Age of Wonders

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Age of Wonders
developer Triumph Studios
Publisher Gathering of Developers
Paradox Interactive
First title Age of Wonders (1999)
Last title Age of Wonders: Planetfall (2019)
Platform (s) Windows , Mac OS , Linux , PlayStation 4 , Xbox One
Genre (s) turn based strategy

Age of Wonders (in German about Age of Miracles ) is a computer game series of the Dutch game developer Triumph Studios . The turn-based fantasy strategy games of the series are in the tradition of Master of Magic .

Compared to Heroes of Might and Magic

Compared to the very popular Heroes of Might and Magic , Age of Wonders is tactically and strategically much more in-depth (more units, more heroes, larger battles, greater territorial influence on battles, more peoples, less micromanagement in the form of missing resource points in a game week and much more .) and more beginner-friendly, but only known to a smaller audience. This is u. a. in that Heroes of Might and Magic has been on the market since 1990 and was released in 2006 with a fifth part plus several add-ons. Heroes of Might and Magic received another boost in popularity through its use as a LAN tournament game in the USA. However, the Age of Wonders series has benefited from the fact that the last two HoMM parts were not as well received by fans as the third part.

Other related games include Warlords , Disciples, and Master of Magic .

Single track

Age of Wonders

The fantasy strategy game with role-playing elements surprised in 1999 (already in autumn 1997 in the USA) with beautiful graphics and complex rules. It is played in rounds and, in addition to the single player campaign, offers LAN and e-mail game support. In addition to the traditional (classic) game mode, the game can be played in another simultaneous mode, in which players can move their units at the same time. Note that both modes are turn-based.

The game is embedded in a story that says that the kingdom of the elves with the Valley of Wonders as its capital was conquered and destroyed by humans. The elf king Inioch was killed. His two children, daughter Julia and son Meandor, survive. After they have grown up, both lead two different groups: Julia the guardians, who want a reconciliation with the people, and Meandor the cult of storms, who want to drive the people out of the valley of wonders and destroy them.

In campaign mode, the player can choose one of the two groups. He can help his group to win over twelve levels each, with alternative paths and exits possible. In addition to the campaign, 22 scenarios can be played on differently designed maps with different predefined peoples. The player explores a map that can consist of up to three levels. On this map there are cities of different sizes that can be conquered and peoples that must be defeated. The player can design his main character (hero) at the beginning of the game. He can choose between twelve races, four good (elves, halflings, dwarfs and giants), four bad (dark elves, goblins, orcs and undead) and neutral (humans, lizards, azrak and frostlings). Each people has twelve different units available. Units can be built in cities. The main character can be upgraded by gaining experience. In addition, magic can be researched that comes from different mutually exclusive areas (fire and water, air and earth, and life and death). The magic can be used globally, in battle and in relation to units.

Age of Wonders II: The Circle of Wizards

Age of Wonders II was published in German on June 27, 2002 and runs on all Windows operating systems.

The focus is on the fantasy world of the "Blessed Continent", where elves , dark elves (bad elves), dwarves , orcs , halflings (hobbits), goblins , frostlings (goblins living in the ice), undead , archonians, tigran (cat people), draconians (Dragon people) and of course people live led by their respective wizards. The player takes on the role of one of these magicians and must expand his cities, conquer or found new cities, research new magic formulas, recruit heroes and armies, explore the map (upper and underworld) with them, negotiate diplomatically with the other wizards or them to war.

The Age of Elves was over and the Age of Men was about to begin. But the transition became a disaster and brought young mankind to the brink of extinction. In order to save the people, Julia, the daughter of the Colonel Elf who perished in the transition, gathered troops of the light to fight against her brother Meandor and her undead father, who had gathered an army of evil around them. After Julia won, powerful wizards took power and plunged the world into a state of chaos. The people who fled from the wizards gathered around Merlin (whose role one takes on in the campaigns), who was chosen by the Guardian of Magic , Gabriel, to help mankind come to power. But the other wizards want to prevent this at all costs.

A special feature of Age of Wonders II is the division of the cards made up of hexagons . This allows you to move from one to any of the six adjacent squares. In contrast to similarly structured strategy games such as Civilization , the battles do not simply consist of an automatically calculated and animated meeting of unit symbols, but of battles of up to 56 units. This gives the game a special tactical depth. There are twelve peoples with over 130 different units and 100 magic formulas from seven different areas (spheres). The campaign includes 20 scenarios and countless additional cards.

The game also comes with a user-friendly editor with which you can create your very own personal map or hero (or change an existing one) that can be played immediately. The online game was coordinated internationally by Gamespy .

Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic

Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic (AoW: SM for short) was originally planned as an add-on for the second part, but was released in 2003 as a standalone version.

With the Nomads, Shadow Demons and Syron, Shadow Magic offers three other races in addition to those known from Part 1. The game has a world on three different levels, the upper world, the underworld and the shadow world. Some scenarios can only contain the upper world as the underworld and shadow world are optional.

Unofficially, the game (2005) is and was further developed by the international fan base through an update (V.1.4).

Age of Wonders 3

After ten years, another sequel to Age of Wonders was announced on February 6, 2013 . The game was released on March 31, 2014. On September 18, 2014 the first expansion Golden Realms was released, on April 14, 2015 the second expansion Eternal Lords.

Age of Wonders: Planetfall

The development of the fifth part of the game series launched in 1999 began in mid-2015. It is the first product of the collaboration between Triumph Studios and Paradox Interactive , which bought the studio in 2017. The fantasy setting of the Age-of-Wonders series was largely abandoned for a sci-fi setting, as the team wanted to experiment with new topics and ideas and have only worked on fantasy games since the first Age-of-Wonders title would have. The advanced diplomacy was inspired by the great strategy games from Paradox Development Studios . The team tried to make each faction unique by giving them different gameplay benefits and features. Triumph Studios initially found it difficult to create the game until they embarked on the concept of the "Star Union", which brought together all factions and units as their common origin. The storylines of Star Wars , Fallout and Hyperion served as inspiration for the development of the background story of the game .

The game was announced by Paradox Interactive on May 19, 2018 and released on August 6, 2019. The Deluxe Edition, which contains several new cosmetics, and the Premium Edition, which also includes access to three expansion packs after the release, can be purchased.

Tactical turn-based sci-fi battles, diverse science fiction worlds, planetary empire (Star Union), various victory options, numerous game modes with randomly generated maps and in-depth single player campaigns, skirmish mode or online multiplayer mode, hot seat and asynchronous . There are some similarities to Civilization , XCOM and Heroes of Might and Magic .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic - Test, Strategy - 4Players.de. Retrieved October 24, 2019 .
  2. ↑ 'Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic' - v1.4 Update Patch Available NOW. In: WorthPlaying. Retrieved October 24, 2019 .
  3. ↑ John Walker: Age Of Wonders III / 3 / three / iii / ³ Announced. In: Rock, Paper, Shotgun. February 6, 2013. Retrieved October 24, 2019 (American English).
  4. ↑ Daniel Link: Age of Wonders: Planetfall in the test - turn-based strategy meets XCOM tactics . In: PC Games . August 5, 2019. Retrieved August 6, 2019.