Age Of Empires III Definitive Edition Takes A Page Out Of Forza's Book With Mexico DLC

Microsoft has surprised a lot of Age of Empires fans with the announcement of new DLC for Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition. While the DLC itself isn't a shock, it is a bit surprising to hear that Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition is getting DLC so soon after the release of Age of Empires IV. In any case, this DLC will be taking us to Mexico, so if you didn't get your fill with Forza Horizon 5, you'll soon be able to get even more Mexico in Age of Empires III.

As far as DLC goes, this one seems pretty straightforward. Not only does the campaign add the Mexican civilization to the game, but it adds three new historical battles as well. In a blog post to the Age of Empires website, Microsoft says Mexico is "the most strategically diverse civilization yet." Apparently, the civilization's strategic diversity comes from the fact that it can choose to revolt rather than clicking up to the next age, be it the Fortress, Industrial, or Imperial eras.

Microsoft says that revolution "offers you a whole new deck full of opportunities," but it's not clear what those opportunities are. Mexico can also opt to reverse its revolts while keeping the benefits of cards that were sent during the revolution. It sounds like there's a lot to the Mexico civilization, so it might take some time for it to settle into the meta. You can check out the video above for more on the Mexico civilization, including details on their unique units and buildings.

As far as those new historical battles are concerned, the first will be called "Grito de Dolores" and will explore the fallout from the Bourbon Reforms. The second battle will be available to all who own the United States Civilization DLC and will center on "The Burning of USS Philadelphia. Finally, the third historical battle, "The Battle of Queenston Heights," will be available to everyone who owns both the United States and Mexico DLCs, which will both be available in a bundle. On its own, the Mexico Civilization DLC will run $5.99 and release on December 1st.

The timing of this new DLC definitely caught some Age of Empires players off guard, as Age of Empires IV launched just about a month ago. While some of us probably assumed that Microsoft would focus its efforts on supporting Age of Empires IV, it now seems the plan is to continue supporting the various Age of Empires Definitive Editions as well.

Of course, that makes some degree of sense when you consider that there's a very healthy esports scene surrounding Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. The original Age of Empires and Age of Empires III never quite took off on the competitive front in the same way that Age of Empires II has, so it's nice to see Microsoft shipping new content for Age of Empire III: Definitive Edition despite its smaller pro scene.

While Microsoft has already outlined plans for future Age of Empires IV updates, it seems that we'll keep getting new content for the existing Definitive Editions too. For now, look for the Mexico civilization launch of Age of Empires III: Definitive Edition on December 1st.