Star Wars Empire at War is one of the best games to come out of the George Lucas-created universe. At 17 years old, the 4X space RTS remains a classic of the genre. Nevertheless, despite its age, Star Wars Empire at War is still getting regular updates on Steam, and another huge one has just landed. So if you’re looking for some strategy goodness on Steam and don’t mind stepping back in time, one of the best Star Wars games ever made is certainly a good choice.
A series of updates for Star Wars Empire at War have been dropping since 2017, as developer Petroglyph has been working with Lucasfilm Games to keep the RTS game’s active community alive, thankful, and kicking.
“It’s been a while, but we have been working behind the scenes to update Star Wars: Empire at War and Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption to 64-Bit,” Petroglyph writes in a new Steam update from Monday November 20. “This has many benefits, the most important of which will solve any ‘out of memory’ issues you might have been getting on certain machines.
“In addition to this, we’ve made stability improvements to multiplayer and fixed a number of gameplay issues that have been surfaced up to us by members of the community. This includes updating several maps, graphic assets, and core functionality of some of the units used in space and land battles.”
Petroglyph also notes that any 32-bit version saves will not be accessible with the 64-bit update, so if you’re a returning player you’ll want to go to ‘properties,’ then ‘betas,’ then the 32-bit_version on Steam to access them.
“This work has been done with support provided by the outstanding team at Lucasfilm Games. We are profoundly grateful for their unwavering dedication to the game and community. A heartfelt shout-out also goes to the indispensable community leaders whose tireless efforts of reporting bugs, rigorously testing builds, and offering invaluable feedback have truly made a world of difference.”
There are around a whopping 40 bug fixes and 11 mechanical changes, too, showing just how much both the Star Wars Empire at War community and Petroglyph value the game after all this time.
While it got great reviews back in 2006, it’s the ongoing Steam reviews that paint a full picture of player responses to the almost decades-old game. With over 28,000 reviews, Empire at War has a 97% positive rating, giving it the Steam status of ‘overwhelmingly positive’ as of publication.
While you’re diving back into the classic strategy game we’ve got all the best Star Wars Empire at War mods you’ll ever need to really bring the game back to life, alongside the best Star Wars games full stop.
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