Age of Wonders 4 Review - Conquer the Fantasy Realm

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[@WorthABuyreviews]

Quick correcting AOW3 was fantasy the Sci fi one was after that :p

[@hiraldosternflyer7112]

My blue-haired girlfriend and I were just about to slaaaam you for that, Mac!

[@earlofdoncaster5018]

Planetfall.

[@TCfert]

SHAME ON YOU!

[@BVargas78]

Hehe yeah Planetfall was more of a spin off.

[@Azariel886]

quick correction: the story realm is basically the campaign. you get story quests and stuff happening there but its still on a randomly generated map. similiar to endless legends campaigns intervowen in the random world gen maps.

[@waffleswafflson3076]

I respect any dev that has enough faith in their product to give Mac a review copy

[@bankerlmth]

Hey Mack, Age of Wonders 3 was fantasy, Planetfall which was released after 3 was sci fi.

[@WorthABuyreviews]

Ah well I was close lol

[@herodotus63]

@@WorthABuyreviews Haha. Priceless self-deprecation, you coloniser you.

[@matheusspm]

The Sci-fi Age of Wonders (Planetfall) is incredible! I love the history created for that universe.

[@BVargas78]

I feel it's a bit underrated (or at least overlooked) in the strategy games community.

[@doltBmB]

>anciently our ancestors

[@SxSxG666]

​@@BVargas78 It's a great game but the interface is very unintuitive and things on the map are sometimes hard to recognize.

[@Dreamflightentertainment]

Love that game too!

[@TheRealSlobo]

AOW4 is not as good as Planetfall

[@SuperDoggy99]

Been playing the AoW series since 1999. It's astonishing, how far this series has come. AoW1, AoW2, AoW2:SM, AoW3, AoW:PF, and now AoW4.

[@MintFinkeldove]

Same. I played the crap out of the first two and about 300hrs in 3

[@JetBlackThreat]

they always been from Triumph and Paradox ?

[@CreepyMF]

This seems pretty advanced for a beginner to jump into but damn this looks so good it might be worth taking the time to learn everything.

[@WorthABuyreviews]

Do it you won't regret it, just watch the tutorials

[@vulvarinevulva4524]

​@@WorthABuyreviews go to bed mac!

[@oldskoolraveruk]

Age of wonders planetfall is utterly superb. Highly recommended to all strategy heads.

[@JohnSmith-uy1tl]

Should I buy AOW 3 or Planetfall? I am a big Civ and Xcom fan. I like Scifi more than fantasy but both are good genres. Any suggestions?

[@oldskoolraveruk]

@@JohnSmith-uy1tl planetfall !

[@jagerhunter7717]

​@oldskoolraveruk agreed Planetfall was way better

[@JohnSmith-uy1tl]

@@jagerhunter7717 Bought it today. Thanks for the recommendations

[@MeNasty]

@@JohnSmith-uy1tl AOW3 is far superior in everything really. Planetfall was a big dissapointment

[@Janaerys]

Nice to see you enjoying some of these indie and AA games, which is truly where it is at when it comes to fun and immersion these days.

[@remembernavarro5344]

This is no indie, its published by Paradox.

[@awakeandwatching953]

@@remembernavarro5344 which is a AA publisher.. not sure you can call paradox AAA although its close in terms of visual quality and often monetisation tactics

[@arminius504]

@@awakeandwatching953 their monetization practices are horrendous

[@12b_engineer]

@Arminius yes got stelaris. Not trying to open that can again.

[@drunkendragongaming8105]

umm Age of wonders 3 was not sci-fi, what you are referring to is Age of Wonders: Planetfall

[@Archangelm127]

Today I learned that Mack can't pronounce "pantheon." Good to know.

[@joseaca1010]

Ive been a fan since age of wonders 1, 2 and shadow magic, some of thebbest strategy games ever AoW3 was a bit of a disappointment for me, but Planetfall was fantastic so im looking forward to this

[@Tipsythomas]

Same here 3 really went about it wrong.

[@bigdaz7272]

Yo Mac, you must go back and play Age of Wonders 2 Shadow Magic, one of the best games of this type for sure :)

[@audiogarden21]

John Totalbiscuit Bain got me into Age of Wonders 3. I've fallen in love with the franchise ever since. Thank you John.

[@Perriax]

Would love to hear TB’s opinions on today’s games… alas…

[@audiogarden21]

@@Perriax Poor guy's spinnin' in his grave, that much is certain.

[@quixadhal]

The AI programming for this game is pretty solid. I was watching someone stream this earlier, and their hero picked up an item called "cloud in a bottle" that you can use to push enemies back and give them the "wet" status condition. A bit later, he got another item, a wand of lightning that did a 3-hex long line attack. Neither one was really noteworthy by themselves, and the streamer just equipped them since the slots were empty, so why not? Then he's doing a battle, which he tended to do by going into manual combat and then letting it automate until something happened that needed attention, and he (and us watching) all got to watch the AI use his "cloud in a bottle" item to shove several enemies back into a line, and then on the next turn flank around to their side and zap them with the wand, which now did massive extra damage since they were wet -- lightning and water, you see. He's like "... I never would have thought to do that!" :)

[@Katastra_]

Quill18 if anyone wants to watch that stream or the videos he cut it up into on his KZbin channel

[@TrivialTax]

Script better than some random streamer? Yep. Happens most of the time.

[@quixadhal]

@@TrivialTax My point is more that the AI appears to actually understand the rules and tries to USE abilities and items in ways that make sense. As opposed to other games which just rely on cheating the numbers so they win by brute force...

[@GamingMagicMark]

LOVE that Mack has found the AoW series and all that this means for the future with this new game on the channel! It's one of the original MoM/HoMM heirs from many many years ago. I got involved with Age of Wonders Shadow Magic over a decade ago, which was fantastic, and then Age of Wonders 3 all of 10 or so years ago. Tigran race for the VERY versatile Tigran Mystics, which if you built them right, were like a Swiss Army Knife of goodness on the battlefield! What is AWESOME about the game is the fact you can go out and find Independents on the world map, and ally with them to use some of their awesome creatures or units to help you in battle. Levelling up also gives better skills for units to use. Mix and match your armies, you're not tied to just one faction!! And as Mack mentioned, THEN there are also Heroes which look to join your faction and lead your armies across the map. They can be VERY different to your core faction, and you can level them up, assign new skills as well as kit them out with all manner of magical artifacts to make them unique and fit your playstyle. AoW Planetfall came out a few years ago and this was pretty much the same game as always but set in the SCI FI future. It gave a lot of quality of life improvements of AoW3, but for some reason folks didn't take to it quite as well as the fantasy-based versions. So AoW4 I am so excited for! It's gonna be a blast with all the improvements, creating realms, factions upfront and even units for your armies! Massive replayability. As Mack said, you can pretty much clear your diary for the next 6 months when you buy this!

[@armelior4610]

Loved the 3rd one with the customisation of race + leader class. Looks like this one has even more combinations, and the economy and diplomacy seem more developped too. I look forward to lose several hundred years of my life on this

[@Guitarman5705]

been really hyped for this one, played every age of wonders game to death and this one looks like a good step forward

[@Pulsed101]

Recently finished 'Age of Wonders 1' as the bad guys. Really great game, epic music and beautiful 2D graphics.

[@ardbug9577]

I been waiting for this one, Im so happy you got an early review out cause I would not have put down a cent before hearing your thoughts on it :)

[@carlroy]

I always wait for Daddy Mac to shred or prop up a game before pre-ordering or bying a game. I'm very happy to see this is a good game! Can't wait to play it!

[@pauperslament3467]

He's not your Dad.

[@carlroy]

@@pauperslament3467 Can't prove it either way, he gives conseil like a Daddy would.

[@JohnSmith-uy1tl]

@@pauperslament3467 Only father I've ever had

[@rasser80]

are you gonna make a live stream of you playing this? Also if you take a new look on this game please comment on "The Age of Wonders 4: Expansion Pass" and the already 4 DLCs they have lined up to milk gamers.

[@dojelnotmyrealname4018]

This game has the single best autoresolve feature ever. A button that goes "no, fuck that, This autoresolve sucks, I'm doing it myself"

[@Mustang1984]

Do you plan on reviewing The Last Spell? I quite like that way you review games and trust your opinion so it would be nice to know if Last Spell is any good!

[@michaelschneider1365]

newbie here and this and crusaders kings 3. look endlessly fun. and it’s overwhelming

[@Festivejelly]

Games should never tempt you to auto resolve. Its bad design mechanics if you desire to skip through content.

[@MBMephisto]

saw SsethTzeentach video on the 1st one a while back. This looks awesome, look forward to playing this.

[@Gathies]

I will buy this game based on Mack's recommendation. Was waiting for a reliable review. Love this series so glad to see it's still great!

[@BMC2]

Long blue hair lmfao this guy is just a certified troll and I love it. :')

[@Dearestandme]

Would love to get Mack's take on Against the Storm.

[@JohnSmith-uy1tl]

Me too. I can already hear it though "but you have these lazy freeloading Harpies who start crying as soon as it starts raining"

[@Dearestandme]

@@JohnSmith-uy1tl totally

[@JoeSchaller]

Does the game support local multiplayer / hot-seat? I'm looking forward to it, the third one was great. And it was in fact based in a fantasy world. I would love to play AoW 4 locally with my GF, so here's hoping for a hot-seat mode! Steam doesn't give me that info yet unfortunately. PS: She doesn't have blue hair lol. Edit: Yay, I found the info in Steam's FAQ after all: Yes, AoW4 features Hot Seat gameplay. Changing a Ruler slot from AI to Human in the Advanced setup will turn your game into a Hot Seat one.

[@guyincognito9938]

Not only Hotseat, but Remote Play Together, which means you can play it with your friends who don't have the game themselves by simply streaming the game for them and letting them control their faction from their own computers. It's a gamechanger of a system.

[@Marqan]

:D lovely review, especially the ending! I haven't tried any of the AoW games so far either, gonna check this one out!

[@kilik770]

The only review that matters

[@julyorkshire852]

you need to try the first one it was a wonderful game

[@DominikKost]

12 minute video uploaded 10 minutes ago, 68 likes already (including mine) :)

[@loupiscanis9449]

Thank's Mak' . Looks like a new game for me and the Blue haired Mrs , (Stroke's Beard ) . 🐺

[@jellowrock]

Lot of Customization options behind nice user interface screens, that is what I like on 4x games, will play this one, thanks Mac

[@chefgodzilla1344]

I can relate on the combat in this game. I would recommend playing out a few fights, especially the easy ones, every time you're trying out a new class or faction just so you're familiar with them when the fights really matter.

[@WorthABuyreviews]

Yeah I found out the hard way, the Ai is a buffer of units and I was having trouble getting through his lines until I realised I could sunder and all manner of other things, so many different units that bring a lot to the table, am still not using them to their full potential. I wish I had gone more into the magic earlier on and less into the steel :)

[@kybazia]

Yessss! thank you for reviewing this! I’ve been so on the fence on this since I’ve never played any of the previous games as well.

[@droe2570]

Hey Mack, AoW3 was fantasy, then came Planetfall, now AoW4.

[@Daniellos49PL]

I absolutely loved AOW3 since 2014, and when the devs released the reveal trailer for AOW4 in January, I've been following all the news about this game since. Seeing Mack talking so well about the game gives me a lot of confidence to get that game, and have a blast playing it just like I had with AOW3

[@jangiurg5295]

As an avid skaven fan, the first run is definitely going to besome sort of buffed rat hive-mind swarm faction, curious what I can cook up.

[@RaymondThierry]

Really great thing is - ALL of AOW games are awesome! It's very rare nowadays.

[@Semirotta]

Imo this game might not be a worth the buy for full cost, its just copy-paste of the older game. Whats new? graphics changed a little, most likely has some new story thats it. I would pay up to 30€ for a game like this. Note that I have been a fan of Age of Wonders since the first one. Imo the third one was best so far.

[@chrisgibson8863]

AoW 3 was one of my favorite 4x games ever made. I can't wait to try this one. It looks amazing.

[@TheRealSlobo]

AOW3 is not a SIFI,its continuation of 2 and 4 is continuation of 3 of course .there is a lore and story ark. ..Planetfall is different IP

[@stavros8410]

It's also a paradox game. Meaning it will have 1000 dlcs(which isn't necessarily a bad thing)!

[@sonalita_]

Laughing so hard at the last kingdom references. Fight on Arselings!

[@Naotaku]

I never played any of these, but now I really want to play the "sci-fi one" :D

[@KapnRich]

Thank god, was hoping this would be a good entry 👍

[@Pozer714]

I can't believe you've never played an "Age of Wonders"?! This is the like never playing "DOOM"!! Your supposed to be a big time gamer and never played this, amazing! I've played them all!!! The first was the best IMO. Regardless though I do appreciate your video's so please keep them coming!

[@Doomdog4]

Did you have crash or stability issues like the Steam reviews are showing? I want to get Age of Wonders 4 but the reviews are bloodying it pretty bad at the time of this comment.

[@Strongfinger777]

What I don't get about Mack is he's really into these kinds of games, but he won't try playing the Civilization games. He also likes RPG's but has never played Neverwinter Nights 1 and 2. I've also bought games based on his recommendation and been very disappointed. It makes it hard for me to trust his opinion when it comes to these genres. But that's what Reviews are I guess. Just opinions. "Try Before You Buy"

[@PaulRoneClarke]

"Ton of tutorials available. Lovely little short videos"... looks and sees in the middle of your video a 2 hour video on diplomacy. :)

[@phutureproof]

Hope you doing good Mack, cheers for all the vids.

[@Misericorde451]

I got AoW 3 for free but it didn't click with me even after 3 attempts. Now after watching this I think I'm interested in this one. BUT! Jokes on you I shaved, I don't wear Marvel t-shirt, and my gf doesn't have blue hair. In fact she doesn't have hair. In fact she doesn't exist!

[@mrbigglezworth42]

So long as the tactical combat is as quick and snappy as AoW3 and (to a lesser extent Planetfall) I'll be happy. I like AoW for being a 4X-lite with a greater emphasis on the combat mechanics. Most other 4X games don't feel anywhere near as satisfying.

[@I3uttazz]

Hey Mack can you review "Deceive Inc"? It's free to play for the weekend and it's a multiplayer spy versus spy PVP game that you can get a pretty good judgment from within an afternoon. I think you'll like it too

[@z0s_Icebaker]

This looks very interesting indeed, I'll definitely get this for PS5 pro whenever it arrives and my move back to Playstation from Xbox finally starts after few decades.

[@michaelvargha7302]

Warning: based on Steam reviews, the "press copy" of the game ran fine; however the release version of the game is a crash fest or won't even start for many people. Obviously, the "press copy" was cleaned up, but not the release copy. Just another reason to never purchase a game until it has been out for a while and patched multiple times.

[@Tipsythomas]

This looks better than 3, the 3rd tripped up by splitting the races across expansion packs & making the battlefield too small it felt a real step in the wrong direction since 1,2,2sm. I'll defo pick this up now I've seen what it's like.

[@Wraithhunter00]

Dude, I thought you were in my kitchen watching me when you called out my t-shirt, my beard, my tabletop games, AND my wife all in the same breath.

[@bertreynolds8146]

Age of wonders is an epic, nostalgic turn-based-fantasy-strategy game, it's really memorable for us old people who played the initial one, it really stuck to your mind and there was nothing like it. I'm not sure it's for everyone and honestly, not sure if I have the energy and time or interest to put into it, but if you're into strategy-fantasy games it's something you should definitely look into, just keep in mind it's old school.

[@dex4740]

I loved the third game but first impression caused me putting this game down before clearing one map. Combat was fine but I got the feeling that factions lacked personality due to the costumisation system and spellbook. When everyone can be anything them no-one stand out. I forgot about this game shortly after release. Perhaps I'll go back and try again sometime soon. It feels like the game was much better received than my first impressions should suggest.

[@riptors9777]

Tons of options.. except map size >_< no mega maps allowed! Also they replaced the lizard people with frog people? Why?

[@500gtsnake]

no subtitles ? cant watch this at work ........

[@MrKsan05]

I'm thinking I'm going to buy this game, hope it wont be a mistake. I've played 4x games half my life, I think i will really love this one.

[@ruffnarbobnar5960]

totally juked me... i was pretending to say your intro.... and you said... "the words on steam" while im sitting here mouthing to word developer....

[@gabemaurer4969]

I loved 3 and Planetfall. Can't wait for this!

[@Dereliction2]

Can anyone comment on how much AoW4 borrowed from Planetfall? What are the big carry-overs that can be found?

[@mikeydubs_tv]

So far it’s been running fine on steam deck 30-60 fps with mid to low settings. Drains the battery hard tho

[@skullreda2762]

first idc about all of u

[@iamtheteapot7405]

It's always funny to me, we Americans say very like Berry or Larry, but Mac says it like furry or hurry.

[@theduffpig3172]

Love the ending about us Warhammer fans. Can't even be mad because it's true! 😂😂😂

[@elkarion]

Age of Wonders 3 was not Sci-Fi Mack. That was Planetfall.

[@BlackGold-fc7tu]

Looks like they put a lot of work into it

[@zacharybecker8228]

Well a t least this wasn't delayed so I have something in may since endless dungeon got delayed until October

[@SeiyuRavensong]

I love your videos so much i just hit thumbs up before i see it. lol Only channel i do that with.

[@ervinsapinis2379]

Is it is it IZZ ITT

[@ronnychristenjoyer6778]

it is

[@fufu1405]

Age of Wonders 3 is not sci-fi, what are you talking about.

[@unfocuseddev4921]

Mack, will you be reviewing Shadows of Doubt?

[@bushmonster1702]

Hello Mack, will you be reviewing Stranded Alien Dawn?

[@TransoceanicOutreach]

Pantheon is the word, unless they have invented the word 'patheon' for some reason.

[@crappygamer4927]

I can't be the only one that had phone on silent, seen the subtitles and heard them in macks voice inside my head

[@guybluh1147]

Delightful, really delightful. Thanks Mack

[@Skazzze]

whats the sound like? whats the music like? is fighting satisfying?

[@Cenot4ph]

Good this has linux supported via steam deck verified

[@battlemode]

Great review Mack. Age of Wonders 4 is gonna break the mainstream I think, lots of good reviews so far and more so than AoW3 and Planetfall

[@Kristaliorn]

Loving this game tbh. Bit of a success for the year.

[@KingZealotTactics]

So age of wonders planetfall pretty much?

[@skyesfury8511]

"There's a ton of tutorial videos on YT" Yea... that's a problem. Unless it's a 1 to 5 man indie team, the tutorial should be in the game. You should never need to go outside the game for basic info. That's just low quality design.

[@snowdawn]

Thank you for the review. Very good points that you talked about the game. As I wait for AOW4, I'll continue playing AOW3 and AOW Planetfall.

[@spaceinaspace8452]

First lol 😂

[@stevo2574]

Thanks for doing this review. I saw this on sale in steam today and I wondered... is it worth a buy? Sure enough my favorite reviewer made a video for it! :)

[@BushidoKyn]

looks amazing. Could never get into AoW2, and skipped 3. But this looks super enticing...

[@captainchocks909]

Never played a aow game before but getting strong civ vibes and so I think worth a go

[@st8113]

Civ combat is very light weight. AoW is 99% combat, and the strategy layer is just an excuse for more tactical battles.

[@firstclaw1]

I wonder how much more or new ideas this brings to the table compared to AoW3. One thing I always disliked there was, that even half of a unit is killed they still hot as hard as a fresh one...

[@swithern6156]

AOW series - 1-3 fantasy, Planetfall is the sci fi numpty, AOW4 is back to fantasy.

[@banicalin]

I will try it. Hope it has the same atmosphere as Disciples 2

[@starvation2907]

It's much more lighthearted than Disciples 2, that game had a very peculiar grotesque artstyle.

[@arhicluj2008]

Remember kids, buff yaself before ya wreck yaself

[@rogueraven1333]

Heros of might and magic + bannerlord lol