Age of Wonders 3 expansion Golden Realms adds halflings and new campaign

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 .)

Tom Sykes

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.

Latest in Strategy
Civilization 7 Great Britain - Modern Civ art (via YouTube)
As Civilization 7 struggles to keep up with Civ 5 player counts, a new patch is coming tomorrow with still more UI changes and gameplay tweaks
Battle Brothers
Nearly 2 years after its last update, the excellent Battle Brothers gets 'a bucket load of fixes' and free new content
King wielding his axe against would-be assassins in Norland.
Medieval colony sim Norland is getting a 'damn big update' that completely overhauls the game's mechanics: 'We're rolling out some radical changes to the core gameplay'
Age of Empires 2
Former Age of Empires 2 dev claims Microsoft demanded its first expansion should have a Korean faction, because 'StarCraft sold 3 million copies in Korea'
Endless Legend 2 Kin faction reveal
It's turtle time: Endless Legend 2's first faction is the fortification-loving Kin of Sheredyn
A massive beachhead assault in indie RTS Beyond All Reason
Over 110 players and 10,000 units clash as this free RTS celebrates its growing multiplayer scene with some of the biggest multiplayer battles ever fought
Latest in News
Assassin's Creed Shadows immersive mode - Naoe holding a tanto in her hand as two guards fall to the ground behind her.
Assassin's Creed Shadows' first hotfix addresses stability issues and a photo mode crash
A close-up of a scared young girl's face as she stumbles through the woods, a crown of twigs and flowers upon her head.
CD Projekt says it's not using generative AI on The Witcher 4 because it's 'quite tricky when it comes to legal IP ownership'
A plastic duck dressed like a circus weightlifter
The 5th highest-rated game on Steam in 2022 is back with a multiplayer sequel
A still from a video announcement of Game Informer's return, featuring the magazine's Halo 2 issue.
Game Informer is back from the dead: 'The whole team has returned'
An April Fool's Day Palworld game concept about dating Pals
From Palworld movies to Palworld TV shows: 'Everyone under the sun pitched us every idea you can imagine,' says Pocketpair's communications director
Ciri in The Witcher 4
The Witcher 4 won't be out until sometime in 2027 at the soonest, CD Projekt says