Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic

Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic is a stand-alone expansion to Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne. Like its predecessors, is a turn-based strategy in a fantasy world.

In the campaign, a corrupt new empire led by the wizard Phobius, has launched an aggressive assault on the ancient races and all things magic. Meanwhile, an even greater evil in the form of hellish demons, breeds within its shadows. The wizard Merlin has been captured by the demons, but can still communicate with his old wizard friends. The player is cast as these wizards as they fight the human empire and the demons.

The main character is the Wizard, who most of the time stays in his wizard tower casting spells in his domain. He researches new spells and abilities and becomes more and more powerful as the game moves on.

One unique feature is the simultaneous turns mode, where all players move their units at the same time. For those that like it old-school, there's still a classic turns mode.

The changes compared to Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne are:

• three new races: the Nomads, the Shadow Demons and the Syrons
• one new unit for each race, with existing units rebalanced
• a third level on the map - the Shadow world
• several new structures
• graphics renderer updated to use DirectX 8.1
• improved AI
• random map generator
• improved map editor with modding tools and campaign editor