Age of Wonders: Planetfall Reviews
A complex strategy game with some severe accessibility issues, especially on consoles, but give it a chance and it's a rewarding and deep sci-fi experience.
Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a successful venture into the realm of sci-fi for this veteran 4X strategy series. Its greatest strengths are player choice, customization, variance and replayability, which all leads to meaningful tactical and strategic decision-making.
If you're a fan of Age of Wonders, or 4X in general, you're going to love Planetfall. While it has a steep learning curve, once you learn the ropes it becomes very fun, very fast. Planetfall combines systems like Civilization with XCOM in a way that blends the two genres together for a wonderful mashup of fun.
Like many of the best strategy games, the complexity of the systems isn’t dumbed down. Instead, the player can customize their experience. You can alter the difficulty, disable some victory goals, alter resource distribution and much more. I love when games do this. It allows a person to ease into the game in a way that leads to mastery and comprehension without frustration. Options and playing your way seem to be a common theme in Planetfall. This customization allows one to sit back and enjoy the tropes presented in this wild game.
Triumph returns to its unique mix of Civilization and XCOM with the new Age of Wonders: Planetfall.
Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a dazzling, slick, diverse 4X with snappy and exciting turn-based combat and a story I was always eager to discover more of.
A number of flaws such as a disappointing campaign, a rigid tech tree, and a couple of bugs hamper Age of Wonders: Planetfall. However, it more than makes up for these flaws with its refreshing charm, tactical battles, and customization choices for the avid 4X player.
Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a perfect use of the genre on consoles, delivering countless hours of terrific turn based gameplay.
Despite concerns with the shift in setting, Age of Wonders: Planetfall presents a fun, 4X-style turn-based strategy experience. It's already stellar combat is bolstered by some solid diplomatic options, excellent race design and well-designed environments.
Planetfall is certainly worth exploring, but not all strategy fans are going to want to set up permanent residence.
Whether you're a veteran of the genre or a relative newcomer, Planetfall will keep you plotting and planning your rise to glory for a long time.
Don’t make the mistake I nearly made and disregard it: if you enjoy the tactical and strategic game styles it draws from, you’ll find a game that doesn’t go out of its way to innovate on either front, but one that performs a bloody lovely duet.
Age of Wonders: Planetfall brings a new setting, and lots of improvements, to a classical 4X series. The increased complexity can be occasionally overwhelming, but the strategical experience remains top notch.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a great 4X, but it lacks in accessibility.
Review in Italian | Read full review
It's been a long time since Age of Wonders III was released back in 2014, and Age of Wonders: Planetfall reminds me what makes this series so great. This is a strategy game that feels like classic Age of Wonders in every respect, but thrust into the future with a renewed energy. There's essentially two games here that work in concert with one another, and Age of Wonders: Planetfall demonstrates how to do this flawlessly. The missions feel handcrafted, rather than "make your own fun"; the planets are colorful and vibrant, teeming with life, and the factions are unique, silly, and fascinating. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better strategy game than Age of Wonders: Planetfall this year, or in the past few years.
No more fantasy setting for Triumph Studios: Age of Wonders: Planetfall brings the 4x series into the future and this transaction in almost perfect.
Review in Italian | Read full review
A very capable turn-based sci-fi 4X game that mixes Civ with squad-based tactics.
The science fiction setting puts a compelling new spin on Age of Wonders: Planetfall, with a lengthy single player campaign and half a dozen contrasting factions to see rise from the ashes of the Star Union. There's some niggles I have on console, but this is easy to recommend if you're hankering for a new 4X strategy game.
Initially unwieldy but eventually engrossing, Age of Wonders' latest entry translates its Civ-meets-XCOM formula brilliantly to a new sci-fi setting. Even if the elements of that sci-fi are a bit rote.Phil Iwaniuk
Age of Wonders: Planetfall is an intergalactic strategy game that rewards patience.