To say that Joan - who was condemned to death at the stake by the English in 1431 and later canonized by the Catholic Church in 1920 - is a controversial figure would be an understatement at best, leaving the game's developers in something of a predicament: what is the best way to represent a person as complex as Joan of Arc using an interactive medium? The second entry in the multimillion-selling series is a real-time strategy game for Windows/Mac-based computers, and it allows players to control hundreds of on-screen units at once with the swipe of a mouse.Īlthough many players flock to the game for its competitive multiplayer component, the core of the experience lies in a selection of five separate military campaigns that push players through battles and significant events connected to popular historical figures like Genghis Khan, Barbarossa and (of course) Joan of Arc.Īs with several of the campaigns, the creators of Age of Empires elected to pull not only from the image of Joan that historians generally agree upon, but also from myth and legend. The types of media used to tell the story of Joan of Arc are just as numerous and varied as the messages behind the stories the tale of the illiterate peasant girl who led an army and altered the course of a war has been told through plays, books, film and, in recent years, interactive digital media - the video game.Īge of Empires II: The Age of Kings is one such video game that attempts to once again weave the story of the Maid of Orléans. In the centuries since her life and death, Joan of Arc has been portrayed in a number of different, often conflicting ways: as a French heroine, and as a vile witch deserving of death as a person guided by divine inspiration, and as an ordinary girl who was merely misguided.
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