Age of Wonders 4 is the long-awaited next entry in the Age of Wonders series of games. The gameplay genre of this game is known as 4X, and is a subclassification for strategy games. 4X is similar to that of a Grand Strategy game, of whichthere are a lot of beloved titles.
RELATED:10 Best JRPGs Ever Made, Ranked
4X comes from 4 words that all have an “X” sounding start to them. The first being expand, which comes from growing your base and forces across the map. Seconds is explore, which comes from sending units far across the map from where you start in the hopes of finding valuable items and resources. Third is exploit, with the intent of acquiring and coveting all the resources for yourself and denying opponents access to them. Lastly is exterminate, which comes from slaying every computer enemy, and wiping any trace of another player from the map.
Here’s a look at more 4X titles for those that liked Age of Wonders 4.
10Brigandine: The Legend Of Runersia
Brigandine: The Legend Of Runersia is part of the Brigadine series of games, and although it does not fit into the 4X genre as you would expect all games on this list, it caters to the exact same player mindset as it.
This game is the 2020 sequel to Brigandine: The Legend of Forsena, which was released in 1998. The more you play, the more you will see yourself expanding your control of more bases, managing many more subroutines and engaging in epic battles revolving around the positioning of units and what they are capable of doing.
9Age of Wonders 3
Age of Wonders 3 is one of the previous releases in the Age of Wonders series of games. It features both large-scale strategy on a hexagon-tiled world map, but also much smaller battle maps for its units to duke it out, rather than seeing said units on the same world map in larger squads.
This can make the game feel like you are alternating between playing two very different games. This also gives units more identity and feel more important for which ones are going into battles.
8Civilization 6
Civilizationis one of the most beloved and well-known 4x game series around. It lacks any of the fantasy elements from the Age of Wonders series of games, but it makes up for the with some of the best gameplay in the whole subgenre.
Each successor has added new features and mechanics though the franchise’s history. You will start with a very primitive nomadic civilization and will need to grow and evolve its technology to progress it through various eras of human history.
7Age of Wonders: Planetfall
Planetfallis everything you love about the Age of Wonders series, except they swap out the fantasy elements for Sci-Fi ones. It is a monumental improvement over Age of Wonders 3, and it makes the two methods of play feel more synergistic rather than alternating between playing 2 different feeling games.
RELATED:10 Games To Play If You Love Marvel’s Midnight Suns
Each faction feels very unique and plays very differently from one another. It is worth giving each of them a play to see which one really meshes well with your play style. The smallerTactical elementsare a very nice touch for the game’s larger focus on strategy.
6Chaos Galaxy 2
Chaos Galaxy 2 shows thesci-fiworks just as much as fantasy. It has a very pleasing and enjoyable art style and each of the starting factions have eye-catching aesthetics. As you play the game, you will need to manage many elements between each turn. These actions can involve moving your units around, upgrading different planets and socially interacting with other factions in your game.
You will also need to acquire resources and deny opponents access to them. The biggest seller for this game is the visual appeal and worth looking into if 4X style games are your jam.
5Ozymandias: Bronze Age Empire
On its surface, this game may come off as too simplistic and not really innovative, but that could not be further from the truth. The game takes all the core fundamentals you would expect and just polishes them until they cannot shine anymore.
It feels as is as if it is a digital version of a tabletop 4X game. Using simple markers and recorded values to create an extremely mentally stimulating game without any fluff and high graphical requirements to slow it down.
4Old World
In terms of complexity, it would go Ozymandias: Bronze Age Empire, Civilization 6, and then Old World. This game is highly polished, looks graphically amazing, and will need a very deep understanding of its many mechanics in order to maximize your chances of victory.
If what you are going for is gameplay, then this may be your next big fix for the 4X genre. Its focus on a smaller scale really reigns in some of the elements that drag out some 4X campaigns and keeps players feeling more invested in the current one.
3Warlock 2: The Exiled
If you are looking for a magical, high fantasy style 4X experience, then Warlock 2 will tick all of your boxes. It features plenty of fantasy species to serve as factions, lots of magic spells and different kinds of base elements to research.
RELATED:10 Games to Play If You Love Fire Emblem: Engage
One of the faction choices straight up starts you off as a single mighty dragon instead of giving you a starting base or any other units. Like other 4X games, there are many ways to achieve victory, and this allows each faction to focus and specialize in options to get to one of these end-game objectives other some of the others.
2Endless Legend
Endless Legend is from the same team behindEndless Space, and it streamlines a lot of the elements you may experience in Warlock 2. While having less may seem like a bad call in a 4X game, this works in Endless Legend’s favor and creates a more engaging experience by keeping your goals and objectives clearer.
Each faction will have its own quest line to follow in order to help make them as powerful as they can be. You will also trigger many side quests and other races on the map that can be friend or foe.
1SpellForce: Conquest of Eo
SpellForce: Conquest of Eo does everything perfectly. It optimizes each mechanic to feel so different from one another that makes it feel like you are undertaking different roles that you should be delegating. One of the most important resources in the game is Allfire, which you can convert into any areas you feel are lacking or need to give a push to finish off something you are really close to achieving.
It takes a page from Age of Wonders as has both a larger scale map and smaller scale battle maps for units, making it the most similar game on this list to Age Of Wonders.
