New fantasy game lets you play gigantic orcs with angel wings – Has 82% positive reviews on Steam

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Age of Wonders 4 is a 4X strategy game in the tradition of Civilization 6, Endless Legends or Heroes of Might and Magic. Above all, it convinces with its endless possibilities to create a fantasy people according to your own wishes and to continue to refine them. It has 82% positive reviews on Steam – MeinMMO author Schuhmann is also impressed.

What is Age of Wonders 4 game? Age of Wonders is one of those games that aren’t actually made anymore these days. Strictly speaking, it’s a 4X game. It’s about:

  • Explore – Explore the fantasy world
  • Expand – Establish outposts that can grow into cities and claim more and more areas with different resources in an overworld and in an underworld
  • Exploit – Exploit nature by building a mine, farm or other building into each zone. Exploit enemy weaknesses and defeat enemy armies with 3 contracting armies, each consisting of 6 units or heroes
  • Exterminate – Get the last enemy city and wipe it off the map or meet other victory conditions. Complete quests that will help you with this.

    • The strategy game Age of Wonders 4 shows its fantasy world in the launch trailer

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    Age of Wonders 4 takes place in the historical real world (Civilization) or in space (Stellaris) in a fantasy world.

    In addition, the game has a strong role-playing aspect, because each army can be led by a hero who can be equipped with umpteen items, mounts and skills.

    What games is Age of Wonders 4 similar to? Age of Wonders is anchored in the tradition of games like King’s Bounty and Heroes of Might and Magic.

    It is perhaps most comparable to the relatively unknown genre gem “Endless Legends” from 2014, which some considered the “better” Civilization at the time.

    At the same time, Age of Wonders also comes from its own series of games that have been around since 1999. Those were not the bringers over the years. The best game of the series was probably the SF offshoot Planetfall, released in 2019.

    You can find a detailed, classic review of Age of Wonders 4 with percentages and all the fine things at GameStar.

    So many possibilities

    What is special about Age of Wonders 4? The game lets you play with a variety of pre-made heroes and races, from a red-haired barbarian warrior to a spider demon to a noble paladin frog, everything is included.

    However, Age of Wonders 4 gives you total freedom in creating your own fantasy race:

  • You choose from 10 different races – from tiger people to mole people to frogs. This is a purely visual choice
  • The races have 14 different physical and 14 mental abilities that you can choose freely
  • Now there are 6 different cultural traits – you can play Evil, Feudal, or Industrial. They also determine which units and buildings you can build
  • Finally, you can choose 2 of over 20 different social traits that further refine your race
  • When that’s done, you choose your starting spells from 12 different magic books. Some of them even grant new units and buildings

    • And you do all of that before the actual game has started.

    Of course, if you want to play mole people in particular, you can.

    As you play, you can unlock more spells through research, of which “Race Transformation” spells give you the ability to significantly change individual units or your entire race.

    The freedoms are really massive here:

  • You can play powerful orcs, but they are clearly feudally organized and swear by order. Even going so far as to become “angelic,” meaning they can fly and soar for order
  • But you can also play as corrupted dark elves who are so committed to materialism that they are made of gold and every inhabitant flushes gold into your coffers

    • This diversity in how you want to achieve your goals makes Age of Wonders 4 unique and a game that strategy players should have played at least once.

    A nice detail too: If you have won a map with a people, you can add the people and their rulers to your “pantheon” and refer back to them later. The peoples created in this way even encounter you later as enemies, the heroes can be recruited in places and used as commanders for other peoples.

    The game doesn’t seem to be finished with the release yet. For an additional €50 there is an expansion pass that promises an expansion every quarter.

    You can include your self-created heroes in your pantheon.

    What are the reviews on Steam saying? Currently, around 2 weeks after the release, Age of Wonders is rated “Very positive” after 5,666 reviews – 82% positive reviews:

  • The game is described as “the civilization, but with magic”; that you always wanted.
  • Age of Wonders 4 is said to have a significant addiction factor.
  • A German user calls the game after 40 hours an “Excellent mix of Civ 6 and Heroes of Might and Magic”

    • Are there any negative points? Above all, crashes and bugs are criticized. Whereby Triumph Studios is already heavily patching. The German translation is still a bit poor.

    In addition, the game, like practically every strategy game, has its lengths in the endgame. At some point the games are decided and it’s just a matter of bringing them to an end. Then controlling 9 cities and commanding 9 armies can feel more like a chore than a great experience.

    The strengths of the game lie in the opening hours of each game. This is probably a current pattern in strategy games, especially those distributed by Paradox Interactive:

    You can conquer the world as Germany in Victoria 3 – but it’s not fun even on a PC for €3,800

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