Age of Wonders 4 Review (Steam)

by Jim Smale · Published April 27, 2023 · Updated April 27, 2023

For our Age of Wonders 4 Review, where we rule a fantasy realm of our own design! Explore new magical realms in Age of Wonders’ signature blend of 4X strategy and turn-based tactical combat. Control a faction that grows and changes as you expand your empire with each turn! Triumph Studios’ award-winning strategy series has emerged into a new age, evolving the game’s iconic empire-building, role-playing, and warfare to the next level. A new storytelling event system and hugely customizable empires provide an endlessly replayable experience, where each game adds a new chapter to your ever-growing saga.

Age of Wonders 4 Review Pros:

Beautiful graphics.
14.06GB download size.
Steam achievements.
Controller support.
Uses the Paradox launcher.
Graphics settings – display mode, monitor, GPU, render scale, v-sync, quality preset, texture quality, anti-aliasing, terrain quality, soil cover quality, shadow quality, SSAO quality, soft particles, reflections, and volumetric lighting.
Mod support through the launcher.
Brilliant voicework.
Mage Haven is a place you live between worlds, as you conquer Realms and take over worlds the rulers (Godirs) will join your Mage Haven.
Interface settings – scale slider, safe area ratio, unit outlines, army banners, show Hex info, tooltip delay, controller deadzone, mouse deadzone, Hex grid, movement grid, city labels, province labels, and borders.
Can rebind controls for both keyboard and controller buttons.
The camera has an Invert axis and sensitivity sliders. Lock the camera or enable edge scrolling.
Three game modes – quick start, campaign, and online multiplayer.
Your Mage Haven can be renamed.
Seven default Realms (fields of rebirth/Valley of wonders/idella/the dunelands/the vacant throne/infinite forest/deadlands), custom, and create your own realm.
Five difficulties – relaxed, easy, normal, hard, and brutal.
Realm creation settings – player distance (close/standard/far), players (2 to 9), difficulty, and turn system (classic/simultaneous). Advanced settings let you pick game flow, combat, and full faction control-like difficulty.
20 faction presets to choose from or create your own.
Handy tooltip hovers text.
Voiced menus.
Tutorial pop-ups as you play.
Battles show success rate probability, and if you want to auto or manual combat or just retreat.
Watch replays of combat even when using auto-combat.
Recruitment can be done via the menu, you have a hero cap that can be increased by taking over other strongholds.
Familiar controls.
Turn-based gameplay.
Stability is how you find out about your townspeople and morale.
Troops can be hired and trained. They require upkeep so you need to manage your finances.
Nearly every menu of the game or option has a clear easy to understand pop-up or info panel.
Units can only move X amount of distance per turn.
Fog of war at play so the map uncovers as you explore and move around.
You watch your units move around the map.
Imperium is the influence that you earn and is spent on acquiring new cities, new empire skills, and speeding up city growth.
Empire development is done via a skill tree-like setup, here you can manipulate how the world plays out, the powers available to you, and more.
Infestations can spawn in a realm and they will get worse as you leave them.
A full underground system that allows you to gain valuable resources.
As your town expands, you can choose what the new area turns into from a set of options like quarry, mine, harvesting, etc.
There is a very handy set of actions on the right to help guide you through all available options and opportunities.
Minimap on screen showing who owns what.
Spells can be cast and are sparse but powerful.
One for the Civ fans out there.
Set troops to auto-explore for you.
Multiple choice encounters.
When dealing with other factions you can create pacts, work together, declare war, etc.
Heroes earn exp and level up to get rewards and new skills.
You (the ruler) can earn exp and level up to get points to put into stats for your kingdom, discover and equip new items of clothing/equipment, and change your appearance.
An absolute time-sink of a game.
Every turn feels satisfying.
Choose research tasks to add more options and abilities.
Pillage enemy resources from their domains.
Track/untrack any mission/tasks.
Every realm has multiple win scenarios.
Play how you want.
Auto saves frequently.
Times give you new sets of research like Pyromancy and ice abilities.
Alignments will show other rulers what kind of person you are and if you can be trusted. It also dictates how much starting trust you get with someone.
One of the best examples of game addiction!
Have troops merge by both occupying the same Hex.
Manual combat is turn-based with each side getting 3 action points. You play in a designated area and can use the environment to your advantage.
Retry failed battles.
Pantheon exp is earned even if you surrender.
The end of the game (by any means) reveals an in-depth look at performance and actions.

Age of Wonders 4 Review Cons:

The whole launcher management of linking the game to your account, and doing seperate launcher updates.
So much to take in.
Takes a few turns to get going.
The camera is not always ideal when trying to be accurate in a built-up area.
The tutorial is very broken up and you can miss a lot or not trigger the help.
Retry failed battles always turn them into manual combat encounters.
You never feel like you know everything.
Later on in games, the Ai turn can take ages.
At times I felt a bit unsure of where to go or what to do.