Age of Wonders 4

I don't write reviews very often, but this game... man, this game...
Let's start with the fact that the only Age of Wonders game I've played before this was Planetfall. This game is a HUGE step up from that experience (not that Planetfall was bad, this is just leagues better.)
- The customization is incredible, and provides ample roleplaying opportunities for those who enjoy that.
- It's turn based and you can have plenty of fun against the AI, so no need to rely on an active online community.
- The game has open mod support, a big win in my eyes. Though the game is perfectly fun as is.
Now let's look at a few downsides.
- DLC is pricy, especially if you want both expansion packs as it might total the amount of an entirely second game.
- Lag and performance issues on large maps with high player counts.
- Online co-op suffers from desync issues that may regularly cause you to go through a brief reload, in some cases this can happen every turn.
- Matches can be very time consuming, be prepared to save and return later. Even someone who spends all day gaming could find themselves spending an entire day on one massive match.
Of course there are other subjective flaws to the game that other reviews may touch on. For me, this game is incredible and is my current obsession. If you like fantasy and strategy games, this is something to look into, especially on sale. Get that wishlist and find an opportunity to jump into this game.

Heroes of Might and magic + Civilization. Even without the expansions it is a very solid game that can be replayed many times over.

You can play as unicorn riding humans. ‘Nough said.
AoW4 is one of the best customizable turn based 4X games with tactical combat. This is one of those very rare examples where the sequel not only has feature parity with its predecessors, it also substantially expands on them. Imagine a fantasy version of XCOM baked into a larger empire simulation game. Both elements aren't as in-depth as more specialized games in the genre, but they blend together in a fantastic way.
What really blew me away about this game is just how customizable everything is. Not only your map/realm creation (all kinds of settings and features to tweak, story scenarios you can set up, etc.), but also you can create your own race every game, which is super fun when you get into it. It’s such a fantastic title, genuinely so good for folks who just want to make their own game/styles and create their own scenarios. If you're a creative type, it's almost godd**ned endless if you have the DLC’s.
The amount of care and detail that they put into this game is amazing to see. I haven't played a game that engaged my pursuit of mysticism and wonder for a long time now; and this just fit the bill. Even just looking at the amount of detail and customization that you can put into your army before the game even starts speaks volumes as to how intricate and fun this game can be. They clearly poured their heart and soul into the amount of imagination that they put into this, and I really appreciated the hell out of that.
Want to be an ice fanatic that wants to see the world covered in ice? Done. Want to be a eldritch lord that controls humans and wants to destroy everything? Ok. Prefer a dragon that’s mad because nature is being destroyed so you want to restore it? It can be done. A necromancer that will cover the world with undead minions? Sure. You can be a feudal group of spider riding frogs, mainly using poison magic to fight too. While you can also be decent unicorn riding humans, mainly using healing magic - but also feudal. What else do you need?! The customization is extremely deep, with lots of potential for role-play and decision making.
I have played many games and every playthrough I play has some weird different concept that I come up with on the spot because of the many options available. For example, I made a race of simian/monkey-folk who prioritize Nature, and lean on their relationship with animals. I’ve been able to cultivate an army of different animals who are running around the map supporting wherever needed. Meanwhile, I’m converting tons of tiles into Forests, making it harder for my enemies to move, and buffing my monkeys. I was invited to a Hunt, and told the free city that engaging in communion with nature is better, resulting in them changing their ways. Top notch fantasy stuff. Are they the strongest? No. Are they viable and will you be able to win? Yes. I love creating my own stories in games and AoW4 allows a plethora of different RP playthroughs. I already got 2-3 other playthroughs in mind once l'm done with my feline fanatics!
I also really appreciate how “approachable” it is for the genre. The game makes it very clear what resources are needed for which thing, and how to go about getting them. The UI is crazy readable, which helped me learn it and stay focused on what I was doing. Add onto that massive fantasy battles akin to Warhammer - but turn based - and I just can’t put it down. I’ve tussled with industrious steam punk frog people, brutal Edlritch gods focused on assimilating for the greater good, and armies of undead orcs led by a necromancer dragon. I’m just absolutely hooked.
Yeah, I came to AoW4 for its brand new shiny mechanics and good art direction, but I stay for all the various builds, theory-crafting, occasional roleplay and dragons - is there any other strategy fame, where you get to play as dragon ruler?! With the latest DLC, the game is now a "must buy" for 4X and HOMM fans in my opinion. The extra content gives more build possibilities and the free updates have addressed several deficiencies in the base game at launch (water economy, the underground). So now is a great time to buy. If you enjoy turn based combat and strategy games in a fantasy setting, it’s a no brainer.
10/10

So the FREE WEEKEND got me. I downloaded and before I knew it had put 10hrs on the game and decided to purchase. It's very fun and very diverse. You can create basically whatever type faction you've always wanted.
The scenarios seem interesting and overall the games easy enough to learn but feels like there is a much deeper level to it once you really understand the game.
All this said - I ABSOLUTELY HATE SALES MODELS LIKE THIS. I absolutely hate games that have 50 different DLCs and it's specifically why I waited, and had to seriously consider before purchasing, and typically don't buy games like this. I believe it's ridiculous sales practices that aren't necessary.
Buy on heavy discount sale or not at all is my recommendation.

Runs well for me so far. I miss the Races having their own distinct identity in their units. Kinda makes them all feel samey. But on the other hand, being able to completely customize your race is really cool. Good for the roleplay aspect.

Full disclaimer: My first age of wonders game was AOW3. From what people tell me, I'm supposed to hate that game, but I don't. So, take my opinion with a grain of salt.

This is a tortured recommendation: Please read all the negative points I bring up (and consider some negative reviews) before coming to a conclusion of your own about this game.

The game has acceptable graphics, passable combat mechanics, basic spellcasting, and somewhat chaotic city management due to its region system. For those of you who played Planetfall, you will find that enough has changed to make this seem a completely different game. I will not be going over those differences in detail, but secret technologies are lost, race specific units and tech are lost (replaced by culture units without any tech), the positioning of your armies on the map does not affect their positioning in the battle (just two lines of armies go fight), and anyone can grab any tech provided they have first acquired the prerequisite techs.

Let's talk negatives, but we'll start with some things that some may see as a positive.

Unit size is very small: typically 3 to 6 models make up a unit. While many will view this as a vast improvement from games which show an entire company of soldiers as one guy on the map, this is still a downgrade from games which show hundreds of individuals making up a unit.

There is no uniqueness to any given play through's magic: barring your "class" which may have a paltry 1 to 4 spells unique to the class, any given playthrough can acquire any given magic.

There is no uniqueness to races: In my opinion, a fantasy game's biggest sin. In other words, races are just glorified, no, actual skins you apply to your faction. Your crocodile men are exactly like my humans who are exactly like my 10 foot horned oni. You can modify an entire race permanently with spells as the game goes on, but there is nothing bespoke here: it's the same limited spells everyone is going to pick and choose from gated by research. Cultist fans who have been brainwashed by Paradox will cry out "But you can select 5 points of modifiers to customize your race!" so I can make crocodiles who like the desert or humans who are poisonous, but these affect the game in extremely small ways and are mostly not even noticeable. Even seemingly major "adaption" traits like "can live in desolate areas" doesn't make a drastically different experience than a race of moles who prefer living under the sun in the jungle. They might as well be cosmetic.

You can stack enchantments on every unit of your army at once and without limit: If I want to give my elite unit of halberdiers an enchantment which causes the blades on their weapons to be aflame then I do it for every melee unit I own or will ever make. More egregious, if I want to then enchant those weapons to be frozen then the frozen weapons will still be on fire doing both types of damage. Some may like this, I despise this as massively immersion breaking. I'm just adding stats to my melee units: the fantasy isn't there.

Your ruler is just another hero which allows you to cast map spells while he's alive: You gain no benefit from parking your wizard king or dragon tyrant or whoever in your wizard's tower. This means that there is no great choice you have to make between the advantages of a parked ruler and a ruler out on the field using his power to defeat neutral and enemy armies. In short, if you're not constantly sending your ruler out to hoover up xp then you are handicapping yourself.

Naval "combat" has gone through many iterations, all of them terrible: ever since civ5 with its auto embark nonsense, the ocean has turned into nothing more than a "terrain where you go faster" zone. The current way the game handles naval combat is just your same troops in boats doing their same things. It's all shockingly bad.

Cavalry is just a movement bonus: instead of a mounted knight unit being a terrifying shock unit, the horse just gives him "very fast movement" which is about a 20% increase in speed. If I upgrade my cavalry through racial customization or in-game shop mechanics to use elephants, that just gives them +15 hp. It's absurd.

No unit customization: Don't like the units your culture has access to? Too bad, you're stuck with your 1 armor shock knights who look heavily armored in the pictures. For reference, heavy armor in this game is 9 to 10 armor. This is extremely annoying, especially late game where heroes.... actually let's talk about that.

Heroes just one shot things: this is especially bad when talking about rulers, but a somewhat leveled up hero can, on his own, just delete entire units who have achieved "legendary" experience. I hate the entire concept of heroes being on their own and not attached to units, but this just takes that complaint in brand new, uncomfortable, directions.

The AI: from being able to generate six stacks of armies every few turns to having endless legions of heroes outfitted with the most annoying and very best magical items, the developers have committed the, admittedly widespread in 4x land, sin of trying to make the ai fill the role of a player instead of be an element in the world. As a result, in order to present a "challenge," ai rulers have supercharged economies and the ability to produce entire formations of stacks out of thin air using said economy. It's certainly better than an AI who plays "by the rules" and is unable to get in your way at all, but it makes for a very tedious endgame as you must contend with unending legions of ai armies while you make sure not a single unit of yours dies so that you can continue to oppose said armies. This requires all sorts of cheese in the tactical battles which break immersion and, most importantly, make the battles stale.

The underground: I don't know what it is, but the underground feels like a slog to explore. They have made significant strides in making it more interesting with improved tunnel networks and the addition of points of interest, but it takes forever to explore the thing and doesn't really feel like an underground: just another overworld dimensionally linked to the other one. The other problem is that entrances to it are everywhere.

The worlds that get generated feel small, but are stupidly large in terms of traversal: it takes units an entire turn just to move across your average city's territory. Now include wilderness, pointless oceans, and all the 150 turn limit.

The game doesn't respect your time: My hours played at the writing of this review is 425 hours. That is mostly made up of the AI sending endless armies at me where if I hit "auto battle," my army would lose, but if I actually play out the battle then my army completely eviscerates the enemy without much thought on my part. I encourage the developers to focus more on large, climactic battles instead of endless nonsense ones.

So, you would think after all these problems that I wouldn't recommend it. No, on the contrary I recommend it in spite of all these things because this is where we are in 4x land at this time. If you want a modern fantasy 4x and you've already played Stardock's Fallen Enchantress to death, your options for something enjoyable are slim. Age of Wonders 4 accomplishes this in the same way that 15% nicotine gum accomplishes filling in the void for cigarettes. It's acceptable.

it's just all i want in a Fantasy Strategy game since i first try Warcraft III man.
so many customization, so many culture types, so many races and said races can be customized further in the game.
the campaign is surprisingly good for a 4X. and there is also many many many challange map with different flavor for gameplay.
i don't think i'll ever be bored, at least not for a long time yet.
protip, just don't optimize or pick the best strategy there is.
Roleplay a bit, it's one of the fun in a Paradox games