Build your own fantasy empire
Age of Wonders 4 mixes 4X strategy with turn-based tactical battles. You rule a faction that grows and changes as you expand your empire turn by turn. Before you start, you craft your followers by combining bodily forms, societal traits and arcane powers, so you can make anything from a clan of cannibal halflings to mystic moon elves. You also claim and master Tomes of Magic to enchant your armies and evolve your people, and you can see them physically change as they morph into angelic beings or scions of chaos. Powerful Wizard Kings have returned to the realms to reign as gods among mortals, and you prepare for an epic battle that will determine the ages to come.
Play together with friends
Online Co-op lets you and your friends work together in the same campaign. Online PvP puts you against each other if you would rather compete. Remote Play Together is also available for playing with someone else. Battles are tactical and turn-based, from skirmishes with roaming monsters to vast sieges with dozens of units on each side, with a morale system among the features that shape each fight. Every choice opens up new possibilities and tactical advantages, so there is deep, multilayered strategy to work through at every turn.
What to know before starting
Each game explores a new realm, or you can create your own, with varied locations and features from frozen wastelands ruled by ice queens to desolated ruins where dragons roam. A storytelling event system gives unexpected levels of storytelling for 4X games, and your decisions shape the world around you, from growing cities and roaming armies to world-warping magic effects. You can seek glory through brutal domination, cunning alliances, or ultimate arcane knowledge. The story does not end with your victory or defeat: you can ascend your rulers to an in-game pantheon and unlock ways to further customize your experience, then encounter your own creations as potential rivals or allies in later games. The game is more moddable and open-ended than any earlier entry in the series.