It’s a pretty great long term gaming experience and really favors those incredibly long and ambitious game types on large maps that you wouldn’t normally play in regular multiplayer. You take your turn, log out, wait for him to take his, then come back, etc. Rounding it out is asynchronous multiplayer, which if you don’t know what that is, is basically playing chess by e-mail. Playing a turn-based 4X game in same screen multiplayer may not sound like a lot of fun, but can definitely be worth it. A new one is Hotseat, which I imagine was added because of the new console audience and everyone should thank them for it. There’s the usual full scenarios mode, but in multiplayer. It’s the multiplayer modes that will carry the game after you’ve finished the campaign though, and Planetfall is no slouch in that area.

If you ever wanted to build planets, here you are. It’s a very well fleshed out map generator, capable of fine tuning every biome and climate to your liking. However, that’s not where Planetfall truly shines, though it would have been enough to be worth playing. Some things have been refined and expanded based on feedback from Age of Wonders III and gameplay-wise this is the best iteration of the system.

I’ve seen the Age of Wonders franchise refereed to as “turn-based Total War” and it’s an apt description that remains true here.

While your mileage varies depending on faction, such as the Vanguard feeling exactly like an XCOM game while the melee focused Kir’ko play as anything but, the general themes of cover, movement, and even the UI will feel familiar. When you engage another unit stack in combat, you are moved to an appropriately themed battle map, where things become more XCOM than Civilization. There’s the main map from which you’ll expand and perform your usual 4X duties. No matter the game, there’s always a quest to find someone’s lost dog.īasic gameplay is very familiar and stays close to both the standard 4X formula and Age of Wonders‘ own unique mechanics.

Civ 6 review age of wonders 3