2024X: Part Two

After releasing my first article, 2024X: A Golden Age of 4X (eXplorminate link), I soon realized I was missing much of what will make 2024X a great year outside of new releases. Quite frankly, some of the best parts of 2024X will be the continued support some already great games will be getting this year.

• Old World (already received the Wonders and Dynasties DLC)
• Age of Wonders 4
• Galactic Civilizations 4
• Distant Worlds 2
• Interstellar Space: Genesis
• Dune: Spice Wars
• Stellaris, I’m sure.

I’m likely still missing something, as there is SO MUCH this year that it’s hard to keep track of. Let’s dig into each game and discuss the expected content and why we’re excited.

Old World

First, as mentioned above, it received its first DLC in 2024, Wonders and Dynasties (Steam Link). From its Steam Page:

Old World – Wonders and Dynasties introduces 30 unique ways of starting your game with the addition of new rulers, alongside eight new wonders with which to leave a lasting legacy.

Each empire has received multiple new leaders to choose from, bringing additional starting conditions, family trees, traits, and events with them. Rule with an iron fist using Sulla’s unique Dictator trait, be the envy of other monarchs with Khufu’s ability to build countless wonders at reduced cost, or quickly forge a massive empire with Nebuchadnezzar’s rapid expansion. New wonders are at your disposal to open up new opportunities throughout a campaign – acquire free specialists with the Jerwan Aqueduct, become the trade capital of the world with the Al Khazneh, or spawn an endless army of swordsmen with the Colosseum.

Adding new ways to start a game is always a good idea, and with new rulers, wonders, traits, and events, this has a lot of content for the money. Quite frankly, I believe that Old World is criminally overlooked, and the team at Mohawk has only made it better since its release on Steam in May of 2022. Mohawk released three other DLCs for Old World: Heroes of the Aegean, The Sacred and the Profane, and Pharaohs of the Nile. These DLCs have done a lot to add new content and replayability to Old World, and we’re excited to see what might be in store for Old World in 2024.

Age of Wonders 4

Triumph Studios and Paradox announced a season of content before Age of Wonders 4 was even released. Age of Wonders 4 has already seen two expansions in the expansion pass, and there will be two more!

The first two, Dragon Dawn (Steam Link) and Empires and Ashes (Steam Link) were well received. The first, Dragon Dawn, added dragons as a new ruler type, a reptilian form, and new tomes. My favorite part, the dragon rulers, were such a welcome addition that I sometimes go back and play with the ruler creator to create a new, bad-ass-looking dragon just for fun.

Empire and Ashes unlocked a new culture, the Reavers, and their focus is so unique that I was the base-game cultures were as unique and fun. That’s not to say that the base game cultures are boring, but the Reavers leaned into some asymmetry I’m always clamoring for.

Next up, in just a couple of short weeks, we’ll get our hands on Primal Fury (Steam Link). Primal Fury adds a new “Primal” culture, new Lupine and Goatkin forms, new tomes of magic, new mounts, new wildlife units, and new realm content. We’ll have a full review of it when the embargo drops, so stay tuned!

Finally, there will be the Eldritch Realm (Steam Link) eXpansion later this year. We hope it’s just the season’s last expansion and more is coming afterward. Eldritch Realms will feature new story content, new monsters, new racial forms, and some new gameplay mechanics.

With all of this expansion pass’ new content and gameplay options, Age of Wonders 4 could be one of the best fantasy strategy games ever. It’s undoubtedly Triump Studios’ most popular and successful title, so we hope they’re incentivized to keep supporting it beyond the second quarter of this year when Eldritch Realms drops.

I’m super excited for Age of Wonders 4 content and doubly excited for the continued support that I’m sure it’ll receive. I hope the developers consider revisiting some of the base game content to bring it on par with the expansion content, which feels a bit more polished and exciting than the original content. Either way, 2024 will be great for Age of Wonders 4!

Galactic Civilizations 4

Okay, I swear, my review of Galactic Civilizations 4: Supernova is coming soon. I just had to finish this whole “website reboot” thing.

Now that it’s done, I’ll get right on it after this article! Stop pressuring me!

Okay, with that out of the way, let’s talk about the content coming to Galactic Civilizations 4 (GalCiv 4) in 2024X.

First up, Warlords. Warlords promise to allow players to “craft their own military doctrines,” allowing them to dictate ship behavior in combat, design new ship classes, and establish a strategic order of battle, thus increasing the player’s control over combat without added micromanagement.

Furthermore, the expansion will add a new gameplay mechanic, “War Aims,” allowing players to specify victory conditions regarding wars, essentially providing the player with conquest goals, much like Stellaris.

It also promises other “significant upgrades” to the combat system, providing a more profound, strategy-focused warfare experience for Galactic Civilizations 4.

Considering the many complaints about GalCiv 4‘s combat, this expansion sounds just like what the doctor ordered.

This expansion is planned for the first quarter of 2024, so we should hear more about it soon!

Next is the “Species Pack,” coming in the second quarter 2024. As the name suggests, this will add over a dozen new races for you to befriend, conquer, or play in GalCiv 4. It promises a new integration with the AlienGPT system that GalCiv 4 introduced, so we’re interested in knowing more about that.

Next, the “Megastructures” expansion will allow players to finally build those star-harvesting Dyson Spheres they’ve always wanted to build. Set to release in Q3 2024, it elevates civilizations to Type II status by utilizing stars as a strategic resource. Players can construct other awe-inspiring megastructures like the Interstellar Gateways, providing unique benefits.

The expansion also introduces strategic depth by differentiating star types, with Red Giants and White Dwarfs offering distinct improvements and advantages. Megastructures hopes to encourage players to think bigger and redefine the scale of their galactic endeavors in GalCiv 4. We’ll see if they can pull that off…

Finally, “Tales of the Arnor,” scheduled for release in Q4 2024, explores the ancient secrets of the galaxy. Focused on the Mithrilar and their creation, the Arnor Precursor civilization, the expansion unveils relics and details about the Precursor Wars and the mysterious Dread Lords. Tales of the Arnor introduces unique artifacts, engaging events, innovative components, mission-driven gameplay, and story-rich content, enhancing the game’s narrative depth.

Phew! What a mouthful. As you can tell, there’s much more information regarding GalCiv 4‘s expansion plans than Age of Wonders 4. Despite that, I’m still eager to learn more about both games’ plans for future content!

Distant Worlds 2

It still feels like Distant Worlds 2 hasn’t hit its stride yet. If you feel the same way, you’ll be happy to know that they have some pretty grand plans for 2024.

Erik Rutins stated in a Steam forums post that they have a lot of work ahead of them but detailed the work that has already been done.

Erik outlined the 2023 updates, including the “Aurora,” “Hyperspeed,” “Discovery,” and “Fleet” updates, that addressed technical issues, improved performance, and enhanced gameplay. The “Fleet” update, released in November, received positive feedback, but issues with fleet and ship behavior and performance regressions will be addressed in early 2024 beta updates. Hopefully, that means soon!

The DLCs for Ikkuro & Dhayut and Quameno & Gizureans expanded faction choices (and were more fun than the base game races). The base game factions will receive updates for improved gameplay, bringing them on par with the DLC races. Future priorities include enhancing fleet and ship behavior, addressing pathing issues, improving AI, refining empire borders (my eyes thank them), and adding quality-of-life features for manual players.

The developers outlined upcoming expansions, with the “Return of the Shakturi” prioritized for Q2 2024, introducing a major end-game threat. A third “Factions” DLC is planned for the second half of 2024, featuring the Wekkarus and Atuuk. Erik also wants an update schedule that aims for bi-weekly public beta updates in 2024, leading to stable official updates every 2-3 months.

Erik, Elliot, and co. are committed to ongoing support, addressing reported issues, and prioritizing modding support. They thanked the community and encouraged players to stay tuned for more information on the “Return of the Shakturi” expansion.

And that leaves us here in the second month of 2024. We haven’t heard much since this update, but we’re hopeful we’ll start hearing more soon.

If they can follow this update plan, I do not doubt Distant Worlds 2 will be a much better game by the end of 2024.

Interstellar Space: Genesis

Adam Solo, the leading (solo?) developer of Interstellar Space: Genesis (ISG), recently announced that “Expansion 3” is currently being developed. It’s just a tiny hint, but he says the following:

Work on our third expansion is underway. We know you’re probably curious about what expansion 3 entails. While it’s a bit too soon to get into all the details, what we can share is this expansion will present a variety of new content and gameplay features that aim to add more excitement, challenge, and also reveal more of the ISG universe and lore, providing for an experience of epic proportions. It’s exciting stuff, and we can’t wait to start sharing more info about it with you in the near future. We promise it’s going to be worth the wait!

Steam Forums Post

So, we’re going to poke at Adam to see if he has anything he can share with our audience, so stay tuned! Hopefully we can be persuasive enough to convince him to post a teaser image or two, maybe even more!

Stay tuned!

Dune: Spice Wars

Okay, I’m just shooting from the hip here, but considering Shiro Games is still releasing DLC for Northgard (Steam Link) as recently as December 7, 2023, I think it’s safe to say that DLC and expansions are coming for Dune: Spice Wars.

Hell, Shiro Games has released 11 DLC and one expansion for Northgard, so I’d say it’s extremely likely we’ll see new content for Dune, and very likely sometime soon.

The content aspect is easy: add new houses. Expansion packs could add new gameplay mechanics, new units for existing houses, and more.

The opportunity is so ripe that I can almost taste it already.

Stellaris

Surprisingly, it’s been a bit quiet on the Stellaris front. We know that v3.11 “Eridanus” is being worked on (Steam Link) by the custodians, and that big balance change to technology is a central part of that patch. Still, we don’t know anything else about future Stellaris content.

But that doesn’t mean a damn thing, as Paradox loves its DLC, so we know Stellaris will see at least a DLC or two in 2024. We’ll keep a close eye on our sources and report as soon as we hear anything!

So, now, what am I missing? Is there another 4X I’m neglecting that should receive more content in 2024? Let me know in the comments below and if there are enough of them, a Part 3 might be in order!

Rob Honaker

Rob founded eXplorminate in 2014 as his passion for 4X needed an outlet. You can find Rob in just about every 4X game beta and 4X game forum, too. He’s equally obsessed with the strategy and tactics genres and constantly combs the internet for new and exciting titles in those genres. He’s proud to be a member of Amplitude Studios’ VIP program and the concept creator of Endless Space 2’s Unfallen.