Age of Wonders: Planetfall - Preview

PCGamesN has a preview of Age of Wonders: Planetfall.

There’s a lot to be said for our globalised modern world, but none of it is particularly positive for 4X games. The more connected and homogenised we become, the harder it is to make new discoveries - likewise, the better we communicate, the less desire we have to take and conquer. For a studio like Triumph, which was founded on making games that satisfy our inner invader, drastic solutions become necessary.

Age of Wonders: Planetfall burns the routers, knocks the satellites out of the sky, and mothballs the interstellar shuttles. Technology that has united us and allowed us to explore the universe is destroyed. The Star Union, once a galactic empire that spanned many thousands of worlds, has collapsed, marooning its people on their individual homeworlds. Cut off from one another, they have evolved to become culturally unique: scavenging cyborgs, bioengineering amazons, and bleary-eyed expeditionary forces awoken from cryosleep.

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Hmmm… I don't like the sound of:

There’s a certain amount of choice involved in high-level management… On a higher level still, you can make tweaks to your economy using a kind of equaliser tool.

No mention of researching tech, etc and city/empire management sounds like it could be equally light. Hope this isn't too much combat and too little of everything else like AoW 3 was (at least for me).

Originally Posted by SSIGuy
No mention of researching tech, etc and city/empire management sounds like it could be equally light. Hope this isn't too much combat and too little of everything else like AoW 3 was (at least for me).

Well every AoW game is basically the same so I'm not worried.

A couple of games for anyone who enjoys AoW are the following.

Endless Legend
Fallen Enchantress - Legendary Heroes
Warlock 2 - The Exiled
Sorcerer King - Rivals

I'm probably missing a few but oh well.

Originally Posted by SSIGuy
Hmmm… I don't like the sound of:



No mention of researching tech, etc and city/empire management sounds like it could be equally light. Hope this isn't too much combat and too little of everything else like AoW 3 was (at least for me).

I actually hope it is more like Age of Wonders 3. There are plenty of more global strategy oriented space stategy games, like MOO3, Endless Space 1 & 2, and the Galactic Civilization series. The Sci-Fi setting could use a more tactical hero oriented game, since it really doesn't have much in that direction.

I hope it's more like AoW 3. I played the game for the exploration, the combat, the huge random maps… I don't need another "global strategy" game.

I basically want AoW 3 with a sci-fi skin.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Well every AoW game is basically the same so I'm not worried.

A couple of games for anyone who enjoys AoW are the following.

Endless Legend
Fallen Enchantress - Legendary Heroes
Warlock 2 - The Exiled
Sorcerer King - Rivals

I'm probably missing a few but oh well.

I didn't like any of those games much, but I loved AoW1, 2, and 3. They just hit the magic button for fun and elegant gameplay for me in a way those other games didn't.

warlock 2 was a lot of fun but the ai was stupid.

Originally Posted by you
warlock 2 was a lot of fun but the ai was stupid.

Yep but at least you can buy it cheaply for hours of fun. I remember a kickstarter called Planar Conquest from a few years back that might interest a few watchers.

Though it's a bug ridden mess, and the expansion was never released.