Triumph Announces New Sci-Fi Age of Wonders Game: Planetfall

There’s been a lot going on as of late, so the initial announcement managed to slip past unreported, but in case you didn’t hear, Triumph Studios – the folks behind Overlord and Age of Wonders – just announced a new game, called “Age of Wonders: Planetfall." While the “Age of Wonders” series has historically enjoyed a medieval/high fantasy setting, this new game transitions the series to the world of science fiction, with aliens, spaceships, and lots and lots of guns.

Check the trailer, which excites me way too much:



Anyway. I bring up this fairly late news because PC Gamer sat down with director Lennart Sas to talk about the new game, and asked why they decided to head in that new direction:

"We've been making fantasy games for 20 years. 20 years! In the past, we've tried other things. They haven't always worked, or haven't seen the light of day. We grew up with Tolkien but we also grew up with Herbert and Lucas, and other the science fiction greats. We consumed pop culture like anybody here and have always been entertaining or applying the sci-fi universe in one of our game concepts.”

So basically, it’s because sci-fi is what’s “hip” these days. Looking at Destiny 2, Anthem, Overwatch, and Black Ops 4, it’s hard to blame them for reaching that conclusion. You might have also noticed the in-game battles looked a bit like XCOM, which was something Lennart was quick to dismiss.

"I think what's different with XCOM is that our battles need to be concise, they can't last for one hour. They need to allow for a large variety of [participants] be that critters, monsters, tanks, airstrikes. Once you play, I think you'll notice numerous, quite significant differences between the two."

Which is fair. Anyone who’s played an Age of Wonders game before knows that despite the frequent and turn-based battles, only the biggest sieges last longer than a few turns. A full-blown XCom fight would just destroy pacing. That said, it would still take a few things from Xcom – namely, cover, destructible environments, and height advantages.

Oh, and also, there will be new races, including the DVR, which are basically just space Dwarves, which the director readily admits. Anyway, you can check out the whole interview here, which is definitely worth a look if you’re a fan of Triumph’s earlier work the way I am. Here’s hoping it comes out soon!