That’s because you haven’t entered a battle yet. You might be forgiven for thinking that Planetfall is just a sci-fi Civ-clone with a stronger focus on story. Sounds Like Civilization So Rar, Right? Wrong. You may be able to engage in some quick diplomacy to establish a healthy working relationship. They have their own goals, desires, and reasons for being there, which are sometimes in conflict with yours. But if another faction has already laid claim, attempting to annex it might lead to… discussions.Īs your base grows and your society starts plopping down supplemental colonies, you will eventually run into other factions on the planet. If a section is unclaimed, you can just wander over and snag it. The surface of each planet is divided into chunks. Meanwhile, you are engaging in research, spending resources to learn new military tactics, farming techniques, and societal structures. You send out scouts, exploring the area and annexing useful nearby regions to build up your economy. You quickly establish a colony and set up some basic production to get resources flowing. A fog of war obscures your view in all directions. This is how it works: each round of Planetfall begins with your commander making planetfall (get it?) on a new procedurally generated world. What would happen if they were both mashed into one game, without losing any of the defining characteristics of either? Those are both fairly complicated games in the strategy genre. If I were pitching Planetfall in an elevator, I would position it as “ Civilization meets X-Com”. Sometimes the best way to get your head around a new game is to compare it to other games.

Abandoning the series’ previous fantasy-based themes, Planetfall is the first Age of Wonders game to be set in a whiz-bang sci-fi future, though the world-building is so confident that the newcomers might not realize that this is the first of the series based in space. Not to worry, as Planetfall is a perfect jumping-in point for new players.

Age Of Wonders: Planetfall is epic in every sense of the word.Īs Age of Wonders: Planetfall (we’re just going with “Planetfall” going forward) is the first Age of Wonders game on a PlayStation system, I imagine that many readers are as unfamiliar with the series as I was. There is so much going on in Age of Wonders: Planetfall that even trying to describe the game is a little bit intimidating. I’m not even gonna try to pretend I’ve seen it all. I have put around thirty-five hours into Age of Wonders: Planetfall, and I still feel like I have only seen a fraction of what this game has to offer.

It’s time for a little bit of “honesty in games journalism”.

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