DLC REVIEW: ‘Archon Prophecy’ Takes Age Of Wonders 4 Celestial

Last year, Triumph Studios and Paradox Interactive’s Age of Wonder embraced the darkness with the Eldritch Realms expansion, and now, it’s cast its eyes to the light with the angelic Archon Prophecy. In Age of Wonders 4: Archon Prophecy,  players take control of the forces of light by joining the celestial Archons as they strike back against Urrath’s dark forces. 

Like other Age of Wonders 4 DLC, Archon Prophecy adds new story content, new realm, new mechanics, a new hero type, and, of course, new tomes. At this point, the 4X turn-based strategy game has added warbirds, dragons, demons, beasts, fae, insectoids, and even old gods. In addition to the already robust customization options for races and factions, Archon Prophecy makes things lighter. It embraces traditional feathered aesthetics with celestial possibilities to add some range to the two new forms. 

For those who find joy in character creation, Archon Prophecy adds two: Elysian and Ancient. The former is akin to the elves but with angelic wings that can be equipped on the head, third eyes, and more to make your “biblically accurate” angel, well, Elysian. As for the Ancients, this form is withered and bent beings from the depths of history – and other, more sinister places. 

The inclusion of the Ancients as a form keeps Archon Prophecy‘s new additions feeling more holistic in the developer’s approach to the heavens. The withered forms allow the expansion to not just be one-note in terms of added flavor, and that continues into the other new content additions, like Prophecies and the new realm. 

Age of Wonders 4 embraces a celestial aesthetic that we haven’t seen before in the game.

In addition to the new form, you also have to pick a Culture for your faction as you create it. This Age of Wonders 4 expansion introduces the Architects. As a culture, Architects construct vast, magical monuments within cities. As you add monuments to your city, you dedicate them to an affinity to empower your economy and unlock powerful bonuses that help carve your ideology into the world.

Additionally, Architects, when it comes to playstyle, are a Culture evoking the empires of antiquity, a people dedicated to the creation of something greater than themselves. In addition to dedicating monuments, players also gain Wondestones, which are a unique resource obtained from Magic Materials that the Architect culture seeks to acquire to build their monuments.

The monuments also affect the combat you engage in. Architect Units gain plus one to their damage for every stack of Affinity Incarnate granted by their Monument. But the more dynamic element of how monuments interact with your units is that they impact the damage type used in combat. This changes to match your Dominant Affinity as established by your monuments and helps you get the most out of the buffs you’ve been investing in. 

This is also the first time that you don’t choose your alignment directly from the start. Usually, you only receive Affinities through your initial faction creation and through the Tomes you research. With Archon Prophecy, however, building monuments allows you to explore more Affinities than ever before.

Additionally, when monuments work in tandem with the new Prophecy Traits, players are given more agency over their builds, adding traits that may not have been used together previously. Building your cities larger now has an immediate impact on how you craft your Ruler and more importantly how you approach everything from combat to the narrative.

Prophecy Traits add more choices to player development throughout your time with Archon Prophecy. You choose how to interpret the prophecy, but fulfilling the Prophecy will unlock powerful rewards. Much like quests, choosing to complete the prophecy helps build your world around you and even builds faster. Additionally, as you recruit more heroes to become your governors and help lead your armies, you will be asked to help them determine their futures by hearing their prophetic visions. 

While the overall addition to the narrative of both Custom and Story Regions is to complete Prophecies, the Vision type also impacts the kind of ruler you become and how you lead your Empire. The Vision types are broken into three categories for the Celestial factions: Vision of Promise, Destiny, and Ruin. For those with the Vision of Promise, they are destined to settle in a land of promise.

The Archon Prophecy expansion adds more flavor to gameplay with new story mechanics. 

That said, a Prophecy has to be acted on to come true, and it is still up to the Ruler where they think this can be found. Outside of location, the factions with a Vision of Destiny are destined for a great purpose, fated to attract the attention of the Endaillon, and the ruler chooses a mark that their people bear.

Finally, there are the factions with the Vision of Ruin that are destined to bring about significant change to the Realm. Your people foresee a ruinous event they are destined to bring about, but it’s up to the player to decide what to do. Do they bring it about as the only one with the ability to adapt to the new world because of their foresight, or do they stop the event and thus the devastation it brings? 

One of the Visions that players can choose from allows them to have access to all six Affinities, while the other two allow for the different sets of three. When used in tandem with building Monuments, Factions have never felt so malleable to a player’s will before. 

Another layer that impacts your units is that the Archon Prophecy expansion introduces the Battlesaint, a new Hero type. Whether guiding the faithful as a sacred support unit or standing firm as a martyr-like tank, the Battlesaint turns virtue into strength and sacrifice into victory. This one is for the Paladins at heart, and easily becomes a specialization choice that works exceptionally well. 

Ages of Wonders 4: Archon Prophecy is for the Paladins at heart.

In the spirit of the Paladin, alignment to the Light throughout impacts how you interact with the new features in the game for the new Factions. Additionally, the Tome each individually builds units and kits for the player that fit with the use of Spirit damage that one would expect from the fantasy class. 

In addition to a new Hero type, the expansion also adds new Wildlife Units. This includes two Celestial Animals, three Archon Representatives, and two Revenant Archons. For the Celestial Animals, players get the chance to see Griffons (which the simultaneous free update is named after) and their even more magnificent counterpart, the Celestial Griffon.

As for the Archon Representatives, they serve as elite emissaries of the Archons. And for every bit of light in this expansion, there is something dark too, and that’s where the Revenant Archons come in as twisted echoes of fallen warriors haunting the world with necromantic strength.

Truthfully, though, the new Tomes that come with expansions are a large reason to get excited, and Archon Prophecy is adding four new Tomes for players to research. The Tome of Virtue lets players empower their armies with unwavering righteousness and bolster their fighting strength until the bitter end. Still, the Tome of Prophecies allows players to weave fate into every moment with prophetic spells and omens that shape the battlefield. 

The Tome of the Revenant taps into the darkness and allows players to channel the power of the dead and take vengeance against the living. Finally, the Tome of the Archon will enable players to summon celestial allies and ascend their units to the ranks of Archons.

The next new element that Archon Prophecy brings to Age of Wonders 4 is Blessed regions. These are a new group of Custom Regions that use a new Celestial Terrain Overlay. These regions will give a minor economic bonus, and annexing Blessed provinces will not incur a Stability Penalty. That said, because of the Celestial Terrain overlay, much of the water exploration is gone, having been replaced with the vastness of space.

Still, the Blessed Regions do maintain an Underground map as well, and more importantly, they feature a new Landmark, the Fountain of Creation. Building near the Foundation of Creation is a feat of RNG you will immediately be thankful for. As if an extension of the well of creation itself, this fountain spreads the blessings of creation across the Realm, buffing patches of land surrounding it. 

But it’s the interactions that the Celestial Terrain brings with it that significantly impact the world of Age of Empires 4 and continue the trend of adding enough flavor to keep players finding new ways to play, even years into the game’s life. In the Celestial Terrain, the infestations have been replaced with Crusaders.

Instead of being antagonistic like Infestations, these areas are more neutral than not. More importantly, if your alignment with the Light is good enough, you can leverage these encampments to your advantage. This adds a variation to how you build on the map and how you interact with the map’s content.

The Celestial Terrain keeps providing a different take on environmental obstacles. 

In addition to the Custom Regions, Archon Prophecy also adds two new Story Regions, building on the new narrative content that this expansion adds. The first is Rings of Emnora, where players enter the hidden realm of Emnora, stronghold of the Archons. The entire focus of this Story Region is to enter the stronghold in a search for aid in the eternal war against Urrath.

The second is the Cliffs of Sordünn. A land on the Coast of Sordünn, this Story Region allows you to explore an ancient land that fell into the endless horrors of the Umbral Abyss. The goal for this one is to reclaim the realm from Urrath’s clutches and fulfill a Prophecy that will shape the war between light and darkness.

The overall story of Age of Wonders 4 keeps moving forward from the last expansion, and the war against Urrath is intensifying. Its Generals are laying siege to Worlds where Dreamers reside. Sundren has left to fight the Umbral Abyss, avoiding all consequences of the chaos she wrought, and the Godir of Magehaven are desperate. The Pantheon searches for aid against Urrath, and The Gloomwatch might have a lead on its celestial.

With this comes the new narrative content that is based on the addition of Prophecy Traits. The theme of Age of Wonders 4: Archon Prophecy is the heavens, and with that comes oracle communication that drives story moments for your heroes. This new society trait helps you shape your empire; you can listen to them, deny them, or run counter to them. Early in your journey, a vision appears, challenging you to define your ruler’s purpose and ambitions.

The other new additions to Age of Wonders 4 with the Archon Prophecy expansion include new achievements, music tracks (by composer Michiel van den Bos), and premade rulers, realm templates, realm traits, exotic mount traits, and, for those who care about their homescreen in the game, new Archon interface skin and banner emblems.

Like other expansions, Archon Prophecy is also accompanied by a new fee update. Titled the Griffon Update, the most significant impact from this update on Age of Wonders 4 is the introduction of Flaws as a new type of Form Trait that introduces meaningful drawbacks to your form. Unlike typical traits, Flaws add points rather than costing them when selected, allowing you to invest more into strengths elsewhere. Still, Flaws aren’t meant to be shrugged off.

Ultimately, Age of Wonders 4: Archon Prophecy shows that Triumph Studios and Paradox Interactive still have creativity when it comes to expanding the long-running world of this 4X strategy game. While server stability caused plenty of desyncs during my co-op playthrough, the content that is being continuously added is well worth it. 

Age of Wonders 4: Archon Prophecy is available now on PC via Steam.