Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic | a Review
originally published on 14/12/2024;
Hello everyone, I am the wonderful and wondrous and magical and aged, G.E.M.Simov, a “Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic” (henceforth AoWSM).
Simple review details - I rank games on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it.
Gameplay
This game is, essentially, Age of Wonders II. It plays the same way, it has the same mechanics, it has, largely, the same units, and it has the same issues… As well as the same strengths.
The difference here is that there’s more stuff. There are more spells, there’s been a slight redesign of the way spells themselves work - mainly via the spheres system. There’s also a way of making custom items now, which is slightly limited - meaning that the strongest items are still those that get found via the game.
Still, the system is very neat - it relies on a Level 3 Wizard tower upgrade, which slightly expands the town interface. The Player picks the option to craft an item, then selects its qualities, with certain effects being limited to certain types of item, and there being a maximum of 3 effects on a crafted item. Even if they might not be the most insane bits of loot to be found, they are still incredibly useful, especially in the earlier stages of a campaign or in a scenario, due to the fact that there are not that many items to go around.
With that said, this is not the biggest addition to the game. That would be the new faction, along with the new map layer - which replaces the second layer of the underground, the one typically reserved for the undead faction. As interesting and as neat as the aforementioned new set of arrivals are, what with their theming around insects, a hive-mind consciousness and some funky type of demon invasion, what winds up happening is what one ought to expect.
The game, as it was in Age of Wonders II, was somewhat balanced. It was clearly not truly balanced, but every race had a particular set of units, and some were obviously strong, while others were obviously weaker by comparison. What AoWSM does is introduce the new faction and stuff it full of incredibly strong units. It feels as though absolutely all of its units are insanely strong - as an example, there’s the Bombard, which gets to fire off projectiles that deal damage in an area around the selected target. Those units, even though they look like they’re mortars, and they are firing at land-based units, also get to do damage to flying units.
That’s very, very weird, but it does not end there. These bug boys also have one of the best flying units out there, and then some incredibly strong utility units who get to dispel beneficial effects AND steal them for themselves.
There's also another new faction which feels very underwhelming by comparison. Regardless, what winds up happening is that there's something very, very wrong with the balancing scale, or so it feels.
Regardless, the game is still Age of Wonders, and it still features a boatload of scenarios (aside from the campaign). Lots and lots of playing, lots of it being very solid. 2/3
Presentation
Seeing as AoWSM is, essentially, Age of Wonders II… It looks like Age of Wonders II. It presents itself in a very similar manner to Age of Wonders II. At the same time, though, it makes one mistake while also making a very good move.
The mistake is as follows - the game looks and feels choppy. Even the main menu gives off the impression that it is running at a lower framerate than is intended, though that impression comes as a consequence of playing the game. In truth, outside of the game itself, AOWSM runs very smoothly - an especially good indication for that would be the cutscenes, which are silky smooth and quite pleasant to look at.
On the other hand, though, in-game everything is choppy, as though the game has around 8 frames per second that it can make use of and, as a consequence of that, everything is moving in a manner almost reminiscent of a slideshow. However, the weirdest thing is that everything is responsive - clicking the buttons on the User Interface or moving the cursor, or clicking a target for a ranged attack and then clicking a different target - those do not appear affected by the “lag”.
It could be owed up to running the game on a modern machine, but I was left with the impression that the opposite effect was the norm. Regardless, it looks odd and it really subtracts from the experience, because the game actually has the capability to run at silky smooth framerates, yet even though I attempted a fix, it did not work. There’s a random chance that it will happen when the game starts… Or when the Player’s PC is booted up…
In reality, however, the game looks really nice. The locations and sets that are presented by the game are wondrous, really managing that fairy-tale vibe that Age of Wonders winds up going for. That said, the new addition - the Shadow Realm - is problematic, because it is quite hard to tell what is walkable. Visually, there are almost no indications that there’s a path that can be used, and there’s no indication as to why stuff cannot be flown over. It’s very messy.
Ultimately… Well, ultimately AoWSM looks worse on account of this stuttering and lagging, but then in another regard it looks better - mostly when it comes to Character portraits or cinematics, though this could just be a feeling that is gotten off of it.
Oddly enough, the quality of the sound effects is about the same as it was in Age of Wonders II, while the music is also as middling and, unfortunately, forgettable. In addition to that, the voice acting is campy, at best.
The one thing that AoWSM does very well is the way it introduces the Player to the game. It features an incredibly lengthy and in-depth tutorial that spans over 3 missions, explaining absolutely everything and making sure that the Player understands what is going on. It was incredibly refreshing to see a game like this feature this kind of thing - though when talking about Age of Wonders, the entire series has presented incredibly good Tutorials.
It also features a tiny line underneath all of the User Interface which shows the current real-life time, which is neat.
With some minor issues regarding User Interface readability, and grammatical errors here and there, the game has no other issues and fails in no other regards. Again, it is essentially Age of Wonders II, but a year later. Unfortunately, the main problem - that being the low framerate which occurs whenever and is incredibly bothersome - makes it very unpleasant to play, especially when one knows what the game looks like otherwise. If the Player wins the lottery and things go right, the game is very well presented, however it can be almost unplayable. 2/3
Story
Once again, the story of an Age of Wonders game is decently good, though, alas, things are about as messy as one ought to expect. With its events taking place after Age of Wonders 2, this game features a tale in which, once again, racism sprouts, with prejudices and evil wizards reigning supreme.
However, this time wizards are considered bad - and not just wizards, but all magical goons, or rather all casters of spells. All, with the exception of a fellow named Phobius, who has managed to not only grow himself a humongous empire, but is also somehow related to another odd event - Merlin is trapped in a (the) Shadow Realm and there are also Shadow Demons spewing forth from that Shadow Realm, feeding on fear and dark emotions, killing and destroying all in their path.
There's a funky evil emperor, there's violent racism afoot, there's slavery and war and murder. To deal with the Shadow Demons, Merlin contacts Julia, Moandor and some random dude, who go and take down the funky evil emperor, so that they can then free the enslaved space-ish elves whom the Shadow Demons are using.
The story is a lot less engaging than the first or even the second Age of Wonders, but it does manage to maintain some measure of intrigue. There are a few questions that present themselves and make the Player wonder what's what, such as where the shadow dudes came from, or what the role of the space-ish elves was, or how does this whole meme relate to the highmen and their deal… It's all very odd.
Alas, it is middling. Not only that, but it is presented in a manner that does not really work - there are attempts at humor, there are certain sequences that leave me bothered and a bit uneasy… And the ultimate culmination is quite… Odd.
Ultimately, it’s not that entertaining. It does not do much for the lore of the series either - in fact, what it does add with the Void, it takes away with the characterization of certain races and the outright disappearance of others. It sets up, loosely, the existence of a sequel and ends in an unsatisfying manner. 1/3
Legendary Point
Does this game get the Legendary point, so craved and wanted by all and none at the same time?
I am inclined to say yes. Playing this game really satisfied a particular itch. There was both the opportunity to do empire management, empire settlement, expansion and all kinds of other things, whilst also providing that particular RPG spice of leveling up heroes and kitting them out in powerful items. The magic system remains very neat and compelling, and, overall, there’s just something about Age of Wonders, as a whole, that I’ve grown to really like. 1/1
Conclusion
6/10. Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic is a game that is slightly better than what I would consider an average game, which makes it quite decent. I’d whole-heartedly recommend it to fans of the Age of Wonders series, to fans of 4X games, to fans of Heroes of Might and Magic and, even, to fans of RPGs.
I tuck it under my belt, another shining, although a bit rough, achievement that I proudly display.