Age of Mythology: Retold - Expansion Pass

I'll be straight with you: I cover shooters, not RTS, but the Aztec mythology angle and the mechanical curveballs inside the Obsidian Mirror expansion pulled me in long enough to form an opinion worth sharing. The Expansion Pass bundles four releases - the New Gods Pack: Demeter for the Greek roster, a cosmetic Ultimate Fan Pack, the Blood and Bones Pack (a visual overhaul exclusive to pass holders), and the main event, Obsidian Mirror. As a value proposition it is front-loaded with fluff, but Obsidian Mirror alone is substantial enough to carry the whole ticket. The Aztec pantheon is built around a resource called Tonalli, a life essence harvested from fallen units on the battlefield. The longer a fight drags on, the more divine fuel you accumulate, and in a pinch you can sacrifice your own villagers to swing momentum - which makes your economy feel permanently on a knife's edge. Three major gods define three very different playstyles: Huitzilopochtli rewards pure aggression and converts sacrifice directly into myth unit spawns, Tezcatlipoca leans into chaos and deception, and Quetzalcoatl suits players who want mobility and control over raw violence. Pair that with Fear and Illusion mechanics that let you disrupt enemy formations without direct combat, plus constructible Smoke Traps and towers built from defeated enemies, and the Aztecs genuinely feel like a different game sitting inside the same engine. The community reaction has been largely positive on the visuals and the thematic distinctiveness - players have called the Aztecs "stunning" - but early feedback flags the economy as underpowered, particularly around Favor generation, and the Smoke Trap mechanic has been criticised as feeling weak in practice at launch. The campaign is a genuine 12-mission effort that crosses continents and follows the divine rivalry between Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca, though the structure is uneven: the opening throws you into a full Age V defence before the tutorial-style second mission explains how to actually play the civilisation. The third act reportedly leans heavily on back-to-back defence missions, which wears thin. It is not as well-constructed as the Heavenly Spear campaign that preceded it. For the base game context: Age of Mythology: Retold launched in September 2024 to a broadly positive reception - around 90% positive on Steam across a meaningful review count - so the foundation this pass sits on is solid. World's Edge has been releasing balance patches alongside the DLC drops, which is the right approach, and the Aztec civ clearly needs tuning to compete at higher skill levels. If you play ranked and care about the meta, check patch notes before committing. If you play for campaign and skirmish variety, the pass delivers a real new pantheon with genuinely novel mechanics and the first Mesoamerican civilisation in franchise history - which is not nothing. The Blood and Bones Pack's dynamic blood system and prismatic myth unit effects are a nice touch if you care about visual feedback during fights, but they are cosmetic. The Ultimate Fan Pack is pure supporter bait. The Demeter God Pack adds a fourth major god option for Greek players with new myth units and a Mythical Battle scenario, which will matter in multiplayer if you main Greek and want more top-level variety. Fred, Scout Team