Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension

 PC
Metascore
tbd

No score yet - based on 3 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. IGN Italia
    Jan 14, 2014
    92
    Learning how to play Dominions 4 is not easy, but the endless hours of fun you'll get out of it are more than worth the effort.
  2. Pelit (Finland)
    Mar 11, 2014
    89
    Dominions 4 is a turn-based strategy game set in a non-traditional fantasy world filled with various nations inspired by mythology and religion. As a player you first pick a nation and then customize your god. Then you just need to wipe out all the other factions and their false gods. Isn't that simple? The game really shines in multiplayer mode because fighting against real humans feels much better than dealing with AI factions that can't even use diplomacy. The best thing about Dominions 4 is the fact that it has tons of depth and replayability but it's a shame that the graphics and user interface are outdated. Well, I guess you can't have everything. [Dec 2013]
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  3. GameWatcher
    Oct 28, 2013
    80
    Nevertheless, if you’re able to look beyond the simplistic graphics to the fantastic game underneath then this one is a real treasure.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 40 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 40
  3. Negative: 4 out of 40
  1. ScottChambers
    Oct 21, 2013
    3
    Not a good sequel to the great Dominions 3, and certainly not worth the high price being asked for what is basically the exact same game. (theNot a good sequel to the great Dominions 3, and certainly not worth the high price being asked for what is basically the exact same game. (the game badly needs a complete code re-write for it to meaningfully make progress, but that doesn't seem to be something the devs want to do, preferring instead to make some easy money from yet again re-using code that is now 10+ years old, mostly legacy, and largely a mess)
    ///

    Some areas of Dominions 4 have been improved over its predecessor, such as repeat recruitment, but other areas have been made worse, and some unfathomable changes have been made to core aspects of the game (movement, communions, slow recruitment, forts, blood hunting, scales, bless). Many of these changes make no sense at all, and in several cases (communions, movement) do nothing except make the game flat out worse than Dominions 3.
    ///

    And there seems to have been a concerted and intentional effort made to slow the game down considerably, which is a seriously bad idea given that most MP games last 60+ turns anyway, and suffer badly from player drop-out/lack of interest in the latter stages. And the changes that have been made will likely extend the average MP game length to past 100 turns. so I can only imagine how bad player drop-out rates will be in Dominions 4 MP games (I think it's quite clear the devs do not play MP games at all, or at least not in anything like the same manner as most Dominions MP players do, and so they devs simply have no idea of the negative consequences their design changes will have on MP games, in particular the length of a typical game and the drop-out rate of these games. As all they see are how the changes look on paper, but have no practical MP experience to understand how the changes will work in practice)
    ///

    The Dominions community have been very patiently waiting for several years for a 4th version of Dominions, and even though many will praise this game no matter what, deep down they will know this is NOT the game they were waiting all these years for. And even though it's still hands down the second best MP TBS game there is, it can't even compare to the best MP TBS game, which is Dominions 3.
    ///

    Illwinter, next time try listening to the MP community BEFORE you make huge changes to core areas of the game because perhaps then you'll make only good changes that the community badly needed and have been asking for for years, and not liek you did with Dominions 4 which is mix a few good changes in with a dozen or more terrible ones that nobody asked for, were not required, certainly don't help, and only make the game worse for players.    … Full Review »
  2. void_
    May 28, 2014
    4
    Gaming like it's 1994.

    This seems like a really deep strategy game. And as much as I love some games in this genre, I can't recommend this    Gaming like it's 1994.

    This seems like a really deep strategy game. And as much as I love some games in this genre, I can't recommend this one. The presentation and interface are so obtuse, you probably will not figure out how to play it without watching a tutorial video and/or printing out the manual. Even navigating the interface enough to display the pertinent information to begin figuring out what's going on takes some learning.

    I would not recommend this game for anyone who has spoiled themselves by playing anything more modern than Master of Magic. It seems downright criminal to list this game for $35.    … Full Review »
  3. JoeSco
    Dec 20, 2013
    8
    I was initially impressed with droves of playable factions, unique monsters, and customizable armies. The game certainly has all of thoseI was initially impressed with droves of playable factions, unique monsters, and customizable armies. The game certainly has all of those features but some are much better represented than others.

    There are a few factions that feel uninspired, but given that there are so many to choose from I am impressed that many of them are so unique. As of writing this review, I have not played *every* faction but I have clashed against the majority of them and each enemy warrants a slight change in the strategy I take when attacking them. Some factions will swarm you with summoned undead units, others have single monstrosities, and a few have units that are all capable of flying.

    Every faction has access to certain special units, a pool of vanilla units, and a spellbook teeming with shared conjurations. I have spent 40+ hours of this game experimenting with every spell in the book and units on the field but still have not found a combination that was not exciting; however, watching your super cool wizard knights act like complete tools on the battlefield will make you sad. I think some serious overhaul with regards to combat controls would improve the game immensely. Understanding the importance of playing your units in the right spots and giving them a broad strategy works to an extent but I would really like more control over the situations where you want your spell caster to hit the right spell at the right time.

    There's not much to say about treasure or province management. Some of the game's charm lies in the system in place. There is very little effort, outside of casting positive or negative spells, to keep your provinces where you want them.

    The main problem I have with this game is the interface. Spells can only be arranged by school of magic, and not even alphabetically in that list. I would expect, for as many spells as are available, there to be a more advanced method of sorting through them.

    My 8 score is a combination of the game being a really solid 7 but the niche gameplay it provides, and the fact that I have spent over 40 hours playing it with no signs of slowing, force me to recognize that as an intangible positive.

    8/10 would bang    … Full Review »
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