Age of Wonders 4: Archon Prophecy review – Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair

Remnants of once-powerful forerunner civilizations are practically a staple in fantasy and sci-fi, so it’s a surprise that Age of Wonders 4 still lacked their equivalent up to this point, given how many different tropes and power fantasies Triumph Studios has already worked into its epic 4X turn-based strategy game. The Archon Prophecy DLC closes this particular hole, rounding out Expansion Pass 2 of the game in a robust way.

Whereas the previous expansion, Giant Kings, provided more depth to the maps and worlds of the game, Archon Prophecy seems like a capstone on the title’s potent faction builder. Archon Prophecy introduces two new physical forms for your civilizations: The Elysians, who look like they’ve sprung straight out of a Greek epic, and the Ancients, a withered people you might be expected to find roaming through old tombs. The expansion’s new Culture – the Architects – represents the archetype described above: They are what remains of the Archons’ followers, guarding their secrets and completing any works they left undone.

And that’s their defining feature: They build monuments. These structures can’t be constructed by normal means and so you must search the world for sources of Wonderstone. This resource can be obtained by using Surveyors on the world map or capturing Magic Resources, which will provide a steady income of Wonderstone. In a way, this is a continuation of Giant Kings’ policy: It gives more importance to the map itself, rewarding exploration.

I’ll be honest, I think the monuments could look, well, more monumental and more varied. They don’t stand out from the landscape as much as they should, but that’s a small complaint — as their effects make up for any visual deficiencies. When you choose the Architects, you get to freely select your Affinity, which in turn influences the damage type of all your Architect units and the type of monument you can build. Monuments, in turn, not only provide benefits to their city, but bolster your entire empire’s Affinity — in the traditional sense, by giving you Affinity Points, and in the sense that they boost your Architect units’ affinities with your main element, giving them extra damage and resistance. Basically, the Architect Culture enables you to go super hard on one Affinity, building the ultimate army associated with its damage type.

What’s more, your completed monuments actually count as Gold-level Ancient Wonders and can therefore be used to facilitate a Magic Victory.

But the DLC’s Culture isn’t the only new way to heavily customize your next playthrough. The brand-new Prophecy Traits available in the faction builder essentially give you the chance to pick a storyline for your leader and civilization, adding narrative content that doesn’t depend entirely on what’s happening in the realm you’re diving into. Fancy a world conquest run? Go ahead and pick the corresponding prophecy for some additional flavor to spice it up and cast you as a true world-ending threat. This is a great way to reinforce one of Age of Wonders 4’s greatest qualities: immersing players in the game through role-play opportunities and giving them varied objectives, keeping the game fresh.

The Tomes of Magic introduced with Archon Prophecy fulfill a similar role and manage an impressive balance between remaining thematic to the expansion itself and closing gaps that have existed since the game came out. You’ll find more options for Celestial and Order empires with units such as Paladins and spells that bathe enemies in cleansing, purifying flames — aspects that can be interpreted as actually good or be abused in a more grimdark sense, which offers great versatility. However, fans of undead empires will also find crucial tech in this DLC, which finally rounds out the power fantasy of an eternal, necromantic realm that’s always been a bit out of our reach ever since release.

From angelic beings bathed in blinding light over majestic griffons to reanimated, undead titans, Archon Prophecy is adding a bunch of fantastic units. Prophecy itself is, naturally, the theme of one included Tome, and the way it’s been implemented is really neat: You basically get to make your units immune to the next attack that comes their way or increase their critical hit chance due to your foresight. It also brings the Vigil into the game, one of the coolest unit designs yet.

There’s also two new story realms, new music, additional wildlife units and mounts (get ready for chariots drawn by lions), and other content in the DLC — and the free Griffon Update coming alongside it is a massive one. Not to go into it too much, since it’s technically independent of the expansion, but this patch brings a massive overhaul to magic-using heroes and the item forge, a lot more depth to the AI faction customization, and a wave of unlockable Pantheon content.

Giant Kings padded out some of Age of Wonders 4’s remaining weaknesses. Archon Prophecy, on the other hand, further honed the strategy game’s strengths — it’s a robust end to Expansion Pass 2, greatly increasing the game’s role-playing opportunities and variety.