Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition picked up three playable civilizations and a campaign trilogy built around Harald Hardrada with The Viking Sagas, a downloadable expansion that Xbox lists as available now. The pack lands on September 22 for PC, Xbox and PlayStation 5 at once, which keeps a Microsoft-published strategy game shipping new content to Sony's console on day one.
World's Edge, the Microsoft studio behind the Age of Empires series, spells out the contents. According to World's Edge, the expansion adds the Danes, Saxons and Varangians, each with unique units and technologies and a shared architecture set, plus 15 single-player scenarios spread over three campaigns. The studio also says the existing Vikings civilization gets a rework aimed at making it deadlier and more historically grounded.
On paper, the three new factions pull in different directions. The studio pitches the Danes as raiders that strip gold and other resources out of every enemy building they knock down, backed by Villagers and Fishing Ships that bring in food faster. The Saxons are framed as a defensive pick built on fortified towns and infantry raised through the fyrd levy, while the Varangians collect extra gold from trade and lean on cavalry, warships and the Varangian Guard.
That guard is one of three new regional units, alongside a Mounted Crossbowman and a Longship. Players who build their own maps in the Age of Empires II scenario editor also get dozens of new assets, including burned-out buildings for staging the aftermath of a raid.
The new Age of Empires II campaign splits Harald's career into The Exiled Prince, The Hard Ruler and The Last Viking. It moves from the winter battlefields of Scandinavia to Constantinople, where he serves as an elite Varangian, and closes with the invasion of England in 1066.
World's Edge lists Steam, the Microsoft Store, Xbox and the PlayStation Store as the storefronts carrying The Viking Sagas. Neither Xbox nor World's Edge states a price on its release page, so the cost of this Age of Empires II expansion depends on each store's regional listing.
