Warhammer Age of Sigmar Realms of Ruin Review (PlayStation 5)

by Jim Smale · Published November 28, 2023 · Updated November 27, 2023

For this Warhammer Age of Sigmar Realms of Ruin Review, wage a campaign of brutal conquest in this realm-shattering real-time strategy game set in the Warhammer Age of Sigmar universe. Become a warlord and lead four unique factions to conquer the wild and savage Realm of Ghur’s intense and tactical battles.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Realms of Ruin Review Pros:

Beautiful graphics.
15.24GB download size.
Platinum trophy.
Own in-game achievements called awards.
You get the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 5 versions of the game.
Graphics settings – motion blur.
Accessibility options – color vision deficiency, subtitles, subtitle size, background opacity, speaker image for subtitles, speaker name, hide subtitles in fullscreen mode, easy read font, mute background noises during conversations, mono mode, tinnitus filtering, and ui scaling for – tutorial tips/subtitles/notifications/boss health/minimap/abilities/victory points/objectives/resources.
Three ways to play – Single-player, multiplayer, and conquest.
Controller settings – remap controls, Invert axis and sensitivity sliders, default movement mode, control mode, deadzone, and input curve sliders.
Create mode – map editor, publish workshop, army livery, and army load out, all can be saved, uploaded, and downloaded with the community.
Conquest mode is where you go through a mini-campaign and have unique modifiers and battles in play until the final Showdown.
Online multiplayer modes – ranked 1v1 quick game, casual 1v1 quick game, custom game, and leaderboards.
Single-player modes – main game, chapter select for all unlocked battles and Ai skirmish.
Powerful soundtrack.
Cross play – on/off.
Editor options – camera speed slider, orbit camera speed, game view speed, top-down camera speed, and measurement unit (meters/feet).
The minimal can be set to rotate on/off.
Four difficulties – lorekeeper, warrior, veteran, and champion.
Fast loading times.
In-game cutscenes with the option to skip them.
Excellent voice work.
Action RPG gameplay.
Direct move (can be turned on and off) is where you choose and place markers to chain your unit around, with this mode it’s possible to walk past combat unless you lay down the marker.
A 3D world with full 360-degree camera control.
Tutorial pop-ups as you play.
Capture regions on the maps and locations.
Units can have special abilities that can be cast over the whole unit.
Good-looking fighting animations.
Command posts heal your troops when you are near them.
Quick button press to have your unit flee/retreat. You choose if they go to a set place or the nearest command HQ.
Sword-type units can charge at the enemy to deal additional damage.
The locations are really quite stunning.
Handy press the right stick to have pop-up text explaining what’s on screen like the Hud, resources, etc.
They have done a good job of making the gameplay well with a controller.
Create your own group of units and assign them to the d-pad selection shortcut.
Save and load when you want.
Battletome in the menu is where tutorials are housed.
Combat works on a simple rock-paper-scissors-style mechanic. Sword beats shield, shield beats arrows and arrows beat swords.
In direct mode aiming and setting the distance of the movement reticle is governed by how hard you move the right stick.
Fog of war is in play. (the map and area uncover as you move)
Earn exp and level up to get rewards like player card backgrounds, avatar frames, etc.
End of chapter breakdown.
In each chapter, you have 3 optional bonus challenges.
Terrain affects movement and combat.
You need to capture regions and conduits to get resources.
The units will auto-attack when near an enemy unless told otherwise.
To summon/recruit new units, you need to use command points and population.
Realmstone is used to buy upgrades and higher-level units.
Play how you want at the level.
You can break down certain parts of the environment.
The campaign lets you have 3 save slots.
Full stats screen.
Customise options – avatar, avatar frame, banner, banner frame, banner background, and profile background.
The art for the player profile is really cool.
Very strong story.
Aside from 1v1 you can do 2v2 and mix it up with Ai and real people.
Map creation options – map size (standard/large), game mode (1v1 or 2v2), primary and secondary biome (Tundra/swamp/petrified swamp/sulfa), surrounding area (hills/mountains/island/canyon), asset pack (Kruleboyz sulfa/petrified swamp/temple/swamp/storm cast town/tundra/Kruleboyz swamp/Kruleboyz citadel/ghur/sulfa), and preset terrain (flat/enabled).
Map Creator is powerful with its terrain tools, to balance it out Creations have requirements and a budget.
You generate a landscape in the creator and then edit it.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar Realms of Ruin Review Cons:

A lot to take in.
Mechanics and abilities are slow to learn.
Dealing with unit management is still a huge undertaking as to maximize it you really need to group up the right troops and it’s just layer after layer.
Capturing conduits is slow and not always straightforward.
Getting used to all the troop speeds is annoying.
Cannot skip the in-game interactions.
Had actions continue when in serious cutscenes.
Performance issues like slowdown and pop-in.
Chapters take a huge time commitment.
I didn’t find the campaign to have a huge replay draw to it.
You do have to link or create and link a Frontier account to use online and the online creation tools.
Cannot change the game speed.
No local multiplayer.
You need an online subscription to use the Frontier workshop where you download other players’ Creations.