Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension Review

Dominions 4 is the latest in the decade-spanning series of medieval fantasy 4X strategy games from Illwinter Game Design. Being that they’re a tiny indie studio made up of just two guys, there’s a fair chance you’ve never heard of this title. Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s not a decent game just because the graphics look like they’ve been knocked together in MS paint by a time-travelling Choose Your Own Adventure illustrator facing sudden technology crisis. Good things come to those who persevere – particularly if by ‘good things’ you mean staying up till 5am every night bleeding your eyes out on this pixelated paragon.

To put it politely, Dominions 4 is story-light. Some time ago there were a bunch of wars in which a triumphant pretender was able to rise to the role of the one supreme god, and thus there was great peace. Except that now, he’s gone and it’s happened again and no one knows why. You take the role of one of the wannabe deities, leading a nation and looking to fill his shoes.

The primary map-screen appears overwhelming at first

I’m not sure even where to begin summarising Dominions 4 gameplay. The level of customisation and options available before you even begin the game are verging on ridiculous and the sheer depth of strategic and tactical possibilities when playing is of astronomic proportions. After racking up an embarrassingly large number of hours of play, I still feel I’ve barely scratched the surface of the viable strategic possibilities contained within.



It all begins with choosing your nation. There are 28 to choose from, and they are more than adequately diverse; ranging from rather ordinary Rome-like human empires, to nations of angel-like winged bipeds, and even to the rather more bizarre race of ape kings. Each nation has its own selection of units, generals, mages, priests, and dominion preferences. The majority of nations are primarily land-based; however there are also some sea-based nations. The style of each nation seems to draw broadly on a healthy selection of real mythology and popular fantasy.

After that, you are thrown into the god customization screen where you must first choose your physical form. Once again the selection available is astounding. Grossly oversimplified, the gods available are a selection of powerful magical creatures with a preference for one of the eight spheres of magic and loosely classified into gods that prefer to stay at home researching and casting spells from afar, or jump into battles and lead troops from the front. Some of the more recognisable forms include ancient wizards and great dragons who fancy their chances at godhood. Each has a different set of physical statistics and unit capabilities. There are even some that don’t have the ability to move (by normal means), such as the very literal ‘Fountain of Blood’, or the awesomely badass ’Demilich’.

The next step in game setup involves distributing a number of points between your god’s magical powers and the effects of your so-called ‘dominion’. Dominion in the game is vaguely similar to the mechanic of culture in civilization, except that as it spreads to your outer provinces it brings with it certain benefits for your nation. The customization process involves choosing those benefits, and they include such things as population growth rates, increased income, and magic research benefits.

The primarily map-screen in the game bears some resemblance to a tabletop board game. From this screen you can manage your construction, your units and your provincial defence. Provincial defence is actually a key game concept whereby you can buy a standard army defence for a province which is much cheaper than standard units but is limited to the type of population in that province and completely unable to move or employ battle tactics. Victory can be accomplished in a variety of ways, including: total conquest, a research race, or capturing special territories called ‘Thrones of Ascension’.

A summary of important events is presented every new turn

Strangely there are no enforceable diplomatic options built into the game and although the devs argue that this allows for a freer variety of diplomacy in multiplayer, in single-player it translates to being effectively at war with everyone at all times. This can get a little annoying when your empire gets large and you have to dedicate large amounts of time trekking across your empire to deal with miniature invasions.

Battles take place in-between turns and crucially the player has no direct control over his units at this time; it is entirely automatic. Instead, troops must be tactically ordered and given their relative positions before the battles take place. This system is one of the most focal mechanics of how the game plays. Some basic tactics involve ordering your archers to keep back and placing a standing meat shield in front of them, whilst having your cavalry wait a couple of turns and then come charging in from the side. This is the cue for any veteran players of this series to start guffawing wildly at my rookie display of tactical prowess.

To compliment this, the game features a rather dated looking 3D battle simulation which allows you to view and scrutinise battles turn-by-turn just after they take place. This allows you to get a detailed look at how your battle setup is working out. Although this a long way from looking like Total War, it’s a great tactical resource which is absolutely necessary for tweaking unit orders.

Throw into the mix a handful of other game features like magic items, money, taxes, spells, magic research, army recruitment and a whole-heap of other grand strategy elements and you have the makings of probably one of the most complex 4X videogames I’ve ever come across. While I was learning the game I initially saw this massive level of complexity as a negative thing, hindering my ability to learn the game and making it difficult to form any kind of definite plan. However, with time and trial the game is learnt and soon the complications become a welcome intricacy which makes the game more interesting.

Multiplayer games run smoothly and involve a much more erratic and unpredictable type of play than single-player. The online community revolving around this game is one of the most newbie-friendly I’ve come across in some time. The only place multiplayer falls down is that there is no built-in server list or hosting system. What that means is that games have to be arranged by using internet forums or IRC chatrooms and that’s certainly not ideal. However, the game does allow for single-computer multiplayer hot seat games – which is a fantastic feature for a turn-based strategy to come boxed with. There’s also a pretty decent map editor which allows new maps to be designed with relative ease.

Anyone looking for an easy learning curve and a smooth introduction will not find it here. The lack of a well-designed intro for new players is most definitely a weak point. There does exist a tutorial hidden within the ‘game tools’ section of the main-menu, but it’s clunky and can only be used in combination with the PDF game manual. I have no doubt that a neat and quirky self-contained tutorial would have been significantly beneficial to this game. In addition, there’s no campaign mode – the only method of play being single-player custom maps. Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the game suffers from the same like of late-game drag that a lot of grand strategy games suffer; you have that part of the game where you know you’ve won, but you can’t claim your victory until you’ve spent another two hours mopping up what’s left of your enemies.

It's far from pretty, but functionally it works great

If you’re looking at the screenshots right now and reading this review and thinking, ‘You’re kidding, right?’ then there’s a good chance that this isn’t the game for you. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that for a lot of people the combination of massive complexity and crumby graphics will make this a title an absolute no-go. Hopefully the next iteration will involve a graphical makeover which will certainly help to bring it to a wider audience. I also have to mention that since I never played the previous editions of the game I’m left wondering how much has changed in this version as a brief comparison of screenshots reveals it not to appear very different on the surface.

Nevertheless, if you’re able to look beyond the simplistic graphics to the fantastic game underneath then this one is a real treasure. It’s something like the mutant offspring of Master of Magic and Civilization. As a lover of grand strategy, I’ve really enjoyed it. Dominions 4 is a 4X game of marvellous character and deep strategy that I will most definitely be playing a great deal more of.