Age of Wonders has been a fan favorite in the PC strategy community ever since the first game was released in 1999, although it has been kind of a niche in the entire gaming spectrum. With the rise of publishing costs, along with trying to find that next big game, the smaller studios have been left to their own devices. This has led to a lot of developers self-publishing their games, which is the case with Age of Wonders III. It is unclear whether this game would have ever seen the light of day, considering the last Age of Wonders game was released 11 years ago. But thanks to digital distribution, we have Age of Wonders III to play, and it is everything you want with a fantasy strategy game.
The biggest addition to Age of Wonders III is the RPG elements that go into making your leader when creating a game. If you choose the campaign option, which I’ll get into later, the game chooses a leader for you that are customizable through upgrades. When creating a leader, you can choose from six different races: humans, draconian, high elves, dwarves, orcs, and goblins. Depending on the race you choose for your leader determines the race of your empire.
There will be folks out there that scoff at this next statement, but it is an easy way to convey how this game is played: Age of Wonders III plays a lot like a Civilization game. There are differences to each game, especially combat, but the empire-building mechanics of Age of Wonders III is very reminiscent of Civilization. You start out with a small band of travelers, you found a city, you choose what the city will produce, and things you produce can unlock other units and buildings for your cities. Fans of Civilization will notice the similarities, but it isn’t by any means a Civilization rip-off.
One area where Age of Wonders III is different from any Civilization game is with combat. In Age of Wonders III, you can auto-resolve combat, or you can enter into a turn-based battle system. Each side can bring in a maximum of six units to battle. Each unit has a limited number of steps they can take, and movement decreases the amount of times a unit can attack. For example, if an archer can reach a target from the spot they started from in that turn, they will be able to take four shots at an enemy. But if an archer has to move to shoot at an enemy and moves a certain amount of move points, he will only take two or one shot. It is a good way to balance the combat.
At first the combat was incredibly overwhelming, with my army getting destroyed in every battle. It wasn’t until I increased the size of my army and sent multiple, six unit groups that I was able to get a hang of the combat. Once you are familiar with the combat, I found myself enjoying the combat quite a bit.
Players can create a game, once again, similar to Civilization, and play that way, or you can hop into a full campaign that pits The Commonwealth Empire and the Elven Court against each other to rule the world. The Commonwealth Empire is made up of many different races that joined forces for protection after war broke apart many factions. The Empire is now run by humans who seized power, and they are looking to expand and take over land claimed by the Elven Court. The elves want to bring back the old power that ruled the world before the war. The player can choose between either side in the conflict, giving you a unique perspective of this conflict from the two warring sides.
Age of Wonders III has a good look to it with many fantasy elements driving the aesthetics of the game. It isn’t the best looking turn-based strategy game on the market, but it is still pleasing to the eyes. Sometimes the animation in battles can get a bit wonky, but it isn’t anything that takes away from the game.
Age of Wonders III is a great addition to the Age of Wonders series, and a must have for anyone that is a fan of fantasy strategy games.
Score: 8.5/10
Age of Wonders III was developed and published by Triumph Studios for PC on March 31st. A retail copy of the PC version was provided to us by Triumph Studios for reviewing purposes.
