What's New in Age of Wonders 4?

Age of Wonders III focused a lot on in-game tropes famous to the videogame industry. Since there were only six races and classes to choose from, the gameplay was bound to follow a set of abilities, which limited the overall gameplay style to whatever you chose at the start of the round.

Age of Wonders 4 takes character customisation and building to a whole new level, as you will now be able to create a character from a total of 10 different classes, including five from previous games (Humans, High Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, and Goblins) and an additional four that offer a more in-depth fantasy feel, including the Halfling, Feline, Ratkin, Toadkin, and Molekin!

Furthermore, not only can you customise your character's appearance with a vast selection of items per character — and Pantheon unlockables, more on that later — but you can also choose each race's Body and Mind traits to further customise them and not be bound to one because of traits. 

With 14 Body Traits and Mind Traits, you can already deeply customise your character in the first menu of the game. That is, of course, if you don't want to pick from the pre-made factions, allowing you to choose from 21 different presets to jump straight in. Or, save your own and use them forever — no judgement here!

After you've chosen your form, body, and mind traits, you will be able to choose from six different cultures that will focus on one of the Magic Affinities in the game — Order, Chaos, Nature, Shadow, Materium, and Astral. You can then choose two traits out of 15 to further focus your affinities according to your desired playstyle, some of which lock out others for roleplay reasons.

Age of Wonders 4 has a vast selection of tomes to start with — a total of 12 to pick from — that will define the starting spells you have and the ones you can research. As you finish each tome and gather more from either the same affinity or different ones, you can unlock an additional 12 throughout the campaign to ensure that you reach the late-game strength you aspire for.

Finally, your customisation ends with making a choice between being a Champion ascended by the people of your faction or a tyrant Wizard King that has overtaken the lands. Both of these starting origins allow you to have different powers in-game, including magical affinities or diplomatic ones.

In Age of Wonders III, you had to make a selection between building structures or bolstering your army with stronger forces to ensure that you aren't overrun by opposing factions, though that will not be the case anymore with Age of Wonders 4!

With the new Draft resource that you can get from various sources, including quarries and structures to build in your cities, you will be able to simultaneously build things and recruit armies, allowing you to skip the arduous decisions between expansion and strengthening your army.

Although you could take previously made characters into battle in Age of Wonders III, Age of Wonders 4 expands upon this with a brand-new Pantheon system that allows you to get unlocks as you play the game.

Enjoy continuous progression as you complete campaigns and randomly generated worlds by gaining points according to your performance in-game. Slay Marauders, exterminate factions, and reign victorious to earn Pantheon Levels to unlock a slew of items, including cosmetics to make your heroes prettier, new realms to venture into, and starting traits and weapons to further customise your startup.

This system ensures that you keep coming back for more as you unlock more playable builds the more you play. From becoming a Mana Addict to the new Necromancer Origin, the more you play Age of Wonders 4, the more customisation options — both cosmetic and otherwise — you unlock. Keep coming out victorious to try that one new trait, and play just one more round, just one more game, to get closer to a full ascension.

Enjoy roleplay systems even outside of the story mode as you receive requests from the Free Cities that you are befriending! From vassals to foes, get unique quests to earn rewards or face the consequences if you fail to meet the expectations of your closest allies.

Enjoy random events that are closely related to your alignment, allowing you to better alter your odds in battle by earning resources through new means. A quest here and a quest there will lead to hundreds of gold to rule the entire empire!

Use the new affinities to change your character's unique builds even more! Ensure you focus on an affinity to reach strategic victory by making decisions that amplify your skills and change various mechanics in the game. Spend your Imperium on getting these new skills to make your playthrough even more unique or save it to build stronger alliances quicker!