

While this level of customisation may be a lot for some players, the sheer level of variety when it comes to options for determining your realm, your people’s backstory, and picking your ruler, is impressive.

Once all of that is done, you’re ready to start your game. The spells you unlock can include ones that can summon magical units to pad out your military, slow down enemy units or help break through their defences, and ones that can be used by a hero on the battlefield. The pace at which you can research new spells depends on your level of knowledge, a resource generated by your cities that can be increased by building city structures like libraries and research posts. Tomes of Magic, in turn, function in a similar way to research in Civilization or Technology in Humankind, and allow you to unlock new spells, abilities, and summoned units over time.

AGE OF WONDERS IV FREE
Both come with different bonuses in-game: while a champion has a bonus of relationships with free cities, for example, a wizard king will come with a bonus of mana production – the resource that you need to cast different kinds of spells. You can choose from two categories of ruler when you start a game: a chosen champion, who has been elected by your people, or a wizard king. Your ruler is the hero unit that will head up your entire empire. The most important things you’ll choose before starting a game, however, are your ruler and a starting magic tome. You can also alter the map’s natural environment further, whether it’s including more volcanoes or increasing the occurrence of arctic blizzards. These are neutral cities that can be negotiated with, much like city-states in Civilization. Environmental effects allow you to make changes to any other free cities appearing on the map. Inhabitants range from your run-of-the-mill wild animals to demonic forces and undead fiends. You can take your pick from realms including frozen plains, bone-dry deserts, and even a volcanic landscape that changes shape over the course of your playthrough.

A realm can be customised from the size of landmass to the climate, fauna, and flora that inhabit the land. There are six affinities in Age of Wonder 4: Order, Chaos, Nature, Materium, Astral, and Shadow.Īs well as designing your faction, you can design your realm, meaning the map you’ll be playing on once you start your game. The game allows you to design your very own faction from scratch, picking unique traits that define your people, their looks, their origin story, and their magical affinity. Once they’ve played their role on earth, Godir ascend back to the Pantheon, where they keep an eye on everything happening down on the Astral Plane.Īn Age of Wonders 4 playthrough starts before your first unit even moves across the world map. Whether it’s ruling an empire, fighting alongside allies, or exploring different lands, Godir are always in search of new knowledge and experiences. When passing through Magehaven’s World Gate, Godir can access different worlds on the Astral Plane and play a role in the mortal empires down below. It’s the latest instalment in the Age of Wonders series, following the 2019 release of Age of Wonders: Planetfall.Īge of Wonders 4 is set in the realm of Magehaven, a magical plain in between worlds where godlike beings known as Godir roam. Age of Wonders 4 is a 4X turn-based strategy game developed by Triumph Studios and published by Paradox Interactive.
