Age of Empires 2 Definitive Edition features cheat codes that you can mess around with and have fun. Here’s how to activate cheats for AOE2 on PC and Xbox.
Since its original 1999 release, Age of Empires 2 has famously had a lot of cheat codes, ranging from giving you a slight advantage on the battlefield, to just having a bizarre amount of wacky fun. And its 2019 remaster AOE2 Definitive Edition also features the same vibe.
So if you want to have a little fun in the campaigns or mess around in a single-player Random Map game, we have a full list of every cheat code in Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition, including how to activate them on PC and Xbox.
How to unlock cheats in Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition on PC
To unlock cheats in Age of Empires 2 on PC, all you need to do is simply press ‘Enter’ while in-game to bring up the chat box. Then you can type in your cheat code and press Enter again to activate it. For random maps and online games, you also need to make sure cheats are enabled in the lobby screen.
If the text you’ve written appears as an in-game chat message, it means you have misspelled the cheat and will need to type it again.
It’s also worth noting that activating cheats in AOE2: Definitive Edition will disable achievements.
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How to unlock cheats in Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition on Xbox
To unlock cheats in Age of Empires 2 for Xbox, hold down the Left Trigger (LT) and press ‘View’ (it’s the button on the controller represented by two overlapping rectangles). This will bring up the Quick Taunts menu. Press Left Trigger again to enter the Cheats menu.
From here, you can navigate the Cheats menu to find the right cheats you wish to activate. Unlike the PC version, these cheats are available to activate at the simple press of a button instead of requiring you to type them out.
Similar to the PC version of AOE2, activating cheat codes will disable achievements. So be sure to not be chasing after any achievements if you’re going to be activating cheats.
All Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition cheats
Here is the full list of cheats that you can activate in Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition across PC and Xbox.
| CHEAT CODE | EFFECT |
| catzor | Spawns a cat riding a jetpack shark |
| aegis | All actions such as building, training, gathering resources, and researching are completed instantly for all players |
| natural wonders | Control wildlife units |
| furious the monkey boy | Creates a “Furious the Monkey Boy” unit |
| i don’t exist | Creates a “Penguin” unit |
| to smithereens | Creates a “Saboteur” unit |
| i love the monkey head | Creates a “VMDL” unit |
| photon man | Creates a “Photon Man” unit |
| how do you turn this on | Creates an “AC Cobra” unit |
| alpaca simulator | Creates an “Alfred the Alpaca” unit |
| cheese steak jimmy’s | Gives 10,000 food |
| robin hood | Gives 10,000 gold |
| rock on | Gives 10,000 stone |
| lumberjack | Gives 10,000 wood |
| ninjalui | Gives 100,000 of all resources |
| ninjaconnor | Gives 100,000 of all resources |
| rowshep | Gives 100,000 of all resources |
| resign | Instantly lose |
| black death | Kills all other civilisations including allies, except yours |
| torpedo # | Kills player # (replace # with 1-8) |
| wimpywimpywimpy | Kills you |
| polo | Removes fog of war, re-enter to enable fog of war |
| marco | Reveals entire map, re-enter to hide map |
| woof woof | Transforms birds into flying caped dogs |
| i r winner | Instant win |
| going above and beyond | You can research the same technology up to 256 times to stack its effects |
| noui | Toggles the UI elements on the screen |
| put on your capes | Transforms all player infantry units into Elite Teutonic Knights |
And those are all the cheats we have for Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition. Be sure to check out our other Age of Empires content.