Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension

I was on the fence about whether to get this game for awhile, partly because of the price and partly because of quality concerns, since obviously a lot of time wasn't spent on making the game graphically pretty. I purchased the game on sale, but after having played it I would recommend it even for full price to anyone who's looking for a deep, complex strategy game. Dominions 4 plays like a highly advanced fantasy version of Civilization or similar turn-based games. That's not to say that it's super difficult to play - the basic mechanics are pretty simple once you get the hang of the somewhat odd control scheme where LMB is used for most things where you'd normally expect to use RMB (RMB is always used to get more info on something, instead of giving orders). I was able to feel somewhat competent without any tutorials, having only watched some brief gameplay on YouTube. However the gam

I love strategy games. LOVE THEM. My favourites from the last twenty years include (in order) Age of Wonders III, Zeus: Master of Olympus, Crusader Kings II, Seven Kingdoms II, and Warlords III. Strategy fans will know that that's a fairly ecclectic mix of strategy sub-genres. Well, three days after purchasing Dominions 4 I can safely say that it has a place somewhere near the top of my list. I can't stop playing this game. I'd heard whispers about the Dominions series down through the years. Legend had it that it was the most hardcore of the hardcore. In all honesty its reputation was rather intimidating. The ancient sages were right: I was baffled for my first three games. However, don't think that it's a project to merely get into Dominions 4. It really isn't. The appropriate phrase is, "easy to learn, difficult to master." That's Dominions 4. The supreme god who brought order to th

I'm no Dominions veteran. I learned about Dom3 just a week before Dom4 came out but what I learned about it in that time was enough to buy this game for 30 euros on bloody Desura. And that was 1st time in years when I bought a game outside of Steam. Are you getting bored by your 10th Crusader Kings' world conquest? Have you conquered whole Europe as Palatinate in EU4 ironmode? You wish Rome 2 was less graphic and actually some content? Then Dominions 4 is clearly a game for you. You can tell it's 10 years of constant development. With 70 different factions, thousands creatures and spells ou guys are in for a treat! Single player and AI leave much to be desired but they are just a training ground for great multiplayer experience. There are few more gratifying things than fighting seasoned veterans of this title. Especially since community is very helpful and welcoming allowing you t

This is, no kidding, the deepest strategy game you may ever buy on Steam. The manual - and yes, you will absolutely need to read the manual old school style - is 295 pages, with the tutorial being about 24 pages of text and images. It's a complex, fiddly game, with a very dedicated community of players. If you can get a good group together, multiplayer is fantastic. I will warn you that the game's UI is obtuse as Hell and the graphics will really put your dedication to "gameplay over graphics" to the test. If you've never played a Dominions game, then be prepared to go down the rabbit hole of strategy.

If i had to describe Dominions 4 to someone who has never played before, i would for sure use dangerous words as Risk, Civilization and Heroes of Might & Magic. Among the turn-based heroic fantasy strategy games (sorry), Dominions is the ugly guy that no one is talking to. If you dare to speak to him he'll give you access to an amazing world. But not before 3 quests: - Overcome ugliness: Dominions 4 is ugly, the screenshots dont lie! Units are 2D sprites, poorly animated and there's a good reason for that: content. I dont wanna go into numbers but with so many units, spells, magic items.. you can't expect a shadered 3D model reflecting the sun through tree leafs. Try to imagine the map as a a real map someone just scrolled in front of you asking: how are we going to make those guys believe in you? About the battles: it's somehow poorly animated (but everything is visible i.e units/spell

This game is too close to perfect 4x of my dreams, so I hardly will be objective in this case. I think, I will stick to "good/bad" parts instead, to show what is there. So, my pros: - Game is complex. Scalable complex. You can blindly research everything, and throw masses of your troops to win; or you can tinker with initial placement and orders; or you can plan anything - from right artifacts equipped to expert armies assembled - everything will work in single player... for some extent, of course. (Multiplayer requires good knowledge of game, so it will be complex by default). - Game is vast and diverse. I cannot remember another strategy with at least 4 significantly different races to play (and no, 3 units and 2 advancements doesn't count as "significant"). Dominions 4 have dozens of races, and most of them requires different approach. Sometimes vastly different. There are hundreds