The Jungle Summer Vacation event has officially begun for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition players, inviting them to complete in-game tasks between 10 August and 24 August to unlock a handful of event-exclusive rewards.
Announced on the official Age of Empires website, the event will let players get a hold of profile icons, an Amazon Archer visual replacement for the Arbalester unit, and a new trebuchet projectile.
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
Image Credit: Xbox Game Studios
As an aside, I recently listened to Age of Empires co-creator Bruce Shelley discussing the trebuchet on a 2015 episode of the Designer Notes podcast. Shelley actually came up with the idea to include one in the game.
“It turned out to be a really cool thing,” he says. “The guys did a fantastic job of creating one. It had a great sound, it was a devastating weapon. I’m really proud of the fact that maybe there’s millions of people around the world who now know what a trebuchet is because they played Age.”
Jungle Summer Vacation challenges
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
Image Credit: Xbox Game Studios
Players will have to login to Xbox Live in order to save any of the rewards unlocked during the event, and automatically unlocks the “Swinging Rattan Archer” player icon. The different challenges also have to be unlocked in order, on separate days of the event. These are the challenges, which players can unlock at their leisure:
- Day 1: Play a Skirmish or Multiplayer match on the “Amazon Tunnel” map. Reward: Replaces all birds with Macaws.
- Day 2: Play a Skirmish or Multiplayer match as the Burmese, Khmer, Malay or Vietnamese. Reward: Unlocks the Snake profile icon.
- Day 3: Construct 6 Trebuchets in any one game. Reward: Trebuchet projectiles replaced with Bunches of Bananas.
- Day 4: Reach the Feudal Age in 14 minutes or faster in any one game. Reward: Unlocks the Boar Wearing Sunglasses profile icon.
- Day 5: Play a Skirmish or Multiplayer match as the Aztecs, Incas or Mayans. Reward: Visually replaces the Arbalester with the Amazon Archer.
