Age of Wonders III

Alright so i bought this game 10 years ago, back then i played 2 hours, thought it was amusing, but then i moved onto the next thing, but 10 years later as at 28, i tried this game again and it hit differently you see because these days i really enjoy strategy games, be it realtime like warcaft3 1v1 and age of empires 2, but i love being able to pause a strategy game to sit back relax, maybe smoke a joint and enjoy the strategic process of making decisions across a battlefield or worldmap..
So then as a fan of strategy games, discovering the Age of Wonders series is just an absolute blessing. This game has entertained me and has immersed me into this wonderful fantasy world and i think if you are someone who wants to be immersed then this game is great, I played 2 goblin campaigns and i had just the best time ever.
So for my first game, I wasn't too sure how to play, but my instincts from playing games like civilization, and xcom took over and by the end of the first game i had played out this epic goblin vs dwarf war and by the end of the game i realized that i could make cities that are focused on 3 categories, I'm making cities for either to boost my economy, increase the size of my domain, or to make military industry cities where i will maybe have a close cluster of 3 cities all infinitely creating goblin warg archers and goblin warg riders and with my strong Calvary and cheap units i won
And for game 2, i wanted to increase the difficulty and I added in more rivaling domains to compete with. I noticed that as I scaled up the size of the map, i actually was MORE immersed with the game and with this next war, it was a 3 way FFA with me playing goblins against humans and dwarfs and there was many memorable moments from this game, like early on i captured and absorbed an orc city and then, adding in orcs to my nation, i was pretty fond to do so, the orcs and goblins complimented eachother pretty well and i said no to adding in humans and elvs to my domain because i decided in the moment for roleplay reasons that nahhh ima just be a nation of goblins and orcs and ill pretend we like eat elfs or something and use humans to extract skin to make leather or something
If you enjoy turn based strategy and you enjoy fantasy settings then this game is great. It's not too late to check this game out, i was 10 years late, but now i get the whole rest of age of wonders to discover, i hear the other games are great too, in particular the earlier age of wonder games somehow graphically reminds me of warlord battlecry 3 in a classic nostalgic way.
I'd say this is a good entry point into the age of wonders series and if this was your first game of the series like it was for me, then you by playing this game first might like me have the impression that age of wonders 3 is great and like triumph studios the dev seems pretty legit and cool.
thats my honest thoughts on this game, i might edit this later to like add to the review, but im just saying this is a very solid game i would rate 8.5 out of 10. that is a very good score out of 10. thankyou triumph studios, even if i am 10 years late, i love ur game. yes i reccomend this game to people.

I like this game, played it a lot and I like the mechanics and the game play, but oh boy there is a FANTASTIC amount of cheating by the AI.

Superlative, overarching, incredible amount of cheating. Literally in 1 turn, from having no other AI army around, 4 full stacks literally materialise next to my 2 partial stacks. (I have full view of that area, there are no tunnels in the region)

That particular AI player is 30+ hexes away from the closest city. None of the units have stealth, none of the stacks have a Hero. I would play that battle normally and lose if there was any remote chance that the AI player had discovered me normally and had any of those units. but it hadn't. At this point in time I use one of the player cheats and just give the lot of them the middle finger.

Age of Wonders 3 is from my humble opinion still the best Age of Wonder-game out there.
Granted, the forth game is marvelous for a time when it comes to battle mechanics, graffics and so on. I loved it to be honest.
But, the replayability is lackluster. One of the great things about nr 3 is when you have finished a run playing for example a magic oriented race, it was so so refreshing to play a melee based race with extra HP\DMG. Or when you finish a run playing a Good race then start a new one playing evil necromancers.
In nr 4 you just cherrypick the skills\race, which atleast for me removes a lot of the replayability as you find the most OP or favorite traits and use them every time.
So the devs now just spam out new DLC's and content. Which again makes the game truly expensive if you want to kepp up buying all the DLC's.
And all the new content and mechanics have made the battles way to complicated, so a battle can easily take 15-20 mins to complete, and when playing multiplayer this is a "no go" as the other players have to wait the whole time for you to finish a battle. And if you haven't discovered the other players, the only thing you see for 20 minutes is a black screen as you can't even watch the battle.
Another thing that is awesome in nr 3, is that you can keep a unit throught the game as it keeps on lvl'ing up. Granted, when reaching max rank it does not get a lot more power from leveling, 2HP to be accurate, but in the late game if you have managed to keep it alive it can have 20-30 more HP and are able to stand toe to toe with higher tier enemies.
Nothing gave me more pleassure then having 1 stack of well leveled units and meeting a 2-3 stack enemy army, and come out victorious!
Me, as many other's have fallen off the AoW 4's vagon due to price and the lack of replayability, and i truly hope the dev's tweak the game so that me and others may play the game for years to come.
Most players drop off somewhere between 100 and 200 hours played, and thats the norm as the game stands.

It's pretty fun if you're into these kinds of games.
I'm not, and it was still entertaining.
Whatever that means.
7.8🧚‍♀️/10🧌

A Strategic Masterpiece That Stands the Test of Time
Age of Wonders III delivers a rich blend of empire-building, tactical combat, and RPG-style hero progression that continues to captivate fans of turn-based strategy years after its release. Triumph Studios crafted a game that doesn’t just appeal to genre veterans, but also invites newcomers with its intuitive interface and deep, rewarding gameplay.
At its core, Age of Wonders III thrives on player choice. From selecting your faction and class to customizing heroes and shaping your empire’s development, every decision has tangible consequences. The variety of races and specializations ensures no two campaigns ever feel the same. Whether you prefer leading a high fantasy army of elves, summoning creatures from beyond, or raising the undead to conquer the living, the game offers ample paths to victory.
The tactical combat is where the game truly shines. Battles are engaging, thoughtful, and visually dynamic, with terrain, unit positioning, and abilities playing a pivotal role. It’s not just about overwhelming your enemy with numbers — it’s about outsmarting them on the battlefield. And with the ability to auto-resolve minor skirmishes, the pacing stays brisk for those who prefer to focus on grand strategy.
Multiplayer and co-op modes add even more longevity, allowing friends to craft alliances or rivalries in epic, sprawling campaigns. The map editor and robust mod support extend the game's life further, with the community continuing to create fresh content and challenges.
Graphically, it holds up remarkably well. The world is lush and detailed, and the soundtrack complements the fantasy setting beautifully. There's a genuine sense of wonder in exploring ancient ruins, discovering hidden realms, or defending your capital from a last-minute siege.
Despite its age, Age of Wonders III remains a crown jewel in the 4X strategy genre. It's a thoughtful, endlessly replayable experience that rewards creativity, strategic planning, and a bit of daring. For fans of tactical fantasy and deep world-building, this is a must-play.
Highly recommended — a modern classic.
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It's difficult to follow up a classic. It always feels like something is lost when a great game from years ago is brought into the modern age. Things get prettier, bigger, and more streamlined, but many times it feels like some essential chemistry is lost. Some of us blame nostalgia, others simply write the developers off as appealing to the largest audience or the lowest common denominator. Sequels always lose something. Which is why Triumph Studios had no right to produce such a perfect game. This is the perfect sparkling bouquet of what made the original great, combined with the streamlined production quality we've come to expect from a quality modern game. It's asymmetrical and unfair in the most balanced ways possible. Whether you're outfitting your heroes or designing your player class, you'll find great satisfaction in trying to break the game. You'll be very good at some things, and very bad at others, but it will always make sense and it will always feel right. The unit design deserves special mention. Each unit is deeply well-crafted and unique, even when comparing racial units of the same role. The attention to synergy is unmatched, both between units of the same race and in the way that race and class combine to make a whole. Leveling up often provides interesting new abilities that also tend to synergize, instead of simply providing better stats. As it happens sometimes, this game did not release flawlessly. It had its share of errors, but since that time they have been resolved. Understand that many of the other reviews written on here were made before AoW3 reached maturity. That version of the game is not the version that will be remembered, and it is not the version you will get it you decide to play it now. This game has a lot of everything, and all of it affects everything else. You'll build cities, research and cast spells, and train units. You'll command armies on the beautiful strategic map, and when you explore dungeons or fight another army, you'll go down to fight on equally beautiful tilesets. Tactical combat is reasonably simple but very deep. This game has not been casualized. The A.I. is maddeningly clever, and you won't take this statement seriously until you've experienced it. You'll fight skirmishes in the woods with bandits, and you'll fight in truly massive sieges to conquer cities. Your heroes will explore dungeons, find and equip items, and lead your armies into battle. You will build your strategy, and then get excited about other strategies you think could work. They probably will. Your race, your class, and your specializations all fundamentally change the way you need to approach the game. It takes a long time to bloom into a full understanding of how the various parts of the game work together, but the journey is pleasant, and you can absorb it by playing. The campaign probably deserves it's own review. It's gloriously cheesy golden-age high fantasy. The campaign follows branching questlines, so you can end up doing different missions. The base game has two campaigns of eight missions. Eight does not sound like a lot but you can easily spend an entire day playing one mission. They're huge. Think of them more like chapters. The expansion packs can add another two campaigns. There are also a number of scenarios which are like competitive missions for X players. The "real" Age of Wonders though is in the procedurally generated random map mode, where you can fight other players or the AI. There are a huge number of random features on the maps, such as "dwellings" where you can purchase units from a non-player faction like Giants or Pixies. You'll need to play many games before you've seen everything you can find. Also of note, Age of Wonders has an underground map, full of caves, tunnels, and the cities of the Goblins and Dwarves. Triumph is confident enough in the mastery of their game to give the player enormous freedoms to explore how to play. Their own mastery is evident in the careful design of how every element acts together. If you find anything this game does interesting, play it for that reason, but be prepared to fall in love with the rest. This is what a strategy game should be.

Since I absolutely loath AOW4 and all of its lorebreaking and forced parity etc. I have come back to this old and dear friend.
One of my favorite games of all time, probably in the top 3.

It is still a great game to play! Highly recommend for new players!