For a while now, 2Game's editorial team has taken the notion of understanding Age of Wonders 4 basically for granted. That's because it all fits into place as soon as you play a match at your own pace: the game is explained well and doesn't overload the player with information right out of the gate.

That is, provided that you've got at least some previous experience with premiere 4X titles like Civilization or Stellaris. Describing AoW4's mechanics outside of that valuable context is, therefore, a bit difficult. Today, however, we've taken it upon ourselves to go in-depth on the game's most important and notable feature: its evolving faction/race system. And, naturally, its interrelationship with other key game systems!

If you've been reading high praise about Age of Wonders 4 without getting what all the hype is about - this is the article for you!

READ MORE: Everything a Day-One Buyer of Age of Wonders 4 Needs to Know!

Understanding Age of Wonders 4

The crucial part of getting the appeal of Age of Wonders 4 is understanding its unique features and novelties. These are, for the most part, retained within two aspects of its gameplay:

• faction/race progression
• meta-game unlocks

Whereas most 4X titles don't really lean all that heavily into meta-progression - if at all - Age of Wonders 4 does so with gusto. Our previous claim that AoW4 pushes 4X forward wasn't without merit, after all. Instead, as you move from one match to another with one unique race of creatures after another, two things will happen.

Firstly, victorious creatures will enter the proverbial multiverse and you may end up coming across them in your future matches. Yup: that super-powered faction of necromancer kitties you mopped everyone else with? You may well face them down the line! Friend or foe, this already adds great flavour to the game.

Those meta-game unlocks we mentioned, though, build upon the game's level of customizability further still. New goodies, gear, and faction options crop up as you complete matches, allowing you to mix things up more than you otherwise could've.

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Faction Progression

Let's take a bit of a step back now and circle back to factions/races themselves. As with any other 4X title, Age of Wonders 4 starts your faction with nothing short of a city and a single military troop. Every new match is a new opportunity for progress, but the kicker is that you do need to start from scratch, no matter what.

The biggest takeaway is that almost all your starting choices are cosmetic. This game takes an interesting approach wherein most setups are effectively the same at the start of a given match, only for them to diverge extremely heavily over the course of the next 50-60 turns. Divergent faction development is what it's all about in Age of Wonders 4, because even though your frogman berserker is effectively identical to your human berserker at the start, there's no telling what they end up developing into as time goes on.

That's where Tomes come in. Effectively the game's Research tree, Tomes are sets of thematic spells that players can freely pick and choose from to advance their faction. One tier, you may choose to spec into thunder-based spellcasting. The other, nothing is stopping you from speccing out a few new units. The end result is a unique mishmash of features that affect your race both visually and functionally, developing its culture as you go.

Personal preferences are king in Age of Wonders 4

It's important to note here that there aren't really any wrong choices to make when picking Tomes and whatnot. Obviously, you do want to respond to the world you've been thrown into, but flavour is the game's name, and you're free to do whatever you want. Getting back to our race of frogmen berserkers, you could very well turn them into lightning worshippers. Or into cave-dwelling xenophobes. Or, perhaps, to spec them as violence-loving artisans. The world is your oyster, as it were.

Will they be able to face other factions, though? Whether culturally or through open combat, your frogmen berserkers need to make it to the top of the food pyramid, which is the key limiting factor when deciding on Tome development. The whole process is remarkably engaging and organic, and there's always something exciting going on that needs your attention.

You can think of Age of Wonders 4 as a hardcore fantasy game of Civilization - with an obvious penchant for customization.

Meta Progression

Building on top of everything we outlined above is the game's rich roster of meta-unlocks. The ostensible goal in Age of Wonders 4 is to turn your race of berserker frogmen into literal gods, elevating them from one plane of existence to an entire multiverse's worth of possibilities. So, if the frogmen win their match, they will continue popping up in other matches you play as your potential rival.

Further, depending on how successful you are in a given match, wrapping it up gives you some amount of Pantheon XP. This is essentially the counter that lets you unlock a wealth of otherwise inaccessible racial traits, maps, map modifiers, cosmetics, and more. The list is remarkably impressive, and it builds out the game's already impressive selection of customization options further still. These aren't must-haves, necessarily, so nobody is hard-pressed to truly grind through one match after another if they don't feel like doing that.

The end result, though, is a 4X that does keep you busy at all times, and which allows for more variety than we've seen anywhere else, short of possibly Stellaris. A real joy to play, in other words!

Infinite Possibilities in a Fantasy 4X

The appeal, all in all, should be obvious by now. Age of Wonders 4 lets you rethink your approach to classic fantasy tropes. Want to create a marauding army of cannibal elves? Go ham! How about a race of angelic catmen? Maybe a faction of paladin goblins? Even though any given match of AoW4 started samey, the tools to reshape your faction are quickly provided, and the game comes into its own.

From our experience with the game, it's a uniquely inviting experience even if you're not particularly keen on 4X gameplay. Its customization is too impressive to pass up on, and with all the underlying mechanics being remarkably engaging, it's bound to keep anyone busy for hours on end.

Now, keep in mind that we're setting up in-depth guides for AoW4's progression and combat systems. If you need help on these fronts, stay tuned! You can stay on top of our game coverage via the 2Game Community Hub, so be sure to check in when you can!

CHECK OUT: DLC Plans for Age of Wonders 4