Fantasy strategy evolved - Age of Wonders 4 Quick Review

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PLAY IT OR SKIP IT?

Play it, because Age of Wonders 4 is an early contender for this year’s best strategy game. There’s plenty of depth to the combat and exploration in this fantasy 4X game, but the elegance and beauty of its presentation prevent it from ever being overwhelming, even for newcomers. Not only are there countless worlds to conquer with the expected lineup of fantasy factions, Age of Wonders 4 also allowed me to create my very own—including a race of evil cat wizards.

TIME PLAYED

Between the hands-on preview I played earlier this year and my time with the launch build, I’ve played about twenty hours of Age of Wonders 4. During that time, I’ve finished several “sandbox” campaigns I started myself, as well as a few of the story missions. If you’ve felt, like I do, that 4X games like Civilization have a tendency to drag on at times, you’ll be happy to hear that Age of Wonders 4 keeps a very brisk pace: I finished most campaigns I started in two to three hours, and even the complex turn-based tactical battles rarely lasted beyond five turns.

WHAT’S AWESOME

• Faction creation. Age of Wonders 4 gave me a powerful suite of options for creating a custom faction every time I started a new game. I’d start by choosing a physical form, which can be anything from human to moleman to giant toads, and then selecting a culture and social characteristics. These determined whether my people would seek out good or pursue evil, how they approached combat, what kinds of environments they were best suited to, and more. I also got to custom-design the worlds I played in: They could be idyllic fairytale fields with enchanted forests, giant forests filled with megafauna, destroyed lands littered with the ruins of civilizations past, and more.

• Magic system. Instead of a tech tree, Age of Wonders 4 gave me tomes of magic to research. Picking which tome I wanted to study was an important choice, because the magic contained within them includes battle spells, abilities to conjure allies on the strategic map, as well as faction-wide spells that permanently transformed my entire people. Each tome is associated with a particular type of magic, and studying multiple tomes in the same magic school unlocks more advanced knowledge...and even more powerful spells.

• Exploration. One of the Xs in 4X is exploration, and I often feel as if that one gets the least attention. That’s certainly not the case in Age of Wonders 4. I always wanted to press out into the fog of war to discover what lay beyond my known territory, because there were ancient wonders to find, treasures to collect, and even an entire cave system underneath the surface map to explore.

• Utterly gorgeous visuals. Graphics aren’t usually high on the list of must-haves in a 4X game, but Age of Wonders 4 proves that they certainly can add a lot. Not only is it a beautiful game to look at, but the attention lavished on visuals and UI actually work to make it easier to play. I get to see all my decisions reflected in my unit models, so when I cast a faction-altering spell like Animal Kinship, each soldier I control gains a green glow to their eyes. Menus are easy to navigate and worded in plain language, which makes diplomacy simple and intuitive without sacrificing depth. I could keep track of everything I needed to do thanks to a helpful list of alerts on the right side of the screen, so I never felt as though I was missing opportunities during a turn.

WHAT SUCKS

• Combat prep. Or more accurately, the lack thereof. I was occasionally frustrated by the fact that during the tactical battles, I didn’t get the chance to place my troops the way I wanted to. Most battles involve six units per side, since that’s the maximum number you can have in a stack, and it’s not much of an issue in those smaller skirmishes. Bigger fights aren’t uncommon, though, since any adjacent stacks will join in, and this is particularly important during sieges. Still, the game usually does a decent enough job of keeping archers behind melee units that it was rarely a major issue.

💬 Are you dreaming up your first fantasy faction to play in Age of Wonders 4, or will you be waiting for the next big strategy game to scratch the “one more turn” itch? Let me know in the comments!