Age of Wonders 4-like recommendations

[bacon.]

I really want to play this game, but in the meantime I might grab a 4x or tactical rpg. Does anyone have any recommendations? I already own the last two Age of Wonders games.

I think one of the closest looking games recently released is Spellforce Conquest of Eo

[Yarri]

Spellforce Conquest of Eo, АoW Planetfall, АоW3. Perhaps this is all from similar games.

The closest to AoW 4 is AoW PF. Spellforce Conquest of Eo is like a demo version of AoW4 with stripped-down functions, but with similar mechanics.

[bacon.]

I decided to grab EO. Even if it is stripped down it will get me primed for the real thing.

[Szeron]

Master of Magic recently had a remastered version if you don't want to try to get the original working on modern hardware. MoM is basically the game that started the whole genre.

Deity Empires isn't the prettiest game, but it is a wonderful indie game with a lot of charm and mechanical depth/innovation for the genre. Its take on rogue-like dungeons is a path I sincerely wish AoW would have gone down, but I understand why they slimmed down into the 'shiny arenas' we have instead. The Core system for units is quite novel and innovative for the entire genre as well.

Warlock 1/2 are fantasy 4x games that might come pretty close to scratching a similar itch to the Age of Wonders style. Warlock 2 even has a world-hopping system that might be a good segue to the theme of travelling to other worlds in Age of Wonders 4.

Eador series is pretty good, overall. It has its own quirky sense of humor, but is a quite solid series that tends to fly under the radar. Masters of the Broken World would be my recommendation.

Heroes of Might and Magic V is a bit dated by todays standards, but you can still get it to run on modern hardware without much fuss. I know most people glorify HOMM3 as the height of the series, but I honestly feel like the gameplay/mechanical refinement of the series reached its peak at HOMM5. It's also the last game in the series before Ubisoft devoured the franchise with its invasive uplay integration.

Songs of Conquest is an excellent HOMM-like that blends traditional gameplay of the genre with modern sensibilities(stacks have unit caps instead of allowing for 1000's of skeletons, settlements are modular instead of static, etc.). It's also a very pretty pixelized game with some interesting quirks and a lot of love behind it.

Hero's Hour is a goofy, sprite-based HOMM-like that replaces turn based tactical combat with a quasi-autobattler. Very charming and fun game to tinker with, but the fast and loose coding does tend to lead to a fequency of bugs and crashes that is noticeable. It probably won't satisfy the itch if you're looking for a slow and meticulous gameflow or something that is immaculately balanced. It is effective at devouring your time though.

Conquest of Elysium is the smaller scale little brother to the Dominions series. It's much more bite-sized and approachable for newer players.. and probably plays closer to Age of Wonders than Dominions itself does. (Dominions is very much the "Dwarf Fortress" of the genre that has a steep learning curve with a lot of nuance and planning. It's also more of a RISK-styled grand strategy than a conventional Fantasy Turn Based Strategy. However, you can do some pretty crazy things in Dominions that you can't really find or emulate in other games.)

[bacon.]

Originally posted by Szeron:

Master of Magic recently had a remastered version if you don't want to try to get the original working on modern hardware. MoM is basically the game that started the whole genre.

Deity Empires isn't the prettiest game, but it is a wonderful indie game with a lot of charm and mechanical depth/innovation for the genre. Its take on rogue-like dungeons is a path I sincerely wish AoW would have gone down, but I understand why they slimmed down into the 'shiny arenas' we have instead. The Core system for units is quite novel and innovative for the entire genre as well.

Warlock 1/2 are fantasy 4x games that might come pretty close to scratching a similar itch to the Age of Wonders style. Warlock 2 even has a world-hopping system that might be a good segue to the theme of travelling to other worlds in Age of Wonders 4.

Eador series is pretty good, overall. It has its own quirky sense of humor, but is a quite solid series that tends to fly under the radar. Masters of the Broken World would be my recommendation.

Heroes of Might and Magic V is a bit dated by todays standards, but you can still get it to run on modern hardware without much fuss. I know most people glorify HOMM3 as the height of the series, but I honestly feel like the gameplay/mechanical refinement of the series reached its peak at HOMM5. It's also the last game in the series before Ubisoft devoured the franchise with its invasive uplay integration.

Songs of Conquest is an excellent HOMM-like that blends traditional gameplay of the genre with modern sensibilities(stacks have unit caps instead of allowing for 1000's of skeletons, settlements are modular instead of static, etc.). It's also a very pretty pixelized game with some interesting quirks and a lot of love behind it.

Hero's Hour is a goofy, sprite-based HOMM-like that replaces turn based tactical combat with a quasi-autobattler. Very charming and fun game to tinker with, but the fast and loose coding does tend to lead to a fequency of bugs and crashes that is noticeable. It probably won't satisfy the itch if you're looking for a slow and meticulous gameflow or something that is immaculately balanced. It is effective at devouring your time though.

Conquest of Elysium is the smaller scale little brother to the Dominions series. It's much more bite-sized and approachable for newer players.. and probably plays closer to Age of Wonders than Dominions itself does. (Dominions is very much the "Dwarf Fortress" of the genre that has a steep learning curve with a lot of nuance and planning. It's also more of a RISK-styled grand strategy than a conventional Fantasy Turn Based Strategy. However, you can do some pretty crazy things in Dominions that you can't really find or emulate in other games.)

Thank you so much for all that effort! I completely forgot about Songs of Conquest and I think I have that on my Epic account.

[Yarri]

Originally posted by bacon.:

I decided to grab EO. Even if it is stripped down it will get me primed for the real thing.

If you want to prepare for AoW, then this is PF.
Spellforce Conquest of Eo is still a game with a slightly different logic (although similar). But PF is absolutely the same mechanics as AoW4 and there is no better option for training, especially if you want to play PVP.

Well, if you haven't played such game genres in principle, then you can generally take any turn-based strategy from the list above. Many more games can be added here. Civilization, Disciples II , Endless Legend etc...

[darkholyPL]

If you like Warhammer there are quite a few games in there that are 4x. Not exactly like AoW but still 4x.
There's also things like Stellaris, Master of Orion or Sins of a Solar Empire, but those are a bit more complicated.
Fallen Enchantress comes to mind as well, as do Thea 1 and 2.
That's about it, from what wasn't said yet in this topic, off the top of my head.
Edit: Oh and Beyond Earth. Why do I keep forgetting about it? It's actually quite fun with the DLC.

[bacon.]

I want to love Stellaris. I do love Stellaris. Just difficult to get into after years of content updates. I feel like I have a lot to relearn. Totally forgot about Thea.

[Seswatha]

Have you played Planetfall? I've skipped it but now picked it up in anticipation of AoW 4 and it's pretty good.

[Wushuki]

Another option would be: Warhammer 40,000: Gladius - Relics of War.

Hex based 4X with a focus on combat. It completely lacks diplomacy, so you are always at war with everyone.

[bacon.]

I appreciate the recommendations y'all

[mmszoli]

Previous Age of Wonders games

Kings Bounty series has great tactical combat but no strategic elements

[Ronnie]

Leylines is a cool little fantasy 4x game and overlooked underrated game. Battle plays out similar to Warlords 4 style. Heroes gain experience and can spend experience on skills instead of gaining levels. It is a unique hero system compared to other games that are similar. I wrote a review about that game awhile ago on steam as that game could use more players and I would of been nice if the Developer kept working on that game.

Recently I just picked up a fun oldie Dungeon Lords the steam edition. Great fun action rpg game, If you like that game check out Wizards and Warriors on Gog as well as its from the Same people who made Wizardry series of games.

SSI also just released Fantasy Empires on Steam which is a great game I used to play a lot in the past and SSI War of the Lance along with 3 other games added as well if you like war games. Sword of Aragon is a good fun oldie to from SSI similar to Fantasy General 1 and now Fantasy General 2.

Mordheim City of the damn is a good one as well and Zombasite which is an exceptional game I wrote a review on steam while back where even your weapons can gain levels and rival clans attack your town while your trying to hunt in dungeons and the outside wilderness and it plays sorta Diablo style action rpg type of game with added pressure of trying to defend your base under stress.


What makes that game great I wish 4x fantasy games would do is the work you do in one world rather you win or lose the results carry on to other worlds similar to Eador Masters of the Broken world.

[Motherball]

Humankind has a lot of the systems this version of AoW seems to be migrating towards, such as city limits, provinces, drafting, and ongoing sieges. It’s just humans, no orcs or rat people, but it’s a really good modern 4x game. I’ve heard Stellaris has many similar mechanics to this game as well, but I haven’t played Stellaris yet.