Though Age of Wonders 4 might not have rocked the proverbial boat far as the fantasy 4X niche goes, the game started off with a lovely baseline that’s only been massively improved ever since. The latest addition to this roster of goodness? Cthulhu, as it were!
That’s right: the aptly titled Eldritch Realms DLC for Age of Wonders 4 does away with any pretense of natural order, sensibility, common sense, and/or sanity that might’ve been present in some of the game’s older expansion packs. This DLC lets you create an eldritch sky-god all of your own and lead your mutated faction of monstrosities to victory. In other words, this time you get to embody the Outer God of your own creation, and isn’t that what gaming is all about, anyway?
The Eldritch Realms DLC for Age of Wonders 4 throws Lovecraftian horrors into the mix
Age of Wonders 4: Eldritch Realms is pretty much loaded with content from the get-go:
- New overworld map layer: The Umbral Abyss (new tactical maps, locations, quests, resources, indie factions, etc.)
- New ruler type: Eldritch Sovereign
- 2 new Story Realms
- 2 new creature Forms: Syron, Insect
- 2 new Mounts: Beetle, Exotic Death Beetle
- Cosmic Happenings event system: new crisis events, units, mechanics
- 3 new Tomes: Tentacle, Cleansing Flame, and Corruption
- 5 new pre-made rulers
- 2 new Realm templates
- 3 new Realm traits
- Eldritch UI skin
- 6 new music tracks composed by Michiel van den Bos
As I said – a lot of stuff. And, of course, the real joy found in this DLC doesn’t even truly come into its own until after you’ve spent some time playing with your new faction of Cthulhuoids. As is usually the case in Age of Wonders 4, research and magical progression leads to aesthetic and mechanical changes in your gameplay loop and the look of your peoples, and evolving tentacles across the board and summoning Eldritch demons from the netherworld when your opponents least expect it is truly something else.
Worth keeping in mind is that Eldritch Realms is the final announced expansion pack for Age of Wonders 4. By now, the game has already received all of its announced DLCs, each of which focused on introducing new gameplay mechanics, factions, rulers, and other goodies to the mix. It’s a huge, highly reactive 4X experience by now, and one might even argue that it’s now fully feature-complete, if that’s what you’ve been waiting for.
If Paradox ends up announcing a whole new season pass, though, I wouldn’t be all too surprised, as AoW4 lends itself to the concept remarkably well. Whatever the case may be, Eldritch Realms wraps things up on a high note from the look of things.
