Age of Empires IV stress test adds Indian server, here is how to participate for free

Age of Empires IV (Image by Xbox)
Age of Empires IV (Image by Xbox)

Age of Empires IV, the latest addition to Microsoft’s decades-old real-time strategy franchise.

Age of Empires is often considered to be one of the pioneers of the real-time strategy genre. The game lets players build civilizations through different time periods of history. Quite recently, the trilogy received a remaster treatment in the form of Definitive editions. Xbox has also developed new content for both AoE II DE and AoE III DE.

Age of Empires IV takes the franchise back to its Middle Age era, made famous by AoE II.

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How to participate in Age of Empires IV Technical Stress Test

Age of Empires IV is one of the most eagerly-awaited strategy games of 2021. While the previous alpha was behind closed doors and under NDA, Xbox and World’s Edge are inviting everyone to jump on board with the technical stress test.

This test is aimed at fully testing the servers before launch as well as checking the minimum system requirements. It is absolutely free, and anyone can apply for it. Here is how to do it:

On Microsoft Store

  1. Install Xbox Insider Hub from Microsoft Store.
  2. Sign in and launch the Xbox Insider Hub on your PC
  3. Navigate to Previews > Age of Empires IV Technical Stress Test
  4. Select Join
  5. The player will then be directed to the Microsoft Store to download and install

On Steam

  1. Sign in and launch Steam
  2. Search for Age of Empires IV
  3. Scroll down the store page to the Join the Ages of Empires IV Technical Stress Test section and click Request Access
  4. Steam will indicate the next steps in the pop-up to follow
  5. The game will be available to install from the library.

Age of Empires IV includes Indian server

One of the major campaigns in the Age of Empires IV is going to be the Delhi Sultanate civilization. However, that is not the only thing Indian fans are happy about.

When it comes to India, Xbox is known to be a bit hands-off, especially in comparison to its competitor, Sony’s PlayStation brand. As such, the inclusion of a dedicated Indian server is a major deal.


Age of Empires IV System Requirements

Other than the server Test, one of the other main reasons Xbox lists is testing optimization for low-end hardware and encouraging fans to test the game's limit.

That being said, the system requirements for Age of Empires IV are as follows,

General Requirements:

  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 10 64bit
  • DirectX: Version 12
  • Storage: 50 GB available space

Minimum Requirements:

  • Processor: Intel Core i5-6300U or AMD Ryzen 5 2400G
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Intel HD 520 or AMD Radeon RX Vega 11

Recommended Requirements:

  • Processor: 3.6 GHz 6-core (Intel i5) or AMD Ryzen 5 1600
  • Memory: 16 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 970 GPU or AMD Radeon RX 570 GPU with 4GB of VRAM

Age of Empires IV is all set to be released on October 28, 2021, for Windows 10 PC via the Microsoft Store and Steam.

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