After a dalliance with science fiction, Triumph Studios is returning to more typical fantasy fodder for Age of Wonders 4. That’s not to say that they’re resting on their laurels, though, as they take the ending of Age of Wonders 3 and run with it into a multiverse of possibilities as the Wizard Kings break down the walls between worlds in search of new realms to conquer.
Setting out from the Mage Haven that acts as the hub between worlds and the backdrop to the game’s main menu, you can step into any number of customised and randomised realms. There’s a string of defined narrative campaign missions, such as the more gentle Fields of Rebirth that provides a beginners scenario, but from that point onward, it’s up to you to define where you’re heading. You can customise the shape and climate of the world, as well as some elements of who lives there and apply modifiers like the natives having a disdain for evil. From there, you can choose to play as either an invading Wizard King or as a hero of a race looking to defend their home.
One of the most intriguing elements of Age of Wonders 4 is the ability to customise the fantasy race that you play as, as a major extension of the champion creation available in Age of Wonders 3. You can obviously stick to the various fantasy tropes, with snooty Elves, violent Orks and the like, but each of the races – which include Toadkin, Ratkin, Orcoid, Molekin, Halfling, Goblinoid, Feline and Elfkin – can then be modified from their default attributes and natural body traits.
Want some long-legged, fast-running Dwarves? You can do that. Toadkin are naturally good, resilient and adapted to swamps, but you can swap those out, to have sneaky, evil toads that ride around on giant spider mounts – I asked specifically if scorpion mounts, as a quirky reversal of the scorpion and the frog fable, but alas those aren’t featured at launch.
From the physical and character traits, you can then build up a civilisation’s culture and societal traits. Each trait has a natural affinity to a particular alignment, and you can’t mix society traits between alignments – there’s no such thing as a good cannibal – so you might as well lean in to being evil or good and really role play as a race. You’ll need to lean into it to get the best out of the game, as well. Being evil in Age of Wonders 4 comes with certain benefits, such as being able to perform bad acts, but comes with the consequence of other races hating you and general bad karma where there’s a greater chance that more negative things happen to you.
The last piece of the puzzle is then to choose your ruler. As a Champion you come from the native peoples, gaining a bonus for the city and for other local races as someone of this world. On the other hand, the Wizard Kings come as invaders that have an innate ability to be better spell casters.
Magic is naturally a bit part of the fantasy setting, and that manifests itself as part of the progression through a campaign. There are 54 Tomes of Magic in the game that break up the tech tree and can present themselves in different orders. Your arcane research will always present you with three things to choose from a pool of possibilities, some specific to a Tome that you possess, others specific to your culture and more that are generic. Some will be enchantments to upgrade a category of units, but the most interesting ones are transformations, which could be minor, or could completely alter your race. You only have one major transformation per race, so if you want Skeletoads, you might have to be super evil for a little while.
But what about the game itself? Well, it’s the familiar Age of Wonders blend of a 4X campaign map and turn-based tactical battles for when you get into a fight. The 3D campaign map looks gorgeous, the different provinces each having clear resources and benefits for you to claim as you build out your cities and outposts.
As you grow, you start to gain a new resource called Imperium. This is a diplomatic power that can be spent in negotiations, to found or capture cities, or to spend in the Empire Tree – another source of perks and buffs for your faction.
Stepping into a battle, with each map a bespoke creation for the terrain and landmarks, it’s a well-worn turn-based system with three action points per unit that allows you to move and then perform attacks and abilities. Given the diversity of what units might look like, it’s handy that they will have icons to quickly show their general capabilities – shock units like Knights are marked by a fist and come with a Charge Strike ability to break through defences and remove retaliation ability, while archers can use multiple action points for two shots in a turn to chip away quickly at enemies.
While you will have plenty of customisation options off the bat, Age of Wonders 4 will feature an overarching progression in the Pantheon. Whether it’s completing the story campaign or a standalone one, you’ll earn experience to spend within this further tree to unlock new traits, new customisation, new world traits and realm templates. There’s also another intriguing concept, with characters that you defeat in battle then joining your Pantheon, and your customised races being able to crop up as AI-led factions in later campaigns.
A lot of Age of Wonders 4 will be familiar to fans of the series and 4X gamers in general, but Triumph Studios has found new directions to take their series, with the race creation sure to provide countless opportunities for wild and varied factions to role play as.
