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Hello, Age fans!
We are excited to announce that the second Public Update Preview (PUP) for Age of Empires IV launches today, June 7th and is currently planned to run through June 20th! Owners of Age of Empires IV on Steam will be among the first to have access to many exciting changes we have planned for the Season Two update.
PUP sessions not only present a sneak peek to owners of the game but also provide an opportunity for passionate players to step up, give feedback, and help us identify potential issues ahead of our major updates. Builds will generally contain new features, content, or bug fixes with this particular preview providing a look at what’s coming to the game in our Season Two update.
Among the future content available during this PUP is an experimental new camera angle and zoom option, called the “Panoramic” option. We will be watching your feedback closely to determine how, when, and where to best introduce it into the game. In addition to the experimental camera/zoom option, you’ll also be able to try out other exciting changes and quality of life improvements like:
- Player Color Picker – Based on player feedback, we’re introducing the Player Color Picker. This will allow players to choose a color or have a color randomly assigned at the start of the match.
- Map Preference System – For some time, we have heard community requests for a way to give players a say over the maps they play in Quick Match and Ranked multiplayer matches. With this update, we are adding our first version of a Map Preference System that will give you influence over the maps that you will encounter in ladder play.
- Balance changes
- …and more!
Check out the Release Notes to read up on some of the available content and exciting changes. ⚠️You will need to be logged in with a Steam account that owns Age of Empires IV to view. ⚠️ These Release Notes are located in the same forum where you will leave any feedback or report bugs during this Public Update Preview session. Please note that we’ll also share a link to a survey later on, requesting some specific feedback.
To get started with the PUP build, owners on Steam can download the Age IV PUP by following the instructions below:
- Navigate to your Steam library and right click on Age of Empires IV
- Select “Properties…” at the bottom of the menu
- Select the “BETAS” tab on the left
- In the “Select the beta…” dropdown menu, select “future_live”
- The build will begin downloading—once complete, you are ready to play!
- Please note that during the PUP, you will be required to launch the Content Editor from the Age of Empires IV section of your Steam Library as well. More information here.
Please note that replays in the PUP build are not compatible with the retail version. Players in the PUP version will only be able to match with those also on the PUP build. To revert back to retail, simply change your beta branch (step 4 above) back to “None.”
Join us – we’re excited to hear what you think!