Age of Empires IV Open Technical Stress Test This Weekend

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Wololo! A little treat for Age fans as Xbox Game Studios announces an Age of Empires IV technical stress test. Open to all players with little to no barriers to entry, the large-scale event encouraging players to throw-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink at the servers, matchmaking, lobbies and, additional systems runs this weekend. The exact dates are Friday, September 17th, starting from 10 AM PT to Monday, September 20th, at 10 AM PT.

Unlike previous tests, the Age of Empires IV stress test is playable on both the Xbox Insider Hub app and Steam. Steam players can jump over to the AoE IV store page right now to find a new ‘Join the Age of Empires IV Technical Stress Test’ option. Clicking it ensures you’ll get pinged when things kick off this Friday.

The only prerequisite is that players’ PCs meet the minimum requirements. These aren’t too demanding by any stretch of the imagination, opening up the door to a good chunk of players.

Age of Empires IV System Requirements

Minimum Requirements

OS: Windows 10 – 64 bit
Processor: Intel Core i5-6300U or AMD Ryzen 5 2400G
Memory: 8GB
Graphics: Intel HD 520 or AMD Radeon RX Vega 11
DirectX: Version 12

Recommended Requirements

OS: Windows 10 – 64 bit
CPU: 3.6 GHz 6-core (Intel i5) or AMD Ryzen 5 1600
RAM: 16 GB
GPU: Nvidia Geforce 970 GPU or AMD Radeon RX 570 GPU with 4GB of VRAM
VRAM: 4GB
DirectX: Version 12

During the multiplayer-focused AoE 4 stress test, they’ll be five maps and four civilizations to choose from (English, Chinese, Holy Roman Empire, Abbasid Dynasty) along with the game’s Mission Zero tutorial. Multiplayer is the star of the show here, with developer Relic Entertainment aiming to gather data from PvP games across various servers in preparation for launch day.

Publisher Xbox Game Studios currently has Age of Empires IV penciled in for release in a little over a month on October 28, 2021.