I can understand, because AoE4 campaigns are more like interactive documentaries than fun games. High production value, but quite boring IMO. AoE2 tells history as inaccurate character stories, but they're engaging and memorable. (AoE2 also seems to still have better maintenance than AoE4, even now. There's new campaigns and civs coming soon, and the old campaigns are being reworked with better voice acting and co-op mode. If only they'd stop pulling all the fun out of the main 1v1 online map.)

Even though AoE2 campaigns (and EU3/4 events) are inaccurate retellings, they inspired me to read more about the stories. Carefully considered documentaries never did that.

As a child AoE 2 brought me a deep curiosity to learn about history. The class room style learning was so awkward. I think I did a small scenario about the evolution of a city and did my first if/else on the map editor.

The next thing which upped my will to learn more about history was Wikipedia. Those endless link chains. Did I love that.

>As with any college course, there are some required materials. Prospective students will need to have access to Age of Empires IV on Steam, the Microsoft Store, or with subscriptions to Xbox Game Pass for PC or Ultimate.

But also:

>All players will need to be signed into the game using an Xbox Live account, available for free.