I watched the launcher tick toward a new banner and felt my plans compress into a single click. You know that pause—screenshots queued, build orders rehearsed. The next update has a habit of changing how I play overnight.
Age of Empires 4: Raiders of the North release countdown
My calendar has Oct. 29 circled in bold; that date matters because it’s when the new content drops worldwide. Raiders of the North goes live on Thursday, Oct. 29, an Xbox announcement that I don’t expect to shift at this stage. The embedded countdown below will flip to zero the moment the DLC becomes available.
The global release times are:
- 10am PT
- 12pm CT
- 1pm ET
- 5pm UTC
- 6pm CET
When does Raiders of the North release?
Raiders of the North launches on Thursday, Oct. 29. Xbox published the date; Relic Entertainment and World’s Edge are the teams shipping the content. Whether you get the DLC through Steam, the Microsoft Store, or Xbox Game Pass for PC, the drop is synchronized to the times above.
What time will Raiders of the North be available in my timezone?
Match one of the times above to your local clock. If you play on Steam, the client usually flags new content as available at the listed time; the Microsoft Store follows the same window. I recommend logging in five to ten minutes early so any post-launch queue or patch download doesn’t steal your first match.
What’s included in the Raiders of the North expansion?
Short answer: two new civilizations, new Crucible missions, and fresh biomes. The long answer is worth a minute of planning because these additions change the strategic map.
What to expect from Age of Empires 4: Raiders of the North
I watched early footage and noted how the art team leaned into cultural detail. The expansion introduces the Vikings and the Scots, each with distinct mechanics that feel honest to their histories—unique architecture, masteries, music, and evolving language that can shift how you manage an economy and army.
The Crucible mode grows with four new missions, bringing additional Boons, Perks, Mutators, and Civilization-specific Talent Tracks. You can run these solo or with a friend; they change the late-game rhythm and force different risk calculations. When a meta shifts, the ladder responds like a tide, and every new mission nudges players into fresh experiments.
Two new biomes arrive with the civs: Scottish Hearthland and Tundra Summer. Expect terrain and resources that invite new settlement patterns—maps will feel like a chessboard where different pieces gain and lose value depending on which civ controls key choke points.
Relic, World’s Edge, and Microsoft are the platforms and teams to watch for patch notes, balance changes, and post-launch hotfixes. If the DLC is sold as a standalone or as part of a season bundle, a typical price point might be around $19.99 (€18), and Xbox or Steam storefronts will list the exact offer when preorders or purchases go live.
If anything about the launch shifts—servers, patch windows, or platform-specific rollouts—I will update the times here so you can plan your first matches without surprises. Will you be raiding the new coasts or holding the line when the servers hum to life?