No blood in a medieval game...

[Coach]

Unless I'm missing something, there is no blood, no gore, no dismemberment, no torture, no violence, basically no anything that you would think of when it comes to the dark medieval ages.. Instead when two units clash you see sparkles and stars.

I am VERY confused. I remember playing AoE1 and AoE2 there was violence, blood, gore, there were even dead bodies lying around, blood gushing out, until enough time passed and you would see the body decompose and become skeletons eventually. All these details made the game more realistic, immersive, engaging, real..etc

AoE 4 took a complete other turn.. Sparkles, stars and political correctness all over the place.. I was unable to play long hours, it just kills the immersion.. I mean you send your knight to KILL the enemy peasant, and there is not blood.. This small detail alone made me want to uninstall the game.

[morph113]

Probably to keep the PEGI 12 rating, but that's just a guess. Blood in AOE 2 without mods was barely visible. AoE 4 is much more detailed and blood and dismemberment would most likely have the game at a PEGI 16 rating or something so they probably went with the less violent display.

[lokdimok]

bye bye :)

[Prophet]

political correcntess what now?

[Bellum Canis]

PC on The PC has gone Woke. Will not Purchase !

[Seannach]

The biggest negative for me is that I think the game looks stupid. Who comes to a medieval strategy game like this for cartoonish whimsy? I want gritty realism. I want to question the human condition and realise the horrific potential of our species while I watch the battles play out.

[Inorelin]

Yeah this games art style is what made me not want to buy it actually, it looks horrid even if its a good game

[morph113]

You know it's a great game, when the biggest complaint is that there are a few red pixels missing.

[FloosWorld]

Originally posted by Seannach:

The biggest negative for me is that I think the game looks stupid. Who comes to a medieval strategy game like this for cartoonish whimsy? I want gritty realism. I want to question the human condition and realise the horrific potential of our species while I watch the battles play out.

I play a strategy game for strategy.

[websterhamster]

I was missing this too. I remember in AoE2 you could turn a river ford red with corpses.

[Coach]

Not a single person was able to actually stay on topic (except Morph113) and provide a valid counter argument/reason or any sort of explanation as to why a literal medieval war game, where the battles are the main focus, lacks entirely blood and gore.

Except for the above sarcastic die-hard fans, can anyone else recommend any mods that add immersion through blood & gore?

[FloosWorld]

Originally posted by Coach:

Not a single person was able to actually stay on topic (except Morph113) and provide a valid counter argument/reason or any sort of explanation as to why a literal medieval war game, where the battles are the main focus, lacks entirely blood and gore.

Except for the above sarcastic die-hard fans, can anyone else recommend any mods that add immersion through blood & gore?

Because a Medieval game doesn't actually need blood and gore to be considered one. I literally wasn't aware that there's a rule where such a game needs that?
Medieval 2: Total War doesn't have blood and gore either (unless the flaming arrow animations from Rome were carried over but I'm not too sure), yet it's still a medieval game. It just compensates that with the big scale RTS part.

For sure, I miss it in AoE 4 as well but as said earlier - I play strategy games for strategy and tense battles. In the heat of the moment I rather make up my mind which units to make rather than watching units dying.

And no, there are no mods out there.

Originally posted by morph113:

Probably to keep the PEGI 12 rating, but that's just a guess. Blood in AOE 2 without mods was barely visible. AoE 4 is much more detailed and blood and dismemberment would most likely have the game at a PEGI 16 rating or something so they probably went with the less violent display.

To add to morph: Blood actually was visible in OG AoE 2 as it was part of the dying animation. AoE 2 DE still has blood but it's now rendered differently and is PEGI 12 as well. I guess it depends on how you present it.

AoE 3 DE also has small sprinkles of Blood but is mainly PEGI 16 due to the physics animation when you hit units with cannon balls, something units in AoE 4 won't do. Afaik the sole remotely physics based thing in AoE 4 is buildings collapsing.

[Ragnarr Loðbrók]

Pegi rating and with it the sign that money is more important.
Companies tend to hate everything that is R-rated and beyond because it decreases the potential sales. Having a smaller audience

[󠀱]

Great to hear you are uninstalling this game.

[Shopper_Keeper]

Where the #### are the mods to add it?

[Lepidus Stupidius]

Originally posted by Ragnarr Loðbrók:

Pegi rating and with it the sign that money is more important.
Companies tend to hate everything that is R-rated and beyond because it decreases the potential sales. Having a smaller audience

How is the game being considered accessible to more players a bad thing? There are plenty of gritty, gory games out there. Not every game related to a medieval era has to be so bloody and messy that many people don't want to play the game.