Yeah... approachable means mobile game levels of dumbed down

It's a simpler game for sure. There were only 4 civilizations (Norse, Egyptian, Greek, Atlantian) and they were all very different from one another compared to AoE. Each civilization had multiple deities to choose from for some more specific buffs and abilities. Every type had unique mythical units as well, and these units are quite large so maps felt a bit smaller in comparison. Overall the maps were smaller than AoE anyway, but not in a bad way.

Then instead of stone there was favor, a resource like the rest (food, wood, gold), acquired by putting townies at your temple to pray. All in all it was pretty similar to AoE but it felt a lot less serious. I played a lot at LAN parties and we always had a blast though!

It's largely the same system. You can play as the Greeks, Norse, or Egyptians. Each civilization has the choice of 3 major gods (is Zeus, Hades, or Poseidon) that choice is kinda like choosing your civilization in AoE. Instead of going feudal age to castle age, you choose a different minor god to worship. Each god gives you a different god power and mythological unit (Cyclops, trolls, anubites, etc). The final civilization upgrade allows you to build a building that unleashes a titan on the map.

There is a new currency called favor that is used to research some improvements unlocked by worshiping specific gods and to train mythological units.

The types of games are largely the same as AoE, with different maps. The campaigns are a lot of fun. It's a great game, especially if you like mythology. The stories are original and not based on the original myths, but you can learn some of the myths of heroes, mythical creatures, and the gods by right-clicking on them. The campaigns walk you through how to play and through the features that are different from AoE.

You can choose varying difficulty for the scenarios and can choose the difficulty of the computer players when playing a random map. This makes it about as complex as Age of Empires. However, just as with online AoE, the player vs player can have a steep learning curve if you're matched against people that have been playing a long time.

Age of Empires and Age of Mythology play similarly, where it's easy to cross from one to the other with many similar human units shared between the games. I think it's definitely worth a look into! Even the remake that's already on steam is worth it in my opinion.

I went from AoE1 to OG AoM years and years ago and didn't think there was a huge jump in feel or quality, but I'm just a filthy casual that plays these on toddler difficulty because I want to relax when I'm gaming. If you're on my level then you really can't go wrong, it's a fun game that can be played in a very simple manner if that's how you wanna go about it.

It's a bit slower paced than AoE2, every civilization is very unique, there is a specific resource called Favour. There are mythical creatures and heroes.
I guess it's a bit more complex but most of us played the campaign as kids and if you're used to AoE, you'll be at home and might find it a bit refreshing.
And the original voicing made the whole game: Voulome !