What a mess of a DLC, here is my 3K DLC review:

The Good:

The addition of the Jurchen (Jin Dynasty) as a civilisation. This is the only reason I bought the DLC.

The Bad:

The three late antiquity Han Chinese factions (The Shu, Wei and Wu) being placed into the main game and not as a separate grouping like the ancient civilisations have been in the Return to Rome and Chronicles DLCs. These 3K factions do not belong in the base game, being factions and not distinct civilisations and occurred well before the age of empires 2 time period. The fact that they've been put into ranked multiplayer and have hero units, which simply isn't balanced or fair. No new Chinese / east Asian building set.

The Ugly:

The lazy and what seems rushed addition of the Khitians ( Khitanguts ), which are jumbled mess of the Tanguts (Castle visual and Camel unique unit) and the Khitian civilisations. The lack of new voice lines for the Jurchens and the Khitians. No new campaigns for the medieval Chinese, Jurchens, Khitians, Koreans or Japanese (very disappointing) only short 3K faction ones. The claim of 5 new civilisations, when in reality, there is only 2 new civilisations and 3 non medieval Chinese factions.

Conclusion:

I honestly don't recommend this DLC until they move the three kingdoms Han Chinese factions into a different game group. The DLC seems rushed for some reason, where the 3K factions campaigns received the lion share of the work. They really need to fix the Khitian civilisation (e.g a new more fitting castle design and the removal of the camel unique unit) and give the new medieval civilisations relevant voice lines. Lastly they could and should add the Tanguts as a civilisation as they have the unit assets in the game now.

Unfortunately, I have to give this DLC a negative review, because of what it represents and that the community has been yet again ignored. The majority of the playerbase is single-player only, and so my review will mostly reflect that. We DO want new civs. We DO want new campaigns...but not like this. There are, of course, some positives this DLC has to offer, such as some really good campaign scenarios (I base it on watching Ornlu's videos) and 2 brand new civs - Khitans and Jurchens...but that's about it. This DLC instead gives us 3 short lived (they lasted for 60 years at most) states/kingdoms from the ancient China (Shu, Wei, Wu), instead of civilisations, and these civs introduce heroes as trainable units (for ranked matches), as well as some very non-aoe gimmicky bonuses/playstyles (not a single one of these states/kingdoms has the ability to train trebuchets, but they have their own units instead). Additionally, only these 3 states/kingdoms have their own campaign, with Jurchens and Khitans having none - and neither we got new campaigns for already existing civilistions, like Chinese and Koreans. And not just that - even the new campaigns focus on...wizards and sacrifices? Sacrificing a pig to stop a storm? That is some fantasy stuff. In other words - this DLC missed everything it could have missed. First obvious miss, was the Victors and Vanquised DLC - we asked for campaign only DLC, but somehow, the people responsible thought "oh, but the customer does not know what they want, so we will give them something better - long RPG like scenarios, they will surely love those"...yeah, how did it go? And instead of learning from their mistakes, we got the battle of Greece chronicles, which were universally liked... not by me though. Why? Because it was yet another "experiment" unrelated to the nature of AOE - and because this experiment was well-received (which I still do not understand why, given that it was basically a long RPG campaign), we are getting a yet another "experiment" again. One experiment worse than the previous one. Take a few steps back and see how great the first 3 DLCs were (Lords of the West, Dawn of the Dukes, Dynasties of India) - even though Lords of the West had some gimmicky one time techs, (conversion of food to gold, refunding of killed units, paper money for Vietnamese from Rajas), these gimmicks have been mostly fixed (farmers produce gold along with food, hauberk, lumberjacks produce gold along with wood, and even first crusade grants a conversion resistance bonus), and these DLCs have been well received now. Even the Mountain Royals' civs have been well received lately (only the mass bonus for knights and monaspas for Georgians is way too gimmicky, but anyway). But this, this is exactly what is not acceptable. We’ve been begging for 25 years to add campaigns for every single civilisation that does not have one…we did get Persians, Britons, Lithuanians, Incas, Goths, Byzantines (thank you for that! Beautiful!), but we still need Romans, Mayans, Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Vikings, Slavs, Magyars and Turks (no, the last 3 cannot be seriously considered as having their own campaigns, given that Vlad Dracul is a mix with 3 civs and max 2 levels each)., as well as Celts (a 6 level Roman campaigns with 4 Roman, 2 Celt scenarios + Bannockburn to William Wallace sounds fine) - and now, Khitans and Jurchens. I have no issues paying 20 bucks for quality new content, such as 4 new campaigns and 2 new civilisations. But I have issues that the devs pump out nonsensical RPG scenarios (V&V), short-lived states (3 kingdoms), civs added to ranked play with super weird abilities and bonuses (heroes - build limit 1, aura effect, unable to be converted...or bonus that makes units produce food, missing trebuchets...), and civs without new campaigns (Romans, Jurchens, Khitans), while not adding new campaigns for existing civs. We got African kingdoms and Rajas for 10 bucks each, with 4 new civs and 4 new campaigns, each. Then we got the last khans with the DE - 4 civs and 4 campaigns (Pachacuti for Incas was the 4th campaign). Given the inflation and whatnot, it’s ok to pay 15 bucks, or to get 3 campaigns and 2 new civs…after all, what we all want, is for every single civ to have their own campaign where they can be properly showcased. Historical battles, and especially victors and vanquished, are definitely NOT that. So Khitans + Jurchens, as well as their own campaigns + a Chinese and preferably a Korean campaigns, for 20 bucks, would be a fair deal. Khitans, Jurchens, Tanguts + 5 campaigns for 25 bucks would also be cool. But 3 kingdoms are not fine, and neither are Khitans and Tanguts with no added campaign. But...this can still be easily fixed... how? 1) Move the 3 kingdoms and their respective civs into the chronicles. 2) Add a cheap (10-15 USD) DLC that adds Tanguts, and campaigns for Tanguts, Jurchens, Khitans, and Chinese. Then, we can just keep on with this formula - add AOE2 like civilisations, as well as campaigns for those civilisations and existing ones. Examples: A) Add a Medieval transition DLC that adds Vandals, as well as campaigns for Romans (Ambrosius Aurelianus that would transition from Romans to Celts is a great idea..similar to El Cid), Vandals and Vikings. B) Add a Balkan/Muscowy DLC with Wends that would replace Vlad Dracul campaign, as well as campaigns for Turks, Slavs and Magyars. C) Add an east asian DLC with campaigns for Japanese, Koreans, as well as a new civ (Tibetans or something) along with a campaign for that new civ. D) Add an American DLC with a campaign for Mayans, as well as e.g. Tlaxcalans and Zapotecs, with a campaign for each of them, too. E) Go back to Africa and add some new African civs or something.... And only then experiment with Chronicles and unrelated stuff. Going this road, you can never go wrong, and I am sure that the community would mostly agree....but pumping out nonsense like this, is a road to retirement. I understand that this review might be a bit erratic, but I really had to be quick to post it as early as I did :D Hopefully you get the points I made and that you agree with them;)

The Three Kingdoms don't belong in the main game. Also, give Jurchens and Khitans their own campaign and voicelines instead of re-using the Chinese and Mongolian lines.

Very nice Age Of Mythology DLC

The new civs suck. I paid to WIN not to LOSE. Waste of $20.

If I wanted Age of Mythology, I have such game. Active abilities, magical storms?!? damn...this is not feeling like AoE 2 at all, more like AoE 3... -_- Pro: narrative and feeling and pandas are cool. Cons: No campaigns for Khitans, Jurchens and other asia civs we would like to see...Koreans, OG China.. Return of Rome, Chronicles are separated tabs...now 3K among normal campaigns.. Consistency? 3K civs among ranked? Why not Chronicle civs? AoE I civs??? Heroes in ranked?? With activated abilites??? Plus 3K campaigns are again unhistorical, dead people alive, fictional events....

Disgrace to the AoE franchise, this is no Warcraft 3!!! Up until now, I've praised every single DLC, but this is just too much! It's a total mess on so many different levels. I'm sure others will explain in detail why it's so bad, I don't wanna waste another second on this. Don't buy until World's Edge takes accountability and actually listens to fan base. Refunding just now.

Wtf is this?

I can't overstate how bad this DLC is for the game. What were they thinking? It's not just the transparent cashgrab nature of it, or how ridiculous it is to add three political factions of an existing civ that only lasted decades on a timescale that is supposed to encompass centuries, and that those decades were all in the wrong time period. It's not just that the hero units completely ruin team games (and have truly ugly, anti-immersive aura effects). All of that really ruins the experience for me. But the most offensive part of this DLC is how lazy it is. The civ bonuses are mostly re-wordings of bonuses they've used for other civs, and the actually unique ones are often just... ridiculous. Standing army generates food? Really? We're this tapped for ideas? Meanwhile, the Khitans are an unholy matchup of the Khitans and Tanguts, because they couldnt even be bothered to do that right. The 3K "civs" and the Jurchens all use the same basic Chinese voicelines, the Khitans use the Mongol voice lines, and a truly obscene number of civs now use the eastern architecture set. The 3K castle designs are *atrocious* as well! If you're gonna sell out, at least put some effort into doing it. I could at least respect that, even if I hated the anti-historicity of it all. It's so disappointing to see a game I love so fully jump the shark like this. It's like watching Game of Thrones Season 4-5 and realizing that, as bad as these are, it means even worse stuff is coming. Save your money.

you suck at ranked anyway so who cares what civs the bring

Another corporate ploy. This is an abomination of two dlcs merged into one. As Cao Cao said I rather burn the world than let it betray me. We have been betrayed once again by World Clown Studios. First AoE 3 dlc then here again as they have been taking notes. Instead of 5 civs we just get two real new civs and 3 "Chronicle" kingdoms. Even the Khitanguts know no honor. Buy this dlc if you want to be a clown.

A fun DLC! The five new factions each have distinctive playstyles that makes it relatively easy to know what to do, and gives them a strong faction flavour. Shu: Pointyboys in front, Arbalests behind, Trebs in the back. Wei: Horse horse horse horse horse Wu: Early aggression with Jian Swordsmen, with strong navy. Jurchen: EXPLOSIONS Khitan: Heavy Infantry + Camel zerg. Also funni farms. The campaign is pretty fun, it's got the cheesy VA you'd expect from an Age of Empires campaign and the maps themselves are well designed. Every map being full of pandas is a bit weird, but whatever lol. All three campaigns culminate in Chibi, but while the map looks the same its circumstances are very different based on who you play. It also upends much of the story we'd expect in Romance of the Three Kingdoms to give it its own spin - some changes are pretty comic (Zhuge Liang in Wus story is hilarious). If you're reading these reviews you've probably noticed quite a few negative ones all focusing on the same thing: Heroes being available in Skirmish/Online play. There appears to be a genuine fear that this will "Warcraftify" the game - but that couldn't be further from the truth. The heroes are only available in Imperial Age, have no spells or active abilities (just mediocre auras), and cost about 1000res each. They're a novel thing to insert into an already maxed-out army, but do not shape the game around them. Overall it's a fun and worthwhile DLC, and a reasonable entry-point to the world of Three Kingdoms if you're unfamiliar with it.

The hate is justified simply because they are not their own unique civilizations which breaks this games trend. However, the actual DLC itself is high quality.

Easily the worst DLC of AOE2. I strongly dislike many aspects of this DLC: 1. The addition of hero units. 2. The 3 kingdoms civs which are not even real civilizations, but rather short-lived political factions. 3. The total lack of campaign content for Khitans, Jurchens, or even the Chinese. 4. The lack of adding a chinese architecture set, instead re-using the japanese architecture set. I purchased this DLC because I enjoy playing campaign content, but besides campaign content this is a trash-tier DLC and I hope the developers learn their lesson and do better in the future. The devs should avoid adding new civs and stick to campaign only content if this is what they consider acceptable.

This DLC is executed very well: the quality of graphical assets (both those of free update and those of DLC) is incredible and I love it, I enjoyed the campaigns, the decision system introduced and the new civilizations (in particular Khitans, and Jurchens, they feel very unique, even if they have some flaws - I refer to the lack of dubbing and to the elements of Tangut civilization added in the first ones). However, there is a big downfall: the concept. This game has always had one constant since 1999 in designing new civilizations: every civ should be a people; this DLC breaks this law adding three political entities (Shu, Wu and Wei) that break immersion. I did not enjoy that. Plus, the Hero dynamic is totally out of the context: I'm open to experiments, but this feels more appropriate to Age of Mythology and totally unfitting for Age of Empires II. If we had 5 proper civilizations this DLC for its quality, execution and price would have been a must buy, but due to the concept sadly I can't recommend it. I hope that in the future this will be fixed, I'll be glad to rectify this review.

where can i dowload the dlc three kingdoms. fuckkkkk

- Unfinished and lazy content The Jurchens and Khitans are unfinished, with no voice lines, recycled artwork that does not depict them and no campaigns. - Not fun Campaigns are the shortest on record, with the last mission being on the same map for all 3. - Deceptive marketing, not as advertised Marketing clearly showed Tangut units and castle, Tanguts not included. - Devalues the rest of the game/worried about the future The Wu, Shu & Wei do not belong in AoE2. They are short-lived Han Chinese polities, 200 years before the AoE2 time-frame (these are AoE1 civs) and have named heroes in ranked. Even if you do not buy this DLC, you are forced to engage with it. This is devaluing the game for me, and makes me no longer want to support it.

Bought this DLC but it does not show up at the left side of the screen as Return to Roma. I opened the property of this game, this DLC was checked. Anyone has this problem? Thank you.

The content of the Three Kingdom should be added as a new chronicle instead of three independent civilizations in parallel with the others. I don't mind if they remove the three kingdoms from the rank play even if I have spent all the money buying this expensive dlc. As a Chinese player I'm really pissed off to see Cao Cao fighting against Spanish conquistadors, which have a gap of about 1300 years. Khitans and Jurchens are indeed really cool content in this dlc which I like, but this will still be a negative comment to the dlc just because they shouldn't add Three Kingdoms in parallel with other middle-age civs.

Really fun DLC. EVERY civ is fun to play in it's own way. So many new concepts and units to explore, absolutely worth a buy. The majority are just down voting out of spite, don't listen to them.

The DLC that returned me to the game. I think it's really good. Most negative comments are because they think the 3k civs don't fit the game and the heroes that they provide. Mostly people complain because they don't think they fit ranked play too. I think personally it's really good, I just play skirmish battles and occasional multiplayer battles. I find these 3K civs fitting the game perfectly. The complains are targeting a very small thing and make a larger thing of it.

DLC crashes constantly. Error codes say that it's "mods". Quite literally unplayable. Love AoE, but I can't rate a DLC well if I can't play it.

Wow. Just wow. The Khitans have to be the most moronically overpowered civ to be ever concocted. Just game-ruiningly bad. It's gotten to the point where you might as well resign immediately when you encounter this civ. Dev, have you ever heard of balance? Is this just a blatant cash grab? NERF this thing now before you further ruin the game experience. Holy hell, what a farce of a civ this is.

Interesting ideas for campaign choices, but ultimately lazy design.

The amount of negativity around this DLC ist beyond baffling. How dare they try something new? With this kind of attitude we wouldn't have gotten Definitive Edition to begin with and would still be playing barely functioning classic AoE2 on community hosted servers. Heroes finally having actual gameplay impact and not just being there for the memes and dying immediately? Apparantly too much for some people. Bottom line: 5 new civs and 3 new campaigns is pretty good value for me these days. I'm enyoing it bigtime.