Age of Wonders

Age of Wonders is the original entry in Triumph Studios' long-running turn-based fantasy series, and calling it a classic is both accurate and a fair warning. Released well over a decade ago and re-released on Steam, this is a hex-grid, empire-building strategy game where you control a fantasy faction, expand across a world map, manage cities, recruit units, and resolve combat in small-scale tactical skirmishes. There is a light RPG layer running through it: hero units level up, learn skills, and carry equipment, and the wizard leader you play can be shaped with different spells and abilities. If you have only played Age of Wonders 4 or Planetfall and want to understand where the series DNA comes from, this is the honest answer. The game offers a campaign split across two opposing sides, plus a set of standalone scenarios and multiplayer maps. Each mission drops you onto a procedurally decorated but hand-designed map with objectives, rival wizards, neutral monster lairs, and a fog of war that rewards patient scouting. Combat is tactical and deliberate: unit positioning, terrain bonuses, and racial ability interactions matter more than raw numbers. The race variety is genuinely impressive for its era, with elves, dwarves, undead, orcs, halflings, and several others all playing meaningfully differently in both city-building and combat unit rosters. Spell research and mana management add a strategic layer that, at its best, makes you feel like a wizard who is also a city planner, which is exactly the correct power fantasy. What does not hold up as well is the interface and the pacing. The UI is a product of its time, menus are not intuitive by modern standards, and the tutorial does the bare minimum. Some scenarios overstay their welcome with extended mop-up phases once the strategic outcome is already clear. The AI is competent but not exactly cunning, and if you are a veteran of the later games you will notice the relative shallowness of the diplomacy and the limited build variety compared to what the series later became. The hero progression is enjoyable but thin compared to a dedicated RPG, so do not come in expecting character arcs or dialogue. This is a strategy game first, and the RPG elements are seasoning rather than the main course. The 78 percent positive rating on Steam is a fair summary: most people who track down the original are fans doing historical research on the series, not players discovering it cold. If you are in that first group, the painterly art style still has genuine charm, the tactical combat holds up better than the macro systems, and there is something satisfying about seeing the raw form of mechanics that Age of Wonders 4 would eventually refine over multiple iterations. If you are in the second group, a newcomer just looking for a good fantasy 4X, the later entries in the series are more immediately playable and better supported. Monika, Scout Team