Age of Wonders 4

 PC
Metascore
83

Generally favorable reviews - based on 30 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 29 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 30
  3. Negative: 0 out of 30
  1. Screen Rant
    Apr 28, 2023
    70
    Age of Wonders 4 is a beautifully crafted 4X experience for players who like to dig deep and learn how to customize a game to fit how they like to play and be able to research through many varieties of choices and traits. The game offers some ways to simplify things for those who are more casual but definitely is something that someone could spend hours, days, and weeks digging into and still not be able to see everything the game has in its depths. While its overloaded amount of bookkeeping can prevent some enjoyment, what's here is more than satisfactory for the genre.
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  1. Eurogamer
    Apr 27, 2023
    Taking inspiration from RPGs breathes new life into Age of Wonders 4, which balances exciting breadth and surprising approachability. [Eurogamer Recommended]
  2. Polygon
    Apr 27, 2023
    Tending to the drama of an immortal pantheon is enough to keep me around, though I’m not sure for how much longer. If the repetition doesn’t kill you once you start struggling through higher tier realms, maybe the marauders will.
  3. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Apr 27, 2023
    It's perhaps unfair to slam it for its best parts apparently coming after many more weeks of experimenting and practicing (although I will slam its utterly tiresome ‘progression’ that has you unlock cosmetics and world generation options with points awarded after a campaign. It’s pointless time-wasting, but thankfully a great many worldgen options are available upfront, saving it from outright condemnation). I enjoy its city management, its freedom, and sometimes its battles. There's some solid, intricate design I can appreciate. but I never really connected with the factions, spells, or fighting of Age Of Wonders 4 the way the phrase "cursed toadlings" promised.

Awards & Rankings

45
#45 Best PC Game of 2023
37
#37 Most Discussed PC Game of 2023

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 77 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 57 out of 77
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 77
  3. Negative: 7 out of 77
  1. indieinsights
    May 7, 2023
    8
    It is better than Age of Wonders 3, obviously. It had a rocky start in the first hours, where the Steam reviews dropped for a few hours to 40It is better than Age of Wonders 3, obviously. It had a rocky start in the first hours, where the Steam reviews dropped for a few hours to 40 %, because of crashes, but it is now rightfully much higher.

    The visuals suffer a little from typical small team issues: everything is too dark, even during the day for light factions, as if the devs had little experience in computer graphics. The shadows on the NPCs and beneath trees show the problem. The female in particular are badly lit. Small studio problems. Maybe they will fix it.

    But the game's pace, gameplay, are really alright. Best 4X game since Civ6.

    The only complaints I can think of (after 45+ h) are

    - The faction creator causes generic, boring races with no soul. If any race can be anything, any time, it feels... dull? Random? I read that some journalists complained about that one too, so maybe it is worth mentioning. There are no real Orcs, Elves, Skavens, or Demons in this game, if you need some.

    - City sieges are not fun, and make little sense. You siege an outpost for 2-3 turns, but also a big city for 5 turns? And when you beat a large army defending that city of 20 units? Nah, doesn't matter. Still waiting 3 turns.

    - The bad/evil standing looks nice but you notice soon that it doesn't matter. Bad and evil factions ally all the time, even after a war. Once allied, their opinion ratings increase which makes them move closer. It is a bit like the generic faction designer: it only leads to a big brown soup of randomness, unlike in other games.I also noticed how diplomacy in this game flips around like a flag in the wind.

    - Tactical combat at first is fun, but soon you 4-5x 6-unit-stack-armies vs another 4x 6-unit-stack-armies. Not only is map movement annoying. If they attack your tiny outpost, all you do is hoping that the siege takes 3-4 turns, so that you can move your 6-unit-stack-armies there quickly.

    - The world map is difficult to read. You actually want to know where your armies are, where the enemy's armies are, to plan better, but I guess the devs did not play the game themselves. The map becomes useless, unless you want to see where the borders are?

    - Research is confusing. After almost 50 h, I still do not understand the book choices and differences much. I could read some wiki on it. True. But come on, research should be more obvious and transparent, since picking the wrong books has a huge impact on your game.

    - I played multiple campaigns so far. I noticed that I do not connect or care for my factions, race, whatever. I do not read the stories. I think that it has to do with the faction designer that causes to not care about it, since any race can be anything, any time. This is contrary to Warhammer where you do care.

    - Another thing I noticed is the weak AI. Eventually, you have to play on super hard mode because the AI's building order and expansion are not as good as yours. But maybe that will improve soon too.    … Full Review »
  2. BOJIOTOBA
    May 4, 2023
    10
    the game is like a masterpiece. very simple but at the same time deep mechanics.
  3. TheRishka
    May 3, 2023
    10
    It's just in general improved AoW3, which was already decent. Works totally fine on steam deck
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