Will We See a Return of the Shadow Realm?

[David McMurdo]

In Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic, as well as having a surface and underground layer to the map, you could also have a shadow realm layer. It was essentially another dimension that units could phase to, though they would get "shadow sickness" from being in there long if they didn't have an item to prevent it. It was a weird realm where the Syron and Shadow Demon factions came from.

Here's the description for the fourth DLC planned for AoW 4: "The Age of Wonders 4: Eldritch Realms Expansion opens portals to realms filled with arcane marvels and unspeakable horrors. New forces threaten the rule of the Godir of Magehaven. With new strange monsters, new racial forms, magical realms and locations, this full expansion will bring a new dimension to the game."

Ever since I read the last part of the final sentence I've wondered if it means we might see a return of the shadow realm. I'm not someone that likes switching between map layers, but it'd be really cool to see that concept return to the series. What do you think?

[SBA77]

Would be nice to see the Shadow Demons. And I suppose we are dealing with Shadow Realm related things, that's where all the Wizard Kings were trapped and came back from. I could see Eldritch Realms expansions dealing with the Shadow Demons returning and involving the Wizard Kings sacrificing themselves getting trapped the Shadow Realm again to stop the invasion just like they did in Shadow Magic.

Of course it could always be a new Lovecraftian realm with eldritch monsters that is perhaps the source of the eldritch units the sorcerer class got in AoW 3, but here's hoping. I'd love to see the Shadow Demons again, especially with all the graphical advancements that have been made in the past 20 years.

[W@M]

Originally posted by David McMurdo:

In Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic, as well as having a surface and underground layer to the map, you could also have a shadow realm layer.... What do you think?

i think the idea was borrowed and modified to fit, from the original game 'master of magic'(microprose), and it was a brilliant edition to aow2 and a massive loss when it vanished in aow3 .
To have a realm where travel is faster, more weird and chaotic than underground and harder to access but with greater magic resources would be a good edition to aow4 and bring back the feel of aow2 of another species inhabiting a dangerous realm beyond. I humbly endorse this idea as a long time player of the entire game genre since MoM.