Empires: Age of Discovery allows you to revisit the age of exploration and discovery. Take on the role of a colonial power seeking fame, glory, and riches in the New World. As you proceed through three ages, you launch expeditions of discovery, colonize regions, expand your merchant fleet, build capital buildings that give your nation distinct advantages, develop your economy, and (if necessary) declare war.

Empires: Age of Discovery is a reimplementation of Age of Empires III but without that name due to the expense of renewing the license from Microsoft. This edition includes the Empires: Builder Expansion along with its capital buildings; its National Advantage tiles have been built into the new player boards.