Age of Empires IV - Patch 16.2 Notes (18th June 2026)

Patch 16.2.10884 landed today with a small but practical quality-of-life update. The headline feature is simple: you can now toggle between controller UI and keyboard-and-mouse layouts on handheld devices like the Steam Deck and ROG Ally. Last patch introduced controller support across the board, but players immediately asked for the option to switch back to the traditional interface without leaving the game. Relic listened.

Beyond the UI flexibility, this is mostly a bugfix pass. There's a fix for the Crucible Perk notification spam, and more importantly, a correction for Armored Caravans and Medical Centers that were letting players research them repeatedly, the kind of exploit that breaks economy balance fast. City Planning also had a case where it simply wouldn't apply in certain situations, which is now sorted.

With Raiders of the North officially announced earlier this month, this feels like housekeeping before the next major push. Check the full notes below for the complete list of fixes and known issues being tracked.

Happy June! We hope everyone is looking forward to Raiders of the North, which was officially announced earlier this month and we can’t wait to tell you more about it in the months to come! In the meantime, we’re following up on our last patch with a few small changes based on your feedback, including enabling the option to switch between the Controller and Keyboard and Mouse (KBM) user interfaces on handheld devices.

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Thanks again to our amazing community members, all of whom have helped to make Age of Empires what it is today!

—The Age of Empires Team

Please Note: As part of updating to this latest build, any saved games and observable matches made on previous builds will be unable to be loaded or replayed.

      ◆Patch 16.2.10884◆

In our last patch (16.2.10604), we introduced controller support on PC as well as the controller UI for handheld devices like the ROG XBOX Ally and Steam Deck. Since then, we’ve heard from many of you that you’d like to be able to return to the KBM user interface or switch between the two with more ease. Starting today, you’ll be able to select between the two UIs in the in-game options menu on handheld.

General Bugfixes

Fixed an issue where the Crucible Perk point maximum message was displayed in error.

Fixed an issue that allowed the Armored Caravans and Medical Centers technologies to be researched multiple times.
Fixed an issue that caused the City Planning technology to not be applied in some cases.

Investigation

Your reports continue being crucial to our prioritization and implementation of fixes and features in the game. Keep them coming!

For other known issues, please visit this page to see what’s being tracked!

:alertalert: DISCLAIMER
This list is subject to change and should not be considered a comprehensive list of all the known issues we’re tracking. The above is to inform you of the team’s current priorities, which will change as other issues arise or take precedence.

Age of Empires IV medieval castle and armies in battle formation

Patch Notes