five years ago.

For example, our increased population cap, tons of extra new units, God Powers going off simultaneously, and large multiplayer options. Right now is a great time in terms of hardware to realize the vision we had for Retold . Additionally, I feel that the strategy genre is experiencing a bit of a renaissance, so we wanted to tap into the nostalgia and the renewed interest in strategy games to really achieve what we envisioned for Retold .

You mentioned new features you’re adding to Age of Mythology: Retold. Could you go into some of those so we can understand how it has changed?

Kristen Hanlon-Parrillo: At the most obvious level, the thing everyone is going to talk about is the rechargeable god powers. In legacy, you had four god powers in a match, and you could use them once. The selection of god powers depended on your god choice, and Ensemble had many reasons for designing it that way in the original game. But really, if you had multiple god powers going off at once, it could break a computer, making it impossible to have a map-wide effect. That was the big one. It was one of the things we were most excited about. There’s a lot of balance that goes into it, but rechargeable God Powers are there.

Another big change is that previously, favour was capped for each civilization, which meant that the number of myth units or monsters you could create was capped, as well as the population cap, limiting the number of units you could build. When we were looking at the legacy game and observing how people played, we noticed that many players, despite this being Age of Mythology, often didn’t bother making myth units because they cost favour, took up a lot of population, and their god powers could only be used once—or sometimes not at all.

So one of the big changes we’ve made is to alleviate that favour cap and population cap to really maximize the mythology. It’s kind of a cheesy term, but we use it a lot internally, where it’s like, “This is Age of Mythology , so where can we imbue more of it into the gameplay?”

Those are the most noticeable high-level changes. Other unique things we’ve done compared to our other titles include incorporating our AI assist features, like the villager priority system, site commands, and some pathing updates, and implementing them on both PC and Xbox from Day one. That’s a big one. We’re also launching on both platforms simultaneously, which is another significant change we’re bringing to Retold , whereas our other games launched separately.

Many people loved the original version of Age of Mythology : Retold . What would you say to those who might be worried that these changes could alter the overall gameplay or how the core of a match works?

Kristen Hanlon-Parrillo: I’d say the first thing is that our development house, including us, is made up of a lot of die-hard fans. We take our source material very seriously, and often, the community actually works on the game, which is something quite unique to World’s Edge. The way we approached this is that we wanted to create the game you remember playing, not necessarily the exact game you played. There are a few things that are core to Age of Mythology —the actual RPS matchups, the look and feel of the maps, the heroes, even down to the sound effects.

As we’ve developed this, we’ve taken it asset by asset and asked ourselves how integral each element is to what we remember and hold dear in our nostalgia. Overall, as we’ve been playtesting the game, the biggest goal has been to ensure that it still feels like Age of Mythology if it were made today with the hardware we have now. That has been our litmus test the entire time.

I played the original Age of Mythology , so that sounds great. You mentioned developing for PC and Xbox simultaneously. Were there any challenges with that, given that they are very different platforms with different control schemes and potential hardware? How did you ensure that Age of Mythology: Retold felt on par with each other despite the vastly different ways to interact?

Kristen Hanlon-Parrillo: Well, I’d say there are two parts to this. First, anytime you mention a console for an RTS, it gets complicated. This isn’t really a new area—we’ve had Halo Wars and other RTS games on console—but it is inherently complicated. The second part, which is the good part, is that we’ve already had two successful launches of RTS games on console with both Age of Empires II and IV . The even better part is that the folks who worked on those are also helping out on this project. We’ve been able to take a lot of what we learned from those two platforms.

For Age II , as Ernest has mentioned in other interviews, I think there were at least three controller schemes that were completely thrown out before we got to what we have now. So we took a lot of those learnings and borrowed from them. Our console experience is a blend of both games, and it’s something we’re still actively working on. I think that’s the key to the complexity—it’s never really quite finished. As we see more people sitting down and playing with the controller, whether on PC or console, we’re continuously listening and adjusting.

For anyone who might not be familiar with this franchise, do you think there’s enough new or different in this game that people who didn’t play the original digital releases—whether they overlooked it for some reason or weren’t even born yet—might want to give Age of Mythology a look?

Kristen Hanlon-Parrillo: Well, that is our hope. I’d say there are two use cases here that, for me, are the real indicators of success. The first one, I guess, is me projecting because this is my life. I love this game—obviously, it’s a large part of my life. On launch, I want to be able to go to my Discord friends, my gaming group, and have all of us join the game, even if they don’t have strategy experience or have never played it before.

The idea is to meet everyone where they are. Some might use the villager priority system on PC, some might be better at strategy, and others might excel at base building. The game has been designed to offer different entry-level experiences so that we can share that. I want to call it “magic,” but it’s really more of a mythical moment that people had back in the early 2000s when they first played.

When [Age of Mythology] came out, it was incredible. It was such a creative concept, and it was also one of the first 3D RTS games , which blew so many minds. It also has, in my opinion, one of the greatest single-player campaigns. So we hope that the way we’ve designed this can bring in people with different levels of strategy experience.

The other use case, also me projecting as a parent, is to be able to say, “I played this as a kid, and now that I have kids, I want to sit down on the couch and play this together.” That’s one great thing about launching on consoles—you can share more around a larger screen. One of our design goals has always been to introduce people to the game. It’s a great time for this because the RTS genre is experiencing a bit of renewed interest, partly thanks to the quarantine and the pandemic.

How, as a team, do you deal with the fact that on PC, it’s very much a personal experience—you’re sitting there, it’s you doing your thing—whereas a console experience is often more communal, with people watching and wanting to be involved? How do you manage those two different gameplay styles in a game like this?

Kristen Hanlon-Parrillo: That’s a good question because I think I define it a little differently in my head. When I think of sharing gameplay, I actually think about PC streaming and using spectator mode. Regardless of the platform, I believe there’s a large group of RTS players—and I used to be one of them—who find their fun by watching others play. This isn’t just limited to RTS; I’ve seen it in other genres too.

I’m totally one of those people—I love all of our Age of Mythology Twitch streamers . So, to me, it’s really a platform-agnostic thing, and what’s more important is that we offer players ways to view these games communally. Of course, we have our Twitch audience, but we also have a spectator mode that allows people to watch live games or recordings of games. We will always have co-op play, which is very important to us and also quite fun.

We know that many players enjoy skirmish play, often with their own group of friends against AI. It’s one of the most common ways to play, and it can be done cross-platform. So, you can have people at home on their consoles playing alongside those on their PCs in matches we know well. My approach has always been, “If you build it, they will come.” So we’ve focused on creating parity in terms of not only being able to play across platforms but also to view games.

Awesome. That’s everything I have. Is there anything else you’d like to add that I might not have touched on?

Kristen Hanlon-Parrillo: Oh goodness. I haven’t run out of time before, so you’ve caught me off guard. I don’t think I have much to add. Honestly, we’re just really excited. This is one of the most approachable subject matters for an RTS—monsters, gods, mythology. It’s awesome. We’re all so excited to see, on day one, all the different types of players who are going to join in. We’re really hoping we’ve built the game in a way that offers fun for everyone, whether they want to make mods, play a single-player campaign, or jump into skirmish or multiplayer. We’re just really excited.

Thank you so much for your time. I’m excited to play Age of Mythology: Retold myself.