Linux Review:

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition

42 Civilizations, 229 Campaign Missions, Singleplayer, Co-Op, Multiplayer, In-Game Editor, Mods, Cross-play...It is good to be the king.

 PROTON TIER: GOLD

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a real-time strategy game featuring numerous civilizations, campaign missions, and multiplayer options.

Status Check Runs via Proton (Gold tier).

TWEAKS & TRICKS

• Problem: A black screen persists for approximately 10 seconds after exiting the game.

• Solution: Switching workspaces sometimes resolves the black screen more quickly.

• Problem: The game launches to a black screen with audio (Enhanced Graphics Pack).

• Solution: Remove movie files from the installation directory.

• Problem: The game only displays a black screen instead of the intro.

• Solution: gamescope --force-grab-cursor -f -W 2560 -H 1440 -r 120 -- %command% SKIPINTRO

• Problem: The game hangs on a black screen upon launch, requiring a single mouse click to proceed.

• Solution: A single left mouse click on the black screen will bring up the menu and start the music.

• Problem: In-game video clips display TV color bars instead of playing correctly.

• Solution: Re-encode the videos with another codec using this command within the game directory: for FMV in $(find -name '*.wmv'); do ffmpeg -i $FMV $FMV.mp4; mv -- $FMV.mp4 $FMV; done

• Problem: Using Proton versions other than 7 requires a restart to a tty shell.

• Solution: Use Proton 7.

• Problem: Launching with Mangohud.

• Solution: gamescope -w 2868 -h 1898 -- gamemoderun mangohud %command%

Verdict Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is a worthwhile purchase for Linux gamers. While some minor issues and specific Proton version preferences exist, they are easily addressed with the provided tweaks. The Gold ProtonDB tier reflects the overall excellent compatibility.