The galaxy has been shattered and it’s time to unite all the races as Age of Wonders: Planetfall is all set to release its third expansion with Star Kings. While the previous expansions took us to past and present conflicts of the Star Union, this new expansion looks to the future. Star Kings is launching on November 10 for the PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, and is available for $19.99.
Star Kings is going to introduce a new playable faction known as The Oathbound. These are Paladins who pilot giant mechs and destroy enemies with arc weapons imbued with lightning. The Oathbound are led by the benevolent, yet cunning, Seers. The Seers have the ability to see into the future and use this ability to help the Paladins in battle.
There’s also going to be a new Story Campaign where players lead a Paladin on a mission to save all of mankind with the use of the mythical Grail Configuration. Throughout the campaign, players get to travel to Union Prime, the birthplace of the Star Union, and learn about longtime secrets.
So what are Grail Configurations? These are new landmark structures that can be earned through multi-stage quests. Records say that the mysterious structures were created by a race of crystal entities that have long been extinct. It seems that they have been used for powerful long term bonuses that are important in establishing the biggest empires possible.
The new expansion is also bringing three new Wildlife groups to Planetfall. There’s the Apostates who are former Oathbound, but have since given up their vows in exchange for chaos. Players should also look forward to the Psionica, vampire-like rock creatures that feed on psychic energy. The last, but certainly not the least, are the Mycelians. These are sentient mushrooms that have taken control of farming equipment and have become cyborgs.
In addition to the Star Kings expansion, there’s also going to be a free patch that’s going to add new features to Planetfall. These include:
- Galactic Empire
- Get to customize your own empire by conquering worlds with progress that carries over between play sessions.
- Combine technology from different races and carry over heroes between planets as you lay the foundation of an eternal empire.
- New worlds to conquer
- There are now new worlds for you to wage war on.
- Each world has different traits and bonus objectives, adding a ton of gameplay variety and extra challenges as you take over new planets to expand a growing empire.
- Tech requisition
- Get to develop new strategies by adopting and combining secret tech from various Planetfall races.
- Wild combinations and unique tactics can be created that change up the battlefield in crazy new ways.
- Residential Sectors
- Create Super Colonies by building beyond the city sector limit and use a variety of racial upgrades to maximize economic variety.
- Endless Research
- Each tech tree now contains a ‘Future Tech’ skill that can be researched an unlimited number of times.
- Future Tech provides a random stacking bonus every time it is upgraded encouraging you to keep on researching forever.
Are you ready for the future? Are you excited to play as an Oathbound? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
- Expansive turn-based and 4X elements, with tons of freedom of choice.
- Diverse races, with lots of distinctions between each one.
- Strategic gameplay rewarded and limited by your own creativity and imagination.
- In-depth tech tree with a ton of branching paths to go through.
- Easy to get into for casual players of the genre.
- A bit daunting at first, which may put off and overwhelm some players.
- Lacking in sound design and the music department.
- Not very intuitive at times, with some tedium setting in once your empire gets bigger.
