Age of Empires has announced a partnership with the most popular museum in the world, the Louvre.
It's the museum's "first gaming partnership" in its 232-year history, and it's designed to coincide with a massive Mamluk Sultanate exhibition running from April 30 until July 28 at the Louvre.
The Mamluk Sultanate ran from 1250 until 1517, and the Louvre has compiled 260 works from the Egyptian-Syrian empire for display.
The best way to experience the partnership is, of course, to visit the museum, but not everyone is so lucky. Thankfully, the Age of Empires team is planning a livestream from the museum on June 12, starting at 2 PM ET.
The livestream will be hosted on Twitch by Samuel Etienne, a French streamer, journalist, and radio/TV host. They will be joined by an unnamed Age of Empires developer.
If you can't make the livestream, content from the Louvre will make its way out via the Age of Empires website and corresponding social media channels.
The Age team has also cooked up a new playable Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition Mamluk scenario involving the Battle of Ayn Jalut, created especially for the event. You can download it now straight from the Age of Empires website.
Why choose Age of Empires for this partnership?
Now that this partnership between Age and the Louvre is happening, it only seems natural.
Age of Empires is, after all, the series that spawned a deep interest in ancient and medieval history for countless gamers (myself included) since the original Age game launched in 1997.
Here's what Michael Mann — Head of World's Edge studio, which took over the Age franchise in 2019 — has to say:
World’s Edge is honored to collaborate with Le Louvre. The Age of Empires franchise has been bringing history to life for more than 65 million players around the world for almost 30 years. We’ve always believed in the great potential for our games to spark an interest in history and culture. We often hear of teachers using Age of Empires to teach history to their students and stories from our players about how Age of Empires has driven them to learn more, or even to pursue history academically or as a career. This opportunity to bring the amazing stories of the Mamluks to new audiences through the Louvre’s exhibition is one we’re excited to be a part of. We hope that through the excellent work of the Louvre’s team, the legacy of the Mamluks can be shared around the world, and that people enjoy their stories as they come to life through Age of Empires.
The Mamluks didn't arrive until Age of Empires 2 launched in 1999, but they've been a constant ever since, appearing also in Age of Empires 3 and Age of Empires 4.
In Age 2, the Mameluke is a unique unit tied to the Saracen civilization. I can't count how many times I've decimated the map with a ball of heavy camel cavalry with ranged attack.
It's mentioned on the Age of Empire site that the "depiction of Mameluke units in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is not historically sound, but it represents the unit as its first appeared in the original game."
In Age 3, Mamelukes are available to hire as mercenary heavy cavalry. And in Age 4, the Mamluks (as they're more accurately named) are available via the Sultans Ascend DLC.
If you'd like to know more about the Mamluks, I urge you to take a look at the Louvre's official exhibition guide available for download.
Age of Empires 2's new Ayn Jalut scenario is available now
The Mamluks historically pulled off a major victory against the Mongols in 1260, known as the Battle of Ayn Jalut.
While a similar scenario is also available in Age of Empires 4 via the Sultans Ascend DLC, there's a new take coming to Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition.
It was created by World's Edge Senior Business Manager Ramsey Abdulrahim, who has had a hand in the design of a bunch of other campaigns for the series.
Sorry, Xbox players; it looks like this scenario is only available for PC at this time. The game is available on Game Pass, but you can also grab it for about $12 at CDKeys.
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