When you enter a realm, you start with a small army (featuring your ruler as a hero) and one city. And the more you play, the more customization is unlocked for both rulers and realms. Each time your chosen ruler travels to a custom realm, a brand new world is randomly stitched together, providing excellent replay value. One disappointment is the lack of control over map size, which is dictated by ruler count and a partially effective distance setting but this means two rulers will never face-off on a huge map. Add a modifier to transform the realm into small islands, or opt for a huge underground zone. Or, create a custom realm by picking a world biome, from desert to arctic, and change the distribution of resources or marauder enemy types. Like rulers, some have been setup with simple modifiers to get started immediately.

Realms provide nearly as much tantalizing customization.

You also must select starting spells and army traits, which provide resource perks, different combat abilities, and city production variations. Customization options for the 3D avatars are plentiful, with choices for race, armor, title, skin color, pose, and body type. Rulers can be picked from a predefined list or created from scratch. Players become a ruler and step through a world gate into a randomly generated and unexplored realm. Magehaven is basically a way station between an endless sea of worlds. Age of Wonders 4 begins by introducing players to a place called Magehaven, which is a key part of the game’s somewhat confusing lore.

Age of wonders 3 hero select