Publisher Paradox Interactive and developer Triumph Studios today unveiled Age of Wonders 4 as the project it teased earlier this week. Coming nine years after its predecessor, the fourth entry in the beloved 4X strategy series puts a new spin on its gameplay as custom factions are set to make their debut.
Age of Wonders 4 returns to a fantasy setting, pitting players against powerful Wizard Kings who seek to rule the realms as gods. Using Tomes of Magic, you get to “unleash arcane destruction and evolve their armies, gaining new abilities and forms.”
Age of Wonders 4 Announcement
Custom factions allow you to choose the form, traits, and powers of your followers, while a new event system pushes the storytelling potential of 4X games further, according to the developer.
Conquest, diplomacy, and magic all act as potent tools you can use as you seek to make a name for yourself. The game’s turn-based battles see you engaging in skirmishes with monsters that roam the land as well as large sieges that pit a higher number of units against each other.
Have a look at Age of Wonders 4’s features, as described by the developer in an emailed press release:
- Create the Empire of Your Wildest Fantasies: Craft your followers by combining bodily forms, societal traits, and arcane powers. Build anything from a clan of cannibal halflings to mystic moon elves, or recreate your favourite fantasy tropes. Seek powerful tomes of magic to enchant your armies and see your people physically change as they morph into angelic beings or scions of chaos to face their enemies.
- Strategy Meets Role-Playing Like Never Before: Every choice opens up new possibilities and tactical advantages; deep, multilayered strategy allows you to try new tactics or explore new powers at every turn. Tactical turn-based battles bring your armies to life, from skirmishes with roaming monsters to vast sieges with many units on each side!
- Write Your Own Legend: A new event system provides unexpected levels of storytelling for 4X games. See your decisions shape the world around you as you seek glory through brutal domination, cunning alliances, or ultimate arcane knowledge. Your own creations may even appear as potential rivals or allies in subsequent games, as you experience the next chapter in your own story!
- Make Your Mark on a Vast, Reactive World: Explore a new realm in each session - or create your own! Challenge new variations and combinations of locations and features, from frozen wastelands ruled by ice queens to desolated ruins where dragons roam. With a tremendous variety of empires, units, and environments to keep the game endlessly replayable, Age of Wonders is more open-ended - and mod-friendly - than ever before in the series’ history.
Age of Wonders 4 is slated to launch on May 2, 2023 and is coming to PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5. You can wishlist the game on Steam and check out its announcement trailer below.
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