Age of Empires IV: Yue Fei's Legacy launches with Jin Dynasty and 8-mission campaign

Age of Empires IV: Yue Fei's Legacy launched on May 7 across Xbox Series X/S, PC via Steam and the Microsoft Store, and PS5. The expansion adds an eight-mission campaign, a brand new playable civilization, four new multiplayer maps, and two new biomes in one of the larger single-drop content packages World's Edge has shipped since the game's 2021 release. It is included for Game Pass subscribers on PC and Xbox at no additional cost and costs $14.99 for everyone else.

The campaign follows General Yue Fei and fellow commander Han Shizhong as they fight to protect a young Song prince from Jin Dynasty forces after the northern Chinese heartland falls. The eight scenarios move through military engagements and political intrigue at the imperial court, which World's Edge describes as equally dangerous to the player as the battlefield itself. Yue Fei is one of the most celebrated military figures in Chinese history, known for his role during the Song-Jin Wars of the 12th century before his execution at the hands of corrupt court officials, making the "betrayal" angle of the campaign historically grounded rather than invented.

The Jin Dynasty civilization

While the campaign is played from the Song Dynasty's perspective, the expansion's multiplayer addition is the Jin Dynasty, which joins the full civilization roster for skirmish, ranked, and Crucible modes. The Jin are built around three core pillars. Horse grasslands synergise with stables to accelerate cavalry production. Emissaries travel to neutral settlements and establish Tributaries that feed a steady supply of food and military advantages. A late-game gunpowder phase turns the endgame into a siege assault of fire and smoke.

Four unique units define the Jin's military. The Iron Pagoda is a heavy cavalry shock unit. Mounted grenadiers pair horseback mobility with explosive area attacks. Eruptors are close-range gunpowder infantry with a scatter-blast hand cannon. Bed crossbows handle long-range suppression. Mounted villagers allow the Jin to gather exposed resources quickly without overextending the economy. The civilization has its own masteries track, its own ranked reward structure, and bespoke music composed specifically for this expansion.

Maps, biomes, and ranked season

Four new maps ship alongside the expansion. The maps introduce two new biomes, Yellow River and Madagascar, adding windswept grasslands, lush river valleys, and freezing desert plateaus. The Summer Ranked Season also kicked off on May 7 alongside the expansion, replacing the previous seasonal structure with a new four-season annual calendar. Each season now runs three months, with the first season starting early to align with the expansion launch.

Age of Empires IV was originally developed by Relic Entertainment and has been supported by World's Edge since launch. The base game holds an 81 on Metacritic. Early Steam reviews for Yue Fei's Legacy are mixed at launch, with 51% positive from 170 reviews, with community discussion centered on the expansion's price and scope relative to previous DLC drops. World's Edge has confirmed additional content for Age of Empires IV later in 2026 as part of an ongoing roadmap.

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