In January developer Triumph Studios and publisher Paradox Interactive announced the latest installment to the beloved fantasy 4X strategy series: Age of Wonders 4. Since then the team has shared a number of dev journals dedicated to the new features, affinities and story of the game. Now the Steam page of Age of Wonders 4 has been updated with the fourth dev diary that outlines Realms and Pantheon of the game.
With the Wizard Kings returning in Age of Wonders 4, the barriers between the worlds have been ripped open and left many Realms within reach. This approach allows developers to build upon the lessons of Planetfall’s Empire Mode.
There are 3 kinds of Realm to choose from:
- Story Realms, with custom lore and story content that tells the story of the Fourth Age of Wonders and the return of the Godir;
- Challenge Realms, where an interesting set of traits is gathered together to give a unique Realm to be explored and conquered;
- Custom Realms, these are your own creations, making a custom Realm lets you pick Traits as you see fit to make something unexpected.
Each Realm possesses certain Realm Traits that are divided into 5 types: Geography, Clime, Inhabitant, Presence and Miscellaneous. Each realm can feature 1 of each of these (except for Misc traits, of which a realm can have 4). When you’ve obtained some experience in the game, misc traits are where you find interesting twists to change up your play through.
The Pantheon is the system where you collect your ascended rulers: each ruler you complete a Realm with may ascend to your Pantheon. From that point on, they will either aid or hinder your future conquests. It is also where you spend the Points you’ve earned with your Pantheon XP to unlock new customization options for your leaders!
Check out the Steam blog post to learn more details about each system.
In case you’ve missed the previous installments of Age of Wonders 4 dev diaries, you can find them here:
- Age of Wonders 4 – Dev Diary#3: Story and Lore
- Age of Wonders 4 – Dev Diary#2: Affinities
- Age of Wonders 4 – Dev Diary#1: Inception, New Features, etc.
