Set in a beautifully realised fantasy world, this is a game about forging empires in the wake of great heroes.
But if Civ ‘s entrance music is “Fanfare for the Common Man,” Master of Magic ‘s signature tune might be “You’re So Vain.” There are smallfolk in a Master of Magic -style 4X, but they exist to protect and serve your all-important heroes, those boldface-name Nietzschean Great Men of history.Īge of Wonders III lands very squarely on the Master of Magic side of the line. There’s a decidedly more libertarian tranche of 4X games, though.įantasy 4X games have been aspiring to the heights reached by Master of Magic since that well-remembered title came out in 1994. So Civilization and its acolytes form the left branch of the empire-builder family tree, placing the nameless citizen at the forefront of history. This is what Rob Zacny astutely called “the Recession Civ“, but it’s also the Iraq-and-Afghanistan Long War Civ-a game where mass casualties (on your side) are nearly unthinkable, not a token requisite of waging war.
Churning out huge armies and giant empires was de rigeur in previous Civ games, but in Civ V, units are much more precious and empires can only grow so large. The key to victory is to treat your empire’s borders as though they were on wheels-expand constantly, grow your population.Ĭiv V is, if anything, even more populist in its approach. “The people are the heroes now,” intones the chorus in a John Adams composition from Civ IV‘s soundtrack, which designer Soren Johnson hand-picked himself. They rarely exist for more than one turn as the player is encouraged to “spend” them almost immediately, with the Great Person then giving the empire a momentary influential nudge of culture or money before disappearing again into the flock.
In later Civilization games, “Great People” occasionally emerge from the masses, but even they live only to serve the populace. The key to victory in each game is to treat your empire’s borders as though they were on wheels-expand constantly, grow your population.
Other empire-builders, like the genre-defininig Civilization series are more populist.Ĭivilizations I, II, and IV were games made by Americans at the apex of that country’s history, and celebrate America’s national myths about tireless expansion and manifest destiny. Where does Age of Wonders III come down? Some games subscribe to the Great Man theory, that Nietzschean superheroes arise from the masses to lead us in pivotal moments. What have the developers put into the model, and what have they left out? How do empires actually work? It’s an open question and 4X games are informed by the living debate.Īll of these games, in some manner, make a claim as to the propellers that move society. The aspect of the 4X that makes it the Everest of game genres is the complexity of what it’s modelling: the empires themselves. On internet forums where empire-builders are discussed, even mediocre entries are eagerly pulled apart and their workings analysed in horological detail. 4X games-short for explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate-are few and far between, so the release of a new title is an occasion to be cherished. There is no game more inherently political than the empire-builder. In the interest of keeping on the right side of a man who regularly puts a knife to your throat, there’s two things you should never talk about with your barber: Religion and 4X games.