And I saw all that in the span of my hour-long demo. Age of Wonders: Planetfall certainly has capitalized on its jump to a space age setting, with a universe that draws from every corner of science fiction, pulp and cerebral alike. Add some Foundation and The Left Hand of Darkness to taste. Planetfall makes an excellent first impression--which is good, because it's still complicated as hell. Having not touched Age of Wonders III in about five years now, I'd forgotten just how intricate. At its core, this is a 4X series--the ol' explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate, a.k.a.

Age of Wonders needed a hook, and I think Triumph finally found it. Writing about Age of Wonders III back in 2014, one of my biggest complaints was that it felt somewhat unnecessary. The fantasy 4X genre is nothing if not crowded these days, and despite Age of Wonders lifting as much influence from Heroes of Might and Magic as it does from Civilization, it still didn't offer much reason to persist through its cumbersome systems and slog of a story setup. That genre's considerably more open, especially when it comes to land-based science fiction. In recent years, that category consists of Civilization: Beyond Earth and...not much else.