Age of Wonders III is the fourth installment of the highly acclaimed series of turn-based strategies by the Dutch studio Triumph. Work on the game took over three years, and the developers were financially supported by one of the biggest fans of the Age of Wonders series – Markus Persson, the creator of Minecraft.

Story
The action of Age of Wonders III once again takes players to a fantastic world in which various races and groups compete for domination. The main campaign allows players to side with one of the two feuding factions – the Commonwealth Empire or the High Elven Tribunal, formed after the dark and forest elves unite. Several popular characters from previous installments of the series, including Merlin, play a major role in the story. In addition to these races, there are also playable factions of Dracons, Orcs, Dwarves and Goblins.

Gameplay
The gameplay in Age of Wonders III combines elements of strategy and cRPG. Players explore large-sized maps, discover new locations, meet NPCs and fight exciting battles. At the same time, they direct the development of their kingdom, including transforming the area and climate in terms of the needs of a selected nation or establishing new headquarters in order to conduct increased expansion. The creators took care of the multitude of races and cultures that can be led in a fantastic world.

When starting the game, we choose the leader who represents us. The available rulers correspond to the typical archetypes of roleplaying classes, such as priest, warrior, wizard and scout. Each monarch has his own unique skills and units. At the same time, the campaign begins as a neutral figure, and only our own decisions and the way we govern will determine whether we remain in this position or whether we are turning towards good or bad. The gameplay in Age of Wonders III is aggressive and focuses on war. The only way to win the campaign is to defeat your opponents’ army and conquer their lands. Battles are played on three-dimensional maps covered with a grid of hexes. The authors have prepared an extensive system of skirmishes, which rewards, among others, proper use of the terrain or attacking enemies from the flank. In addition to the standard battles in the open field, sieges and sea battles are also available. The game offers several variants of single and multiplayer gameplay. In addition to the main campaign, it is possible to test your strength on single, randomly generated maps in competition with computer artificial intelligence or living opponents. On the other hand, the multiplayer can be played over the Internet, in the e-mail system (PBEM), via the local network (LAN) and in the hot seat mode (Hotseat).

Key features

• Enjoy a great turn-based strategy game.
• Save the world or destroy it.
• Choose from a huge variety of races and heroes.