World's Edge and Forgotten Empires rebuilt the 2002 Ensemble Studios strategy game and shipped it on 4 September 2024, keeping the Greek, Egyptian, Norse and Atlantean pantheons and rewriting the parts that had aged badly. The largest change is that god powers are no longer single use: the first cast is free and every reuse costs favor on a ramping scale, so Bolt at 75 favor becomes a tool rather than a one time trick. Freyr joined the Norse as a fourth major god, and the Immortal Pillars expansion on 4 March 2025 added the Chinese pantheon with Fuxi, Nuwa and Shennong plus a nine level campaign called Pillars of the Gods. Each pantheon generates favor by a completely different method, which is what makes the matchups feel unlike any other real time strategy game.
Starting Age of Mythology: Retold can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.
What Kind of Game Is This?
Age of Mythology: Retold is a strategy game built around Reusable god powers with ramping favor costs and Five pantheons with separate favor economies. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Build
| Build | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Greek | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Egyptian | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Norse | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Atlantean | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Chinese | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
Our recommendation: Start with Egyptian. It offers the most forgiving experience while teaching core mechanics.
Avoid Chinese as your first pick. It requires deep knowledge of game systems to use effectively. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn Reusable god powers with ramping favor costs
The first cast of any god power is free. The second costs a fixed base reuse price, and every cast after that adds an incremental amount on top, with a cooldown between uses. Zeus's Bolt sits at a 75 favor reuse cost and instantly kills any single unit except ox carts and transport ships.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how Reusable god powers with ramping favor costs works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.
Step 2: Head to Anatolia
A cold desert crisscrossed by mountains with oceans along its sides. There is some fishing but not much, and the mountain ranges break the map into corridors, so army positioning matters more here than on open maps and walls pay for themselves early.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for Medusa: it's the most accessible early upgrade. Hera's Mythic Age myth unit, and one of the few units in the game that removes an enemy outright rather than damaging it, by turning it to stone. That makes her value depend entirely on what she is looking at, and one Medusa in a large battle is worth more than her cost suggests.
Step 4: Understand Five pantheons with separate favor economies
Greeks send villagers to pray at the Temple, Egyptians build up to five Monuments and reach 28.6 favor per minute with all five standing, Norse earn favor by dealing damage to units and buildings with each unit capped by a lifetime bounty, Atlantean Oracles produce 0.08 favor per second while standing still, and Chinese generate it through Favored Land, an aura projected by buildings that pays more the more continuous ground it covers.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to Midgard
A snowy continent surrounded on all sides by sea, with little hunting on land and plenty of fish in the water. That imbalance pushes almost every civilisation toward a dock early, and it rewards Norse and Greek players who can protect a fishing line from raids.
Essential Mechanics Explained
Reusable god powers with ramping favor costs
The first cast of any god power is free. The second costs a fixed base reuse price, and every cast after that adds an incremental amount on top, with a cooldown between uses. Zeus's Bolt sits at a 75 favor reuse cost and instantly kills any single unit except ox carts and transport ships.
Five pantheons with separate favor economies
Greeks send villagers to pray at the Temple, Egyptians build up to five Monuments and reach 28.6 favor per minute with all five standing, Norse earn favor by dealing damage to units and buildings with each unit capped by a lifetime bounty, Atlantean Oracles produce 0.08 favor per second while standing still, and Chinese generate it through Favored Land, an aura projected by buildings that pays more the more continuous ground it covers.
Minor god picks at every age up
Advancing to Classical, Heroic and Mythic ages means choosing one minor god from a pair, and that choice decides your myth unit, your technologies and a second god power. Freyr has three exclusive minor gods of his own: Ullr at Classical, Aegir at Heroic and Vidar at Mythic.
Myth units countered by heroes
Myth units beat regular soldiers badly and heroes beat myth units badly, which is the triangle the whole game runs on. Greeks buy discrete named heroes, Egyptians use Pharaohs and Priests, Norse promote Hersir, and Atlanteans promote ordinary units into heroes instead of training separate ones.
Titan Gate and the Mythic Age endgame
Building a Titan Gate in the Mythic Age and filling it releases a Titan, a single unit large enough to change a stalled game on its own. It is slow and expensive, so it functions as a threat that forces the opponent to act rather than a reliable win button.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Treating god powers as single use out of habit from the 2002 game, which leaves free casts unspent through the entire Archaic Age
2. Playing every pantheon with the same build order
Greek favor uses villagers and Egyptian favor uses buildings, so copying a Greek opening onto Egypt wastes the one advantage Egypt has.
3. Massing myth units with no heroes in support, then losing the whole group to an opponent who bought three heroes and nothing else
4. Moving Atlantean Oracles around the map for vision without noticing that favor generation stops the moment they start walking
5. Scattering Chinese buildings evenly across a base, which breaks Favored Land into disconnected patches and slows favor to a crawl
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand Reusable god powers with ramping favor costs and Five pantheons with separate favor economies
- Choose Egyptian as starting build
- Clear Anatolia main content
- Acquire Medusa or equivalent upgrade
- Reach Midgard
- Cast every god power once as early as it is useful. The first use of any power is free, and holding it back the way you did in the 2002 original just wastes it.
- Learn your pantheon's favor engine before anything else. Greek favor competes with food because it uses villagers, Egyptian favor does not, and that single difference changes every build order.
Tips for New Players
- Cast every god power once as early as it is useful. The first use of any power is free, and holding it back the way you did in the 2002 original just wastes it.
- Learn your pantheon's favor engine before anything else. Greek favor competes with food because it uses villagers, Egyptian favor does not, and that single difference changes every build order.
- Egyptians should have all five Monuments standing before the Heroic Age. All five together produce 28.6 favor per minute, and each one you skip is a myth unit you never make.
- Atlantean Oracles only produce favor while stationary, at 0.08 per second each. An Oracle you keep scouting with is an Oracle that is paying you nothing.
- Norse units have a lifetime favor bounty cap. A veteran army that has been fighting all game eventually stops generating favor, so replacing units is an economic decision as well as a military one.
- Chinese Favored Land pays more for continuous coverage than for total building count. Pack buildings so their auras touch instead of spreading them across the map.
- Bolt costs 75 favor to reuse and kills any single unit except ox carts and transport ships. It is the cleanest answer to an enemy Titan escort or a hero you cannot catch.
- Heroes are the only clean counter to myth units. Losing your last hero to a stray god power usually costs more than losing the twenty soldiers standing next to him.
- Freyr plays defensively rather than aggressively, and his exclusive minor gods are Ullr at Classical, Aegir at Heroic and Vidar at Mythic. Aegir specifically improves myth units and siege weapons.
- The Titan Gate is a threat, not a plan. Starting one tells the opponent exactly what you are doing, so build it when you can defend the site rather than when you are already behind.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many civilisations does Retold have?
Five. Greek, Egyptian, Norse and Atlantean shipped with the game on 4 September 2024, and the Chinese arrived with the Immortal Pillars expansion on 4 March 2025 alongside Fuxi, Nuwa, Shennong and the nine level Pillars of the Gods campaign.
Are god powers still one use only?
No, and this is the biggest change from the original. The first cast is free, the second costs a fixed base reuse price in favor, and each subsequent cast adds a ramping amount on top, with a cooldown in between. Zeus's Bolt, for example, has a 75 favor reuse cost.
Which civilisation is easiest to start with?
Greek. Villagers praying at a Temple is the most legible favor system, the hero units are named and obvious, and the unit roster maps closely onto standard real time strategy expectations. Norse is the hardest early on, because favor only arrives while you are actively fighting.
How do the Chinese generate favor?
Through Favored Land. Every building projects an aura, and favor accrues faster the more continuous territory those auras cover. It rewards tight, deliberate base layout in a way no other pantheon does, since two clusters of buildings pay less than the same buildings joined into one area.
Is Freyr worth buying?
He is the fourth Norse major god and plays defensively and technologically rather than aggressively, which is unusual for Norse. His god power Gullinbursti summons a giant golden boar to defend a Town Center, and he has three exclusive minor gods in Ullr, Aegir and Vidar.
More Age of Mythology: Retold Guides
- Age of Mythology: Retold Age of Mythology: Retold Overview
- Age of Mythology: Retold Best Builds
- Age of Mythology: Retold Tier List
- Age of Mythology: Retold Walkthrough
- Age of Mythology: Retold Tips & Tricks
- Age of Mythology: Retold Weapons Guide
- Age of Mythology: Retold Combat Guide
- Age of Mythology: Retold Boss Guide
- Age of Mythology: Retold Maps & Locations
- Age of Mythology: Retold Crafting Guide
- Age of Mythology: Retold Classes & Characters
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