A respectable port of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition invades macOS

《帝国时代 II：决定版》推出 macOS 移植版，表现可圈可点

Despite all the graphics capabilities of modern Macs, being a Mac gamer is generally a thankless existence. Every once in a while, though, Mac gamers get a bone thrown to them that is substantial enough that they think, for a brief moment, everything might be OK. One such bone has been thrown to us today—Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition just came out on macOS.

尽管现代 Mac 拥有强大的图形处理能力，但作为一名 Mac 游戏玩家，通常是一件吃力不讨好的事情。不过，偶尔也会有一些重磅消息让 Mac 玩家感到一丝慰藉，仿佛一切都在好转。今天，我们就迎来了这样一个好消息——《帝国时代 II：决定版》（Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition）正式登陆 macOS。

The game is available on Steam (those who own the Windows version on Steam automatically get the Mac version) and is planned for a later Mac App Store release. Age of Empires II is arguably one of the greatest strategy games, and unlike too many of its real-time strategy (RTS) peers, it remains quite popular to this day and is still getting updates almost 30 years after its initial release.

该游戏现已在 Steam 上架（已在 Steam 购买 Windows 版本的用户可自动获得 Mac 版本），并计划于稍后在 Mac App Store 发布。《帝国时代 II》可以说是史上最伟大的策略游戏之一，与许多同类即时战略（RTS）游戏不同，它在问世近 30 年后依然广受欢迎，并持续获得更新。

The new Mac release is a port of the Definitive Edition remaster, which arrived in 2019. It comes with the original game’s Age of Kings expansion, plus three of the more recent content packs: Lords of the West, Dynasties of India, and Dawn of the Dukes. (The game’s Microsoft-owned development studio, World’s Edge, has been releasing periodic expansion packs ever since the Definitive Edition release first arrived.) There are many, many other content and DLC packs available for purchase, if the hundred-plus hours in that package isn’t enough, as all the DLC supported on Windows is also supported in the Mac version.

此次 Mac 版本是 2019 年推出的《决定版》重制版的移植作品。它包含了原版游戏的《国王时代》扩展包，以及三个较新的内容包：《西方霸主》、《印度王朝》和《公爵的崛起》。（自《决定版》发布以来，微软旗下的开发工作室 World’s Edge 一直在定期发布扩展包。）如果这上百小时的游戏内容还不够，玩家还可以购买许多其他的 DLC，因为 Windows 版本支持的所有 DLC 在 Mac 版本中也同样适用。

The Definitive Edition has assets and an engine updated for up to 4K resolution, new unit animations, a remastered soundtrack, and a plethora of quality-of-life improvements. This port was made by Feral Interactive, a mainstay of Mac ports perhaps best known for working on Mac versions of the games in the Total War and XCOM series.

《决定版》对资源和引擎进行了升级，支持高达 4K 的分辨率，拥有全新的单位动画、重制的原声带以及大量提升游戏体验的改进。此次移植由 Feral Interactive 负责，该公司是 Mac 移植领域的资深厂商，最著名的作品包括《全面战争》系列和《幽浮》（XCOM）系列的 Mac 版本。

Of course, ports can be hit or miss. I spent about an hour testing it out today on an M1 Max MacBook Pro and didn’t run into any problems. However, there is one huge caveat: The Mac version will not support cross-platform multiplayer with Windows or Xbox players. Granted, many people who have played this game over the years have never touched multiplayer and therefore won’t care, but some of the game’s most hardcore fans will feel that makes this port a non-starter.

当然，移植作品的质量往往参差不齐。我今天在 M1 Max MacBook Pro 上测试了大约一个小时，没有遇到任何问题。然而，有一个巨大的局限性：Mac 版本不支持与 Windows 或 Xbox 玩家进行跨平台联机。诚然，许多多年来一直玩这款游戏的玩家从未接触过多人模式，因此可能并不在意，但对于一些核心粉丝来说，这可能会让他们对该移植版望而却步。

This is not the first time the game has been available on Macs—the original version came out on Mac, too. But the Definitive Edition remaster that led to a major resurgence for the game in recent years hasn’t been available until now. It’s also worth noting that this is the first Microsoft-published game to get a macOS release in half a decade. But since this was done by Feral—a studio that pitches ports to IP owners—rather than in-house, it’s unlikely that this means the gates are opening.

这并不是该游戏首次登陆 Mac 平台——原版游戏也曾推出过 Mac 版。但近年来引领游戏重焕生机的《决定版》重制版直到现在才正式发布。值得注意的是，这是五年来首款由微软发行并登陆 macOS 的游戏。不过，由于这是由 Feral（一家向 IP 所有者推销移植方案的工作室）而非微软内部团队完成的，因此这并不意味着微软将全面开启 Mac 游戏市场的大门。