Top 5 Custom Campaigns in AoE2: DE (1000th video special!)

[@Hainaut183]

Thank you, everybody, for the kind-hearted comments for Tomislav and Apranik! Glad they still hold up over two years later!

[@NZEddie]

Have you noticed that the relic now disappears with the existence of Pagan shrines and you cant actually collect it? I have also downloaded the patch for it too Aside from that it's a very fun campaign :)

[@ordinaryrat]

Camel Quest > Everything Else

[@Blaserf3supertrap]

@@NZEddieyes did you figure this out??

[@NZEddie]

Yeah I somehow managed to get it to work. I didn't really do anything special either@@Blaserf3supertrap

[@Fenet2000]

Komnenos- The Byzantine Restortion will always be my favorite. I have lost count how often I have played though it, but it was A LOT

[@torri776]

I defeated all enemies on it and even formally ending the Level but couldn't win the scenario, meaning it bugged. It's very creative and fun, but killing Komnenos after I finished the missions would only lose me Vigor (it's been a while since I played it so forgive me). How can I fix this issue?

[@Fenet2000]

@@torri776 I think Filthadelphia already fixed that You finish the mission by researching a "victory tech" now. I had that glitch too several times and usuallly finished with the cheat code in that case

[@daniloalves1139]

I can't do the first ission so hard

[@ordinaryrat]

Camel Quest is superior

[@ShreyasSiddharth]

I played it and it’s just the siege multiplayer challenge scenario already in aie and there u could at least play as the Turks

[@aoefsmrap]

This is the type of content we need. Edit: My favourite (out of those I've played) is the Imjin War, played as Koreans. It's a great campaign, and you get to play as a civ that doesn't have an official campaign.

[@marcuspontius3967]

I wasn't aware there is so much high quality custom campaign/scenario AoE2 content. Really makes me want to play them. Thank you Ornlu for this highlight and shout-out as well as for showcasing a lot of this. There are many multi-player and pvp caster, which is great, but it is also awesome we have you to showcase and highlight this type of aoe content. So happy to have it. And not to forget, thank you a lot, creators of custom scenarios and campaigns. Many thanks to you.

[@cheesewizard3965]

I think the really great thing about Apranik is how it frames each of the unit types you can make as individual people. It’s most apparent in the beginning of the second level, where each of the units you collect while you’re abandoning the city give you their entire motivation for fighting: the pikewomen are fighting for their freedom, the paladins are loyal to their religion, the crossbowmen are vengeful, and so on. It really makes your fighting force feel alive, like you’re leading an army but also a set of friends. If I could change one thing about the campaign, I would have loved to see these personalities have a bit more emphasis somehow. They all seem so interesting but we go so little into the depths of their characters

[@lemontec]

as someone who has never played any custom campaign but played all the official content this is just perfect - thanks!

[@wailrimouche1171]

Alternative title: "Top 5 AoE2 campaigns to watch Ornlu play" and I love it.

[@seltin1988]

love this list! agree with the persian campagin, hope to see more custom campagins from you :)

[@gebhard128]

Definetly agree with the golden horde and rise of tamerlane as well done custom campaigns, my personal favorite is the Dandolo campaign due to its immersive storytelling, variety of gameplay, beautiful maps and the funny and difficult second mission, thank you for this video, keep it up

[@jaggercrue]

Thank you so much for 1k videos of quality content!

[@mryes413]

I like that one campaign where you play as the Mongols, and in the end, you are a monk, and you drive a car into a small village to look at a tomb of a famous Khan.

[@lel2991]

Do you remember the name of the campaign ?

[@mryes413]

@lel2991 I think it was a campaign about Timur and it predates Last Of The Khans.

[@zokora3656]

Huh. Now thats a nice surprise :D Edit: #1 is definetly deserved. An insanely well made and fun campaign. very challenging aswell.

[@snorrijornsen4566]

welp, now I have to check out all your playthroughs of this list's campaigns!

[@marioverde7267]

There are so many great campaigns, I personally have pending a kind of historical campaign/battles of how various armies defeated the Mongol horde, from Mingbornu through Ain Jalut, Kulikova and the Volga Bulgars to Ivan III with the battle of Aleksin but based on the novel "The Precursor" by Igor Loschilov, a long scenario like Ragnar's Saga However, what stops me the most is that I don't know how to program artificial intelligence, or create maps for campaigns.

[@ji6629]

I think there are some campaigns that I would like to add because they are so memorable to me: Ottokar, because of its tragic story. Ulio, because of its unique atmosphere, storytelling, and for nostalgia reasons. Not sure if it is availaible on DE though. And Dandolo, because it has such a unique setting.

[@Imperiused]

Congrats Ornulu. And thank you for all the great videos!

[@Naughtylius]

TBH some kind of tier list for custom campaigns would be awesome, especially because there is a lot of fun campaign which was not even mentioned in this video. It would be good for the new players to have some overview, and maybe an inspiration for others to play campaigns they were not aware of. For me not mentioning about catscientist, Neky or Ilam's campaign is criminal underappreciation

[@bartalist]

I was wondering when Apranik was coming up, very good list, Ornlu!

[@aniruddhbhatkal1834]

CONGRATS ON #1000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@yogarahmatullah1484]

Man these campaign are really good😮. I couldn't believe how good they are. Hopefully i can make campaign as good as them.

[@naturalbornpatriot6369]

Knights of the Round Table is a good one, albeit the longest I’ve spent in a single scenario. I took my time with it, enjoying all it had to offer. The Last Romans is so good as well. Probably my favorite. The last Roman Emperor did not flee to exile, instead of being known as the last emperor to abandon the over 2k year old identity of the Romans, he opted to fight on to the end with his fellow defenders. Would make for a great mini-series.

[@maggagagga]

Thank you for doing this! 🥰

[@Pommes-je]

Crazy, 11:10 this is right now an official szenario in aoe2

[@endlessgalaxyz]

there’s so many campaigns that are so terrible (no offense to the creators) that I haven’t touched custom campaigns. I only like official made. Other wise the ones you showed were actually pretty cool. Gonna check them out tomorrow!

[@styx4990]

This ranking is very helpful to get started in custom campaignes. Great job! And thanks for 1000 videos. You are my favorite AoE channel on youtube

[@filthydelphiacreations1619]

Thank you for the kind words and congrats to Jacqueline and Bassi! Congrats on 1K too!

[@theunknownking5330]

Thank you for all the content you provide. Watching your videos made my gameplay even better with your deeper explainations of certain mechanics. I have become hooked to the custom campaigns and are now doing thoseI see in your videos (currently trying to beat the Isabelle 5 with Columbus)

[@betrerolthorion3897]

Thanks and congrats for the 1000th video - a great one, BTW! :) Congrats also for all the creator on the community for their hard work.

[@DidYaServe]

An interesting idea for a video might be Top 5 Obscure Custom Campaigns. The ones you listed are easy to find if you search campaigns by number of downloads. I'm sure there are plenty of hidden gems way lower down the list. Have you played any?

[@Priogen]

OOH, there are a lot of good obscure custom campaigns that has very few downloads. I played a bunch that translated from Chinese to English, and they all were super fun.

[@DidYaServe]

Nice. Do you recall the names of the campaigns as I could search them?@@Priogen

[@Priogen]

@@DidYaServe Some I really like was Willem Van Oranje, Margraet 1, Dandolo (This one felt a bit bad because you played as the bad guys in history), The Imjin War, Princes of Russia, and Afonso de Albuquerque. There are a bunch more, but I have not played them yet so cannot comments on how good they are.

[@DidYaServe]

Thanks! I'll check them out.@@Priogen

[@rickweijers500]

Congratz! I really enjoy watching the campaigns!

[@NZEddie]

Congrats Ornlu, love the content you put out :) Never heard of these campaigns until now - LOVED Ragnars Saga

[@sirgodua]

If someone wants to go deep down the rabbit hole, I offer my own scenario - Before Attila. Not nearly as good as anything shown/mentioned, but this is a self-shoutout.

[@lorddervish212quinterosara6]

What is it about?

[@sirgodua]

@@lorddervish212quinterosara6 About Huns as they entered Europe before Attila came to power. However, as there were some storytelling liberties taken in the official campaign (not everything really happened during Attila's reign), some events in my scenario loosely resemble/reference what is happening in the first three AoC campaign scenarios. Anyway, my scenario is also not aspiring to be 100% historically accurate. Long story short: Huns, horses, raiding, very little economy with some unique mechanics. If you happen to play it, hope you enjoy :)

[@marioverde7267]

​@@sirgoduaJugué tu escenario y me gustó muchisimo, si bien pude declarar victoria, lo jugué hasta derrotarlos a todos, muy recomendado

[@mrmoba8644]

I miss othman empire and Umayyad caliphate mod when aoe team make?

[@felixcroc]

Thanks for this video! The only ones of these Ive played are KoWA and Golden Horde, I will be sure to check out the others My favourite custom campaign is probably Three Kingdoms III by Filthy, mostly for its replayability, something you dont see a lot in scenarios

[@Joel.C.Holtzman]

100% the best campaign. Can replay the game so many times by choosing a new faction, which each having a drastically different playstyle, civ and wincon. I am surprised he didnt mention it actually.

[@KarlKapo]

Jaqueline should be an official scenario mker. These scenarios are awesome

[@tyranitararmaldo]

12:27 YES! YES! YES! Well earned!

[@satekoi]

Ornlu when arrive next Return of Rome video? Egyptians, and Carthaginians tutorial campaigns has been released.

[@Jsneebs42]

If you enjoy GOT. "A Khaleesi's Journey" is a really good campaign scenario 😊

[@MrZhitbox]

I have been waiting for this video

[@ShreyasSiddharth]

MIHIRA BHOJAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@poklours4257]

Congrats on 1000th! I've already played most of them, but I'm happy to see them here. My only disagreement is that Kings of West Africa felt a bit hit or miss in it's scenarios. And one of my favourites that havn't been mentioned here is Ottokar. As a long time fan of hammister's work, I think it's one of his best, and definitively deserves the recognition.

[@erkocab]

Thanks for doing this much anticipated list. It's hard to argue against the inclusion of any of the campaigns that you listed. I would have selected two other Philthydelphia campaigns: Komnenos- The Byzantine Restoration and Rise of Seljuks, with an honorable mention of any of his Three Kingdoms campaigns. I've replayed these (along with Ragnar's Saga) many times and if that is a measure of a good campaign then these have it. Also, I would mention the Janos Hunyadi campaign for many of its unique features and very challenging scenarios. On a side note, interestingly almost all of the top ten downloaded custom campaigns are those created by Phithydelphia. So it's no surprise that you included several of his campaigns. Finally I always thought the unique units found in Tomislav should have made it into the official canon - especially the trash warship.

[@KroM234]

Even more so than, even thought they're great scenarios, Ragnar's Saga nor Last Romans defense are actual campaigns, but single scenarios. It sounds odd to me that they'd take a slot a short top 5 list specifically made fore campaigns, by definition a following of several scenarios into a coherent ensemble. But well... Calls for more specific reviews of custom content I'd say.

[@erkocab]

@@KroM234 Perhaps a separate category for single scenario campaigns and multi scenario campaigns. Yet Ragnar's Saga, as well as Rise of Seljuks and Komnenos- The Byzantine Restoration, play like multi scenario campaigns since each of those have discreet campaigns or levels. So I can see why they might be included. As for Last Romans, well its one of the toughest scenarios out there, especially on hard, in so far as as far as I know there is no way to "cheese" it. So I can see its inclusion. But in any event I'm grateful to Ornlu for doing such a list. Perhaps it will spur further interest in custom campaigns. Two other great campaigns for Ornlu to try would be Mehmed the Conqueror (Manu_La_Capuche) and Constantinople - The End of the Ancient World (324-627). Both have compelling stories, lots of unique game play and very challenging scenarios. Perhaps if he tried them they might make it onto future lists

[@Teinve]

I think he included too many Philthydelphia campaigns, he should have given more spotlight to the other great campaign creators we have.

[@erkocab]

@@Teinve By the way which campaigns would you have included?

[@gmat4380]

Congrats on 1,000 videos. That's crazy. And I'm one of those that appreciates these recommendations on what custom campaigns to play, thank you.

[@DooblancDuvel]

for me I really love the dubbing in the campaigns. it just doesn't feel right when there's no voice acting

[@briannaherrington949]

This is going to be exciting

[@edmis90]

Are there any Campaigns that are 'funny' to some extent? Are there any campaigns that are extremely chaotic? _(I don't mean it in less the sense of many things happening at the same time and more in the sense of things changing like one player disappearing and another appearing suddenly)_

[@andrewramadhanar]

Have you cover the top 5 official campaign?

[@kakaoscsiga67]

Ornlu! Will you make videos about the new return to rome campaigns?

[@Priogen]

Tomislav and Apranik was amazingly fun to play. Compelling historical stories and great game play!

[@insanelysane1984]

Awesome, please more campaign suggestions! :)

[@wrathfeeling]

A welcome showcase to give a heads up on these well crafted scenario/campaigns. I havent even scratched the surfaces of the plenty much arsenal of designer gifted material out there. Ever since the userpatch was brought into the hands of designers. I am only more mesmerized by the now beauty that is now possible. My cheerful time gazing upon these creations. I am left to think I be swamped in later times too. Even in the current era I am being welcomed by older material by visiting map designer forums. Blacksmiths or the granary. Depending on version of age of empires. Yes, the first intro sparked my interest in the known passion that some roleplaying people lovers have by using the taunts to address conversational options. Instead of older mechanics to change ownership of the person talking, resulting in an appearance of a green ring around the character. I am not so much a fan of the build and destroy genre, yet saw a mix of other task/objectives happening to that divert some attention or give a calmer tone after being hit with a ongoing stream of survival drift. Already to have seen the interest that a dedicated designer had to overthrow much of the graphics and create whatever possible to relive some spicy times with the Doom genre. A person has dedicated some designer passion to get that done. I am not the author of this said creation. However it is finalized by the author in a functioning package. And so, named Age of Doom for who seem curious about it. The intro scene with the town. I had some interest to see what minigames were possible in older version of age of empires the conquerors expansion. And noted that a person was in the list of entries and created that very small map with the building and the puzzle themed scenario. I am just trying to say that the scenario was of interest. Im sure after I get my hands, I too have a passion to stack my scenario folder with heaps of groceries, in this case not edible but useful material to keep me entertained, and learn from the story and such. Oh, and im a fan of diablo too. Which too got some memorable notion. Not in the video here but there seems to be a person Sirak who got a scenario with that kind of things. Everyone has their favorite to choose from :) haha.

[@Soler4485]

There are new campaigns for Rise of Rome

[@Martin_von_Koenigsberg]

for me is the best mechanics found in aegis roman campaign

[@talmagejones]

I'm so psyched to go try all of these

[@rockyagnihotri2646]

Hey! Please, why isn't there any video on Filthydelphia's Way of the Buddha? Can you please make one?

[@AbdulrahmanHammad]

I found Ottokar pretty interesting

[@aussie-b6g]

Is there any coop ones

[@shivanshvashishtha7924]

congrats on 1000. The one campaign that I am liking very much currently is conquerer tales. You should play it next.

[@Soler4485]

There are more "new" campaigns for return of rome and their achievements seem to be broken.

[@brucewayne3472]

No "Adrianople - great battles of late antiquity" or "Constantinople - the end of the ancient world"? You should try them and I'm definitely not saying this because I'm the creator!

[@williamschubert4819]

Congratulations on 1000!

[@zepwafels]

Strong list, I'd add John Hunyadi, Seljuk rise of an empire, and the Three Kingdoms series

[@bartalist]

Hunyadi is so bugged right now though.

[@KroM234]

​@@bartalistyeah but the unstable successive patches made a lot of campaigns borderline unplayable because of the game current state, not the maker. If the maker doesn't check after any new updates, the content will be bugged sadly...

[@BobAlt09]

What kind of controller do you use?

[@AnshumanFotedar]

Apranik has really stuck with me for both interesting gameplay and immersive storytelling. Completely agree with its place on the list.

[@jfdcrhgfe3204]

Is there an ottoman version for the last roman? (we use ottoman)

[@marioverde7267]

Fetih in "Victors & Vamquisheds"

[@Blaserf3supertrap]

I have a question with Tomislav - in the first level when I destroy blues shrine it does not drop a relic…seems like a glitch. anyway around this ??

[@Blaserf3supertrap]

Yes, but the enemies town on the top right has 2 relics. Go that way first

[@MateusVIII]

I just played the Ragner Scenario and holy shit. I spent 8:30 hours on it, no joke

[@jesusrubiomaldonado27]

Ornlu, the Ragnar's saga clip, did Phil update the map?? It looks quite different from the map I have played.

[@zepwafels]

The old one is called Ragnars Raids. Saga is much more expansive, polished and fun.

[@jesusrubiomaldonado27]

@@zepwafels good to know. I'm gonna find and download it . Thank you!

[@zepwafels]

@@jesusrubiomaldonado27 It is probably one of the most fun scenarios in aoe2 hands down, maybe on par with francis drake its just so much fun

[@david_oliveira71]

Downloaded all - thanks a lot!

[@frankieseward8667]

This is exciting. Hope we get more campaigns soon. Also when will the new patch come out? It's bern a while.

[@KroM234]

I'm working on last 5th scenario of Romans Aegidius campaign (I made Alexander Nevski and Mehmed the Conqueror , Manu_La_Capuche). I hope I get more free time to finish it soon :)

[@Jsneebs42]

You really need to try the custom campaign "A Khaleesi's Journey" it's a GOT single player campaign scenario. It's a long one but definitely worth playing

[@michaelbennett9127]

Can someone please tell why the AOE2D2 team don’t care about issues they created and actually correct these issues that were raised (4) years ago. I spent a long time creating a map with triggers, and can only play my map as player 1. This is simply unacceptable.

[@arcanespirit6001]

Bru i just installed aoe 3 free version and i love the graphics even better than aoe 4 just wish that it had aoe 2 like campaign aoe 2 campaigns soo fun

[@mcgJernside]

Bassi is one of my favourite designers of Agearena

[@lorddervish212quinterosara6]

That one Ragnar Saga map looks different from what I played, was the scenario updated or something, perhaps a different one?

[@erkocab]

You might have played the older version, "Ragnar's Raids"

[@DiegoAlanTorres96]

It's possible to download these without owning the game, in case anyone wonders.

[@xxeilonmajorxx]

Great #1 choice

[@ordinaryrat]

Camel Quest is the best by far

[@DetKritiskeArkiv]

Very nice, thank you very much for the recommendations! Are there any good campaigns where you play as China or Japan? I wish a few more of the eastern civilizations were represented other than some missions. I would happily have bought such an expansion.

[@bartalist]

III Kingdoms is pretty good. Otherwise just search around in the Mod section in Aoe

[@poklours4257]

My first thought was Struggle for Japan (by hammister). It's a single scenario, but it's pretty good.

[@人的本质是双标]

The graceful tang dynasty

[@belisarian6429]

Last Romans defense looks interesting, are there any similar missions where you defend large city but for more players? Lets say 2-4 defenders.

[@khad388]

Well, there's Romans vs Barbarians from Spirit of the Law that you could give a try. Basically, its a 2 vs 6 single scenario where you dont just get to defend a city but instead the whole Roman empire from the Barbarians invasions starting around 410AD. You can play in coop as the Western Roman Empire(Romans) along with a friend as the Eastern Roman empire(Byzantines) vs 5 Barbarians tribes and Sassanids Persia. Pretty chalenging i must say.

[@belisarian6429]

@@khad388 Sounds like a good idea, I even found version from some guy for solo or coop (I assume with some changes that make it more AI friendly).

[@ChewingGumFlavor]

Aprainik is really the pinnacle of aoe2 campaigns, custom and official alike.

[@willdbeast1523]

I hope you've got affiliate links so you get a percentage of any profit from the custom campaigns people go and play

[@christopherrossa1619]

DUDE!!!! How is Julius Ceasar Bello Gallica or w/e its called both parts 1 and 2 each like 8 missions each not on here? Its a AOE 2 campaign that uses the NEW roman CIV for aoe 2 and its amazing!!!! you NEED to do a lets play of it!!!

[@KroM234]

He literally did play it

[@christopherrossa1619]

A thats crazy to me that it didn't make this list then. Im downloading each of these as we speak though so I'm grateful he made this list. Just surprised that roman one isn't there.@@KroM234

[@KroM234]

​@@christopherrossa1619I wouldn't rank it in the top 5 personally, mostly because no voice acting, anachronistic setting, and kind of subpar map design/aesthetics, but that's just my view. Would put at least two CatScientist campaigns before, and at least one of my own. But I'm very picky (especially about voice overs, a big con to me when it's absent). We'd need more custom content tier lists by categories (map design, storytelling, gameplay, mechanics, fun, challenge...)

[@MohammadKarimnejad]

I think Isma'il I is also a very well-made scenario. It's not that much known by AOE2 fans but it is enjobale with a very nice story

[@hectoralmagrosanchez9079]

Has anyone here tried reconquista?

[@edmis90]

ohh god yes please! Though, more than likely - this dude will most likely rate higher the campaigns that give him, someone with thousands of hours of gameplay, a challenge; which I hope not.

[@saccaron]

My favourite is Relics of Athalaën. It is simply fantastic...

[@th3oretiker]

Kings of West Africa 1 (Tenkamenin) is unbeatable for me (in moderate difficulty), and I already beat all official campaigns + some custom content. I don't think this is intentional, maybe a later patch messed it up, because now the enemy spams Genitours and later Elite Camel Archers. I've tried it over and over again, it's not fun.

[@chikky98]

No Charles Martel ?

[@TheKobasen]

I still remember back in aokheavengames because I don't have proper internet connection back then I'm always download custom scenario or campaign there, like LOTR scenario and even anime scenario.😂😂😂

[@Jaageful]

Now that there is Romans, There should be Egyptians as well in african scenarios. My favorite custom campaign is Ragnars saga, but all in this video was fun.

[@Jm1991mfc]

Can you get these on xbox ?

[@rockon50381]

Yäääääs!

[@saintpatron8177]

Oh Aparanik is brilliant

[@Matt..S]

The best fanmade "custom" campaign will always be the OG Dracula one. Especially the second scenario with the Risk play style and the time you had to invest into it. Or the last one, never has a map been used so much, completely overharvested of all the resources, just to finish a game.

[@divicospower9112]

Aparnik second for me, the first being Harald Hardrada.

[@Teinve]

I feel I'll probably be downvoted / disliked for this, but oh well. I think you included WAY too many Filthydelphia campaigns. I personally don't find his as good as some others, but I also just think it would have been way better to showcase some of the other many campaign creators we have. Maybe include like 1 Filthydelphia mission, and 1 or both Jacqueline campaigns (since both of those are super stellar). The video currently just feels like "the Filthydelphia and Jacqueline top 5 campaigns" For some alternate ideas, I think Ilam's campaigns are superb, along with Kitty's. Not to mention the new Isabella of Castile campaign that has so many unique parts to it (not including this one was the biggest surprise to me). Just wanted to give my 2 cents as feedback. I like the idea of the video, just felt it could have been better with what it chose to focus on :c

[@vivladi3899]

Honestly I didn’t enjoy the Rise of Tamerlane or The Golden Horde. While there were side objectives, the scenarios were overall so uncomplicated that it ended up feeling like I was replaying the same scenario. They are very straightforward build and destroy scenarios that could have benefited from 3-4 more side quests each

[@mahmoudfawzy60]

Dandolo , Genoa, & Hunyadi are much better than apranik

[@andrejpavlovic478]

Tomislav campaining is pure fiction with zero historical accuracy,croatia didn't exist until 1918 neither did Croats they were Serbs, which means they did not have any king at all.

[@poklours4257]

Isn't this about that guy? : wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomislav_of_Croatia