Richard Cobbett used words such as "immediately engaging" and "is" to describe Age of Wonders III in his review , so the news that it will shortly receive an expansion is almost definitely a Good Thing. Golden Reams is its name, and "bucket loads of new content" is its game, including the hobbity return of the Halfling race. Triumph announced the expansion with a ginormous video describing the new stuff, but if you'd rather hear about it in text form, I have you covered there too.
The aforementioned halflings, a new three-scenario campaign, and additional units including "the filth throwing Dread Monkeys, alluring Mermaids and the fearsome Glutton who can swallow whole regiments in one bite" are all things to expect in Golden Realms, along with a Wild magic specialization that sounds rather fun. I very much like the idea of being able to "cause spontaneous mutations, warp equipment and turn orderly battles into a pandemonium where the lines of battle are violently warped", and I'd like it even better if I could do all that while waiting in line at the post office. Sadly, Wild magic is limited to the fictional realm of Fantasyshire for the time being, though it should at least result in some unpredictable turn-based battles against your foes.
Golden Realms will release alongside a patch for the base game making balance and AI tweaks, and adding Steam Workshop support and a new spell system to AoW3. The expansion's set for release on September 18th; you can find more details here or in the video below. (Ta, RPS .)
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Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.
