Age of Fear: Total

I like Age of Fear. I like it a lot and I'm gonna talk about why. First off, I really respect tiny indie games made by one person. This is a clear passion project complete with programmer art and stock sound effects I've heard in other games, and yet he's also gone back and commissioned better artwork for units over the years, as well as put in the effort of hiring voice actors to read the story cutscenes. We can discuss if the effort has been worth it, but - hey. I like seeing games made by people who care, especially after way too much time in the steam queue finding shovelware that was made for a quick buck. Second, I adore small scale tactics. X-COM is one of my favorite games, along with Strain Tactics. I love leading little squads around and relying on positioning and skills more than worrying about strategy. This game is full of that: you have about 9~ units in your squad and that's the limit. Third, oddly enough, the price structure? These games have been around for over a decade now and been in bundles and you can get them really cheap - or straight up free, in the case of this standalone demo thing. And then on top of that, the TOTAL edition I linked above? That's the entire dang series slammed into one launcher alongside a promise of all future content for free. That's a lot of games with full story campaigns! So - Strix you've been typing a lot but you haven't explained what this IS. Age of Fear is a small squad tactical turn based game with rpg mechanics and metaprogression. It has top-down graphics (which are odd but work) and some of the feel of a tabletop wargame. Movement is Phantom Brave / Makai Kingdom style - every unit has a circle around them that's how far they can move, and they can go anywhere in it once per turn. Your entire army moves in one turn, and then the enemy army moves in their turn. Units attack in standard fantasy rpg fashion - melee attack (for a percentage chance to hit), or use a skill (magic costs MP, etc) and that's the basics. Units standing next to each other can physically block the path - which is vital for protecting squishy casters. (Especially as casters cannot cast while next to an enemy unit!) What takes this simple setup (fun in and of itself) into really interesting is the sheer variety of units and synergies. I mean, the dev has had a decade to add units and balance them, but there's over five factions and plenty of weird units. So it's fun seeing what kind of weird matchups you can get! Additionally, the game structure itself is neat. In story campaigns, you can follow the main quest or get distracted by the oodles of procedurally generated battles ("this area is the swamp, so it's full of goblins! fight!") - I'm still playing around with this, but the dev tells me that most players spend about a third of their games doing this - but it's possible to ignore it entirely and beat the story - or go wild and grind forever and steamroll everything. Story quests (and procgen quests) scale to your level somewhat, so it's flexible. Your other option is - yes - full sandbox mode. The open campaigns are just that, where you can do whatever you want forever. (There's also multiplayer? Wild!) Okay I'm getting too long winded. Last bit! RPG mechanics. Units can level up, get promoted, equip gear, evolve into other units, etc. It's flexible and neat! This also means that you're incentivized to keep units alive and not just replace them as you go. Unless, of course, you're a necromancer (like I am, in the first story campaign...) and skeletons are free. So is raising the bones of your enemies. >:D So far I'd say the writing is passable to okay, not great. The voice acting is neat. While I'm curious about these stories, and I do love that there are neat branching paths - I died in one level and it wasn't game over, my hero unit actually became a whole new class and the story altered itself - I never lose track of how this is a game you're playing for the mechanics first. Which are solid and fun, imo! That's Age of Fear and I'm enjoying it and want to put more hours into it!

Well, it's finally here, you don't need to buy any more RPG strategy games because everything that makes sense is in this package :-) It is strange though that this game doesn't receive as much attention as it would probably deserve. The original pricing strategy was not super fine because buying all the packages was a bit costly even on sale. It was balanced by a very good library of free scenarios but anyway a little bit of an obstacle. This Total version solves it all. This game is a perfect example that you don't need a huge Hollywood like studio and super effects, the game mechanic is just so well designed, simple in its core but with endless possibilities. Challenging and not forgiving. Straight to the core of the game, no time spend in the game is wasted, no dummy actions required. The vast free version will give you an overview before you buy a full game. If I should pick just a one game that I will recommend and no other, I will surely pick this one.

Pains me to leave a negative review, its just not what I expected, I was hoping to customize my characters, but this seemed more like a battle/strategy top down token then full blown adventure game. There are some good ideas here and the game seems to have fairly competent writing. Even the voice acting was okay. Other down side seems a little pricey for just a battle simulator stitched together by a different scenarios.

Love having all the games in one launch and the bonus Open campaigns are a fun addition

Como apasionado a juegos estratégicos fantásticos por turnos solo puedo recomendar este título. Hay que tener en cuenta que merece la pena su compra si no tienes los anteriores títulos, pues al final es la unión de todos los juegos anteriores en uno. La verdad es que a pesar de unos gráficos muy limitados, se nota el mimo del desarrollador en la historia detalles y la gran cantidad de habilidades y unidades de los diferentes ejércitos. Si no te importa el apartado gráfico y te gustan este tipo de juegos no lo dudaría ni un momento. Es muy importante tener en cuenta que el juego solo está en inglés.

I've been enjoying this series since I gave it at try in AOF 3, and it's even more fun when you can play everything it has to offer. If you enjoy tactical combat like in Age of Wonders or Eador, you will like this game. The campaigns add plenty of structure if you prefer narratives with goals, and the wealth of open world content will let you try out all the factions and unit combinations to your heart's content. On top of that, the devs are responsive and genuinely care about their game being fun. Buy it!

Not the most aesthetically pleasing game out there, but it does a good job at immersing you in a life of a cold hearted necromancer obsessed with taking over the world. Voice acting is like a decent audio book quality. Music needs work - it plays joyful tavern music as the narration is going on where I'm piling up bodies and doing undead experiments. A bit dissonant. But, the actual gameplay is great. Very fun strategy / tactical party-based rpg.

Genial. Il manque la narration de vive voix, mais c'est depuis toujours un jeu charmant et addictif. Merci pour vos efforts! ;) Belle création.

Good game

I really like the variety of ways to put together an army, and multiple ways to tailor the difficulty and game experience--most things that could annoy you can be toggled on/off, so you can really customize the game to your liking more than I'm really ever used to seeing.