Welcome to our second “Throwback Thursday”, where we repost some of our greatest articles and thought pieces. Next up, Troy’s look back on what the “Golden Age” of 4X really was.
This article was originally published on October 19th, 2019.
With the recent acquisition of the Master of Magic property by Slitherine (and now, December 13th release date), the topic of the 4X “Golden Age” popped up once again. And, naturally, as we move into eXplorminate’s 5th year of existence, I thought I might take a moment to reminisce about history. Not our history as a website, but the history of our genre. Since we started eXplorminate in 2014, there have been a number of debates in our comments, forums, and Discord channels asking whether or not we’re in a “Second Golden Age” of 4X games. We’ll probably not know one way or the other until many years past when we can look back on this time with more clarity. That said though, a new member might wonder, “What was the first Golden Age?”
Most longtime 4X fans, if asked, would probably point to the ’90s as the first (maybe only) Golden Age for 4X games. I would have to agree, but that doesn’t help people who joined the genre after 2000. They would naturally want to know what made the 90’s so great, and what games, in particular, made them that way.
So, what I intend to do with this article is just to briefly highlight a few of the more important and/or impactful 4X games made between 1991 and 1999. If possible, I’ll provide links to where those games can be purchased now.
Civilization: 1991
I count 1991 as the year the Golden Age started because that’s the year the biggest franchise in the genre hit the scene. At the time, there wasn’t even a word for this type of game. Civilization was just lumped in with strategy games.
At a time when the PC gaming market was dominated by sim games like SimCity, SimFarm, and SimAnt, Civilization was a revelation. It took the city-builder aspects in those sims and added a win condition. Now there was an actual goal to work toward! For those of us who discovered this game back in the day, there wasn’t anything else we wanted to play for months and months.
Civ1 wasn’t a great game, though. It had bugs. Moving units was a total pain because the idea of “stacks” hadn’t been invented yet (also because many of us had yet to adopt the hot new technology known as a ‘mouse’). You had to move each unit individually. I guess we had more time to kill back then. Also, the game had a top-down view instead of isometric. To the modern eye, the original Civ looks extremely dated and probably not very fun to play.
It’s interesting to look back at this game and see how much has carried forward. Wonders, ages, barbarians, tech trading, and the nuke-happy Gandhi were all in place in 1991 thanks to the game’s boardgame background (and a technical glitch). It’s also interesting to note that the palace you built as you progressed your empire was not carried over into future iterations of the franchise. You haven’t lived until you mix the Taj Mahal with the Parthenon.
Anyway, Civ1 didn’t really catch on as a game in the early ’90s, but it was financially successful enough to warrant sequels and spinoffs while enabling MicroProse to become the premier 4X game publisher in the ’90s. Those of us who played Civ1 loved it, but the wider PC audience wasn’t that impressed. It would be two years before a 4X game would come along and really establish our beloved genre as a style of game all its own.
Where to Purchase Civilization:
-The only places to get Civ1 are emulator and pirate websites which I will not link here.
Master of Orion: 1993
Most 4Xers know that it was actually Master of Orion, not Civilization, that was first called a “4X” game. You can check out Alen Emrich’s preview for MoO where he invents the phrase HERE. So, this was the game that really put 4X on the map. MoO achieved much wider fame and fandom than the original Civ ever did.
The factions in MoO were very different from the countries in Civ. Civ nations might have one tech they always started with, but otherwise, they were all just about the same. MoO factions, though, were all distinctly different. The Alkari were really good with ships. The Silicoids could colonize any planet right off the bat and were immune to the negative effects of waste. The Darlocks were masters of espionage. All in all, MoO offered a vastly deeper gaming experience than its 4X predecessor.
MoO also introduced the tactical battle board for combat. Instead of having units ram into each other for combat (a la Civ), the game put you onto an entirely different screen to resolve conflicts. In addition, you could build HUGE fleets in MoO with which to fight. You weren’t limited by map space since all ships of a type were stacked together. Few games produced since the original MoO have been truly able to capture this aspect of the game.
One of MoO’s longest-lasting contributions to the 4X genre was the diplomatic victory. MoO introduced the “Galactic Senate” where the factions voted on laws and leaders. If you could manage to improve relations with the other factions enough to get yourself elected ruler of the galaxy, you won!
The original Master of Orion is still worth playing. Simtex and MicroProse created an all-time classic with this title. Its elegant simplicity gives it a low learning curve, but the nuances that one discovers the deeper and deeper you delve into its secrets give it lasting replayability. It’s no surprise that this was really the game most associated with our beloved genre in its early days.
Where to Purchase Master of Orion:
Galactic Civilizations: 1993
It’s kind of crazy to think that the first three games I’m listing in the Golden Age of 4X (coming up on 30 years ago!) have all had recent additions to their franchises. Both Civilization VI and Galactic Civilizations III, for instance, got its latest expansion just this year (2019). That’s truly amazing.
The original Galactic Civilization, though, wasn’t quite as amazing. The story behind this game is intriguing. It was originally produced by Brad Wardell (who is still personally active in GalCivIII development), but he never saw a cent from the 1993 OS/2 version. The publisher went bankrupt and never paid him. Brad has spoken on numerous occasions about how disappointing this was for him but also about how much he learned from the experience.
The original GalCiv did not reach the kind of widespread play and notoriety that Master of Orion did. MoO just completely overshadowed it. Somewhat ironically though, the tables would eventually turn when the debacle known as Master of Orion III helped drive customers toward the relaunched Galactic Civilizations (2003 version)!
In any event, GalCiv was certainly a part of the Golden Age. It’s a testimate to Brad’s tenacity that a franchise that started off with such disadvantages is still going strong 26 years later.
Where to Purchase Galactic Civilizations:
-The only places to get Galactic Civilizations (OS/2 version) are emulator and pirate websites which I will not link here.
-An improved version for Windows is available on GOG, however.
Colonization: 1994
Civilization didn’t get a direct sequel right away. Instead, Sid Meier and the crew at MicroProse decided to develop a more focused 4X game based on the Age of Exploration period in history. Thus, Colonization was born.
Though not a true successor to Civ, there were still some improvements on the 4X gameplay. Notice how it’s still has a top-down view, but the UI is improved. Legibility of the units and the names were greatly enhanced. Instead of a palace, you build a hall of advisors filled with famous philosophers, politicians, and economists from history.
Of all the games I spotlight in this article, Colonization is perhaps the most underappreciated. Part of the reason for that is that it got sandwiched between two genre mega-weights: Master of Orion and Master of Magic. Another reason is, Colonization is a much more limited game than most historical 4Xs.
Players can only choose from four factions: British, French, Spanish, and Dutch. Combat units are extremely basic: musket men, dragoon, and artillery. Finally, there are no “ages” per se, and technology never really advances.
However, the genius in the game is everywhere. Instead of trying to conquer the world (which you can still do, but don’t have to), players are trying to win their independence from their home country. This is done by generating “Liberty Bells” and agitating your populace enough to finally do it. Then, you have to face down the military wrath of your homeland until you finally win a lasting peace.
This alternate victory condition was a great deviation from the typical “kill ‘em all” approach other 4X games took at the time. Not many other games have gone this route, and unless you are a real hardcore 4X gamer, you’ve probably not played a game with this mechanic. Still, among those who bought this game at the time, Colonization remains an important title of the Golden Age.
Where to Purchase Colonization:
Master of Magic: 1994
Simtex and MicroProse naturally wanted to follow up their smashingly successful space 4X game with a fantasy 4X game. It’s clear they learned from what Civ and Colonization did and decided to make an evolutionary leap.
Master of Magic had several important innovations from Civ1. First, it borrowed the tactical battle board from MoO1 but adapted it for a terrestrial game. More importantly, the tactical battle board used an isometric view, rather than a top-down one. In addition, MoM separated leaders from factions, unlike MoO and Civ. Now, you could mix and match human wizard-kings with trolls, dark elves, halflings, or lizardmen. Speaking of factions, MoM had a whopping 14 of them, each with unique units and models. MoM was also the first 4X game of the Golden Age with a “dual map” or multiple planes of existence. We take these things for granted in games like Warlock 2 or Age of Wonders 3 now, but back then, this was entirely unique. MoM introduced the “Doom Stack” where all units in a stack could move at once – a major convenience. And for good measure, MoM was the first 4X to feature nudity. Finally, MoM introduced crafting to the 4X genre with a highly customizable system that allowed players to make equipment for their heroes.
Additionally, the devs packed MoM with a ton of animations from enchantments, to summon spells, to banishing enemy wizards. It boggles my mind how they were able to cram so many graphics onto a few floppy disks back in 1994. It’s really quite astounding.
It wasn’t a perfect game, though. The earliest versions had a lot of bugs, and if you wanted a patch back then, you had to mail away for a patch disk that might or might not actually work. Improved versions were shipped to stores in 1995, but the damage to the game’s reputation was already done. MoM would never rise to the same popularity as MoO or Civ, and as a result, never get a sequel from MicroProse. Still, it is widely considered one of the best fantasy 4X games ever made and played, even today.
Where to Purchase Master of Magic:
Ascendancy: 1995
By 1995, 4X fans were beginning to look for another space game to try, other than Master of Orion. There were a few others on the market by then, but they were either very shallow or very buggy. The player base didn’t really coalesce around a new game until Ascendancy hit the scene.
Ascendancy was the next step in Space 4X evolution. Players lead their species into space trying to become the most dominant faction in the galaxy. To do that, players had to develop their home planet. Yep. Ascendancy had planetary improvements and buildings a year before Master of Orion 2 came out.
It was clear by 1995 that MoM would be the last major top-down view 4X. Isometric technology was here to stay. Consequently, planets in Ascendancy had isometric views of their squares that could be used for development. Ascendancy also one-upped MoM by sporting 21(!) factions. Each had their own unique quirks and advantages. Endless Legend and Endless Space 2 might seem like they revolutionized 4X with faction differentiation, but that kind of innovation was 20 years old by the time those games came out. Ascendancy also sported a massive graphics upgrade over the games that came before it. More powerful processors were arriving on the PC market by then, and the new games were taking advantage of them.
The reception for Ascendancy was fantastic back in the day. The MoO fans were ready for it. Strategy gaming, and in particular 4X gaming, was on a hot streak. The Logic Factory (developer of Ascendancy) even picked up a few awards recognizing their high-quality product.
So why, you might wonder, did Ascendancy never get a sequel and only appear briefly on the App Store for iOS? The answer is 1996.
Where to Buy Ascendancy:
-The only places to get Ascendancy are emulator and pirate websites which I will not link here.
Master of Orion II: 1996
1996 was peak Golden Age for 4X, but it wasn’t without its controversies. We’ll start with Master of Orion 2, which is where I feel the direction of our beloved genre really changed forever.
I’m not sure if MoO2 was influenced by Ascendancy, but it certainly went down the same path. Planetary management was dialed up big time, and MoO2 became the default image 4X fans had in their brains of what a proper Space 4X should be.
Importantly, MoO2 came on a CD ROM rather than floppy disks. CDs were taking over the market at that point, and having your game on that format made it seem modern and cutting edge. However, many of the graphics had to be loaded from the CD, and this would bog downplay. In successive years, as computers got larger hard drives and better RAM, players would just load the full game onto their hard drives. Unfortunately, though, this wasn’t an option for everyone at launch. Dad might need to use his word processor and spreadsheet programs, after all.
MoO2 introduced three new races to the franchise: the Trilarians, Elerians, and Gnolams. It also created systems with multiple planets where different factions could each control different planets orbiting the same sun.
In addition, combat was radically changed in MoO2. Instead of super-stacks containing potentially dozens or hundreds of ships grouped together like in Master of Orion 1, ships in MoO2 fought individually in combat on an improved battle board. This innovation opened up whole new levels of tactics for players to explore. MoO2 even had multiplayer! (Yes, we had the Internet back then)
MoO2 was a huge success and brought tons of new players into the 4X community. However, it wasn’t all peaches and cream. Many of the old MoO1 players didn’t like the innovations of MoO2. The increased planetary management seemed more like micro-management, not fun. Having to deal with multiple planets per system would bog down gameplay and increase the number of game pieces players had to track. And then, there were the Antarans.
The full title for this game is actually Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares. MoO2 introduced us to the “Sword of Damocles” mechanic which was an impending and almost unbeatable force lurking in the shadows, ready to strike and wipe the regular factions out of they don’t achieve victory soon enough. The only way to stop the relentless waves of Antaran ships was to invade their dimension and destroy them in combat.
All of these changes were off-putting for some players, and so the fanbase for MoO2 was split. Online newsgroups and message boards were just getting started, and the flame wars over which was better, MoO1 or MoO2, raged hot at times. Perhaps the row amongst the Master of Orion fans would have blown over eventually if “that other game” of 1996 hadn’t been released.
Where to buy Master of Orion 2:
Civilization II: 1996
“That other game” was Civilization II. Sid Meier took advantage of the opening in the fanbase caused by MoO2 and put the Civilization franchise in serious contention for the best in 4X. The debates on the schoolyard were intense. The Civ1 fans could finally come out of the closet and proclaim their love for the franchise without embarrassment.
So what made Civ2 so good? For starters, it got a massive graphics upgrade. MoO2 was somewhat better than MoO1 in that department, but the overall UI and menus were more warmed-over versions of the old stuff rather than new and revolutionary. Civ2’s UI was sleek and easy to use (for its time), and the new isometric maps were much easier to navigate than Civ1.
Civ2 also introduced numerous new units and new nations to explore. Some of the old stuff was kept, like having to move nukes like regular units, for instance. The modern nuke mechanics wouldn’t show up until Civilization III.
In addition, Civ2 borrowed the idea of special resources on map tiles from Master of Magic. Trade was therefore improved as well and with it, diplomacy. Civ2 also had a greatly improved AI. The game was truly challenging.
Civ2 also introduced the “High Council” which added a lot of humor. Players had to manage various aspects of the game like military, economy, and happiness. Each was represented by over-the-top cartoony advisors that would snipe at the other characters and try to convince you they were right. The idea for the council probably evolved from Colonization which had famous figures from history advising you in a serious way, but I can’t be sure.
Global warming and pollution (represented by little white skulls) made their debut in Civ2. These mechanics added a new dimension to over-industrialization and the use of nukes. The negative effects could be cleaned up fairly easily with workers at the player’s discretion. It was a much more interesting approach that melded well with the 90’s slacker vibe of being a little concerned about such things, but not enough to really do something about it.
Overall, Civ2 was an unquestioned success. 1996 will probably be remembered as the best year of the Golden Age, if not the best of all time. That said, The Civilization franchise didn’t quite cement its victory over the Master of Orion franchise until the third iteration of each came out. Both of the “3’s” were bad, but Master of Orion III was so epically awful, it could never recover. But by that point, 4X was well into its Dark Age.
Where to buy Civilization II:
-The only places to get Civilization II are emulator and pirate websites which I will not link here.
Alpha Centauri: 1998
1997 was a bit of a “dry” year for 4X. In my mind, the only important 4X game to come out that year was Imperium Galactica since it was the first really successful real-time 4X. Other than that, though, there wasn’t much to talk about. MoO2 and Civ2 were curb-stomping the competition and no one really wanted to play anything else.
When 1998 rolled around, many of us were wondering if 4X was beginning to lose steam. Some wondered if 4X was dead. It wasn’t. In came a breath of fresh air called Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri. Instead of following Earth’s history, gameplay starts in the 2100s on the planet Chiron – opening up a whole new storyline for fans to enjoy.
Alpha Centauri ran on the Civ2 engine or, at the very least, something like it. By this point, Sid Meier had left MicroProse and joined Firaxis, which was a subsidiary at the time of EA Games. This would be a huge loss for MicroProse and, in my mind, was one of the reasons that the company eventually went under.
Anyway, Alpha Centauri introduced many fanciful factions based on science fiction themes. Instead of being based on race or nationality, the factions were separated by ideologies. This division was rather unique at the time. Faction ideologies included environmentalists, fascists, capitalists, science-worshippers, and more. Each had advantages and disadvantages that spawned endless debates on which faction was better. This, of course, was perfect and exactly what a developer would want for a game.
Alpha Centauri included a rather broad selection of victory conditions. There was conquest, of course, but also you could also win by getting 75% of the vote from the populace on Chiron, completing the “Ascent to Transcendence” project, cornering the market for energy, or if you were an alien faction introduced in the Alien Crossfire expansion, you could win by building six subspace generators.
Looking back, Alpha Centauri was the shot in the arm 4X needed at the time. Its unique factions, tech trees, storylines, and victory conditions really pushed the boundaries for what 4X had offered up to that point. It provided a completely different experience from the historical, space, and fantasy titles that had released up to that point.
Where to Buy Alpha Centauri:
Star Wars Rebellion: 1998
As we approach the end of the decade, we also approach the end of the Golden Age. Toward the end of any trend, the true innovators have moved on to other things, leaving only those who are content with creating lesser copies of what came before. And when they do, their contributions are, necessarily, lower in quality. Such is the case with our next game, even though it did bring something unique to the table. Of all the video game genres out there, 4X has had the fewest licensed properties. One of those few is Star Wars Rebellion (SWR).
SWR was a popular 4X game in the late 90s, but it wasn’t really because it was such a great game. It got there thanks to its title. I think the most exciting part was you could immediately play the most iconic characters from the Star Wars Original Trilogy. Luke, Han, Leia, Vader, and Emperor Palpatine were available as soon as you started the game. No paywalls or loot boxes! This drew in a lot of players. That’s no surprise since, at that point, Star Wars was still the biggest pop-culture intellectual property of them all. Before the dark times… Before the prequels.
You would think this game would be a smash-hit. It’s Star Wars meets 4X! However, among my friends and even to this day, many 4X aficionados kinda turn up their noses at this game. First, the mechanics were clunky. Exploration could take a very long time. You had to build construction yards on a planet before you could build other improvements or ships, which really slowed play down. The graphics were cheap and really behind the times. The game also did a terrible job of explaining how you were supposed to play. Many players were totally lost on what to do. Not only that but every time the game started, it opened with a loooooooooooong intro that you couldn’t skip by clicking or pressing escape. Overall, its design was lacking in many areas.
Also, SWR is a real-time 4X. There weren’t many of those on the market at the time, so that did make it more unique. The problem, though, is that when your game is real-time, you’re going to have to compete against other real-time games. The late ’90s were dominated by the best RTS games ever.
WarCraft2 was still widely played, but in 1998 StarCraft had just launched. In addition, Command and Conquer: Red Alert was still very popular and in 1999, C&C Tiberian Sun came out. There was just no way a game with an antiquated UI and slow mechanics like SWR could compete with the RTS heavy hitters let alone solid 4X hits like Alpha Centauri, MoO2, and Civ2.
Sadly, SWR never got an expansion or sequel. It’s highly unlikely we’ll ever see a Star Wars 4X game in the future, either. I do want to say that despite its problems, SWR is still a likable game. I had some fun with it, even if I did get distracted by other games. But with its launch, it was clear that 4X was in decline.
Where to buy Star Wars Rebellion:
Age of Wonders: 1999
By 1999 the PC gamer fanbase was undergoing a massive transformation. Internet speeds made a massive leap forward. More and more college campuses were getting T1 and T3 connections. Online play was the name of the game, and soon anything that didn’t have RTS, FPS, or MMO in its description would be ignored. It was into that environment the Golden Age of 4X closed with a familiar title: Age of Wonders.
When Triumph first started working on Age of Wonders, the gaming magazines at the time were hyping it as a spiritual successor to Master of Magic. It wasn’t, and I don’t think it was ever trying to be. By the time AoW launched, that rumor had been officially squelched, but not everyone got the memo. When players loaded up AoW for the first time expecting a MoM experience, they were shocked at what they found.
AoW was a very non-traditional 4X at the time. For years, the “leader” of a faction was just a disembodied portrait ruling from afar. AoW put the leader on the ground as a hero from turn one. AoW was one of the first 4X games to switch to a hex map. Even Alpha Centauri used traditional squares. Eventually, a honeycomb map would become the norm, but it was a major transition at the time. Some of the old grognards weren’t ready for that.
Additionally, cities were already pre-positioned on the board. You had to conquer cities in order to get them. The old system of building a settler, moving around the board to find a suitable building location, and then working your way from outpost to metropolis was gone. This was such a break from traditional 4X that a fair number of players wondered if AoW could even be considered a true 4X game.
One of the coolest mechanics in AoW was its altars. These were almost like nukes. You had to have a ton of mana to power one up, but once you did, you could target a spot on the map and just blast it with magical power. If you had enough mana saved up, you could do it multiple times.
Reaction to AoW was mixed. Some really liked the new mechanics, others were dismissive. It might not have been as successful as most of the other games on this list, but it certainly sold enough to encourage Triumph to stick with the franchise. And unlike Master of Magic (up to this point), Ascendancy, Alpha Centauri, and Star Wars Rebellion, AoW has enjoyed a very robust and fruitful life. The most recent entry in the AoW franchise came out this year, and there are plenty of whispers around dark corners of the ‘net that Age of Wonders: Planetfall might be among the best 4X of all time. Time will tell.
Where to buy Age of Wonders:
Closing
Following 1999, 4X went into a tailspin. MicroProse was dead. Master of Orion 3 bombed. Civilization III wasn’t even designed by Sid Meier and would become what many regards as the most bloated and unfun of the franchise. Several other 4X’s launched in the next decade would be total duds for the most part. Other than Firaxis with Civ and Stardock with its GalCiv franchise, the genre was mostly abandoned by large and medium studios until 2012 when Amplitude helped resuscitate it with Endless Space 1.
For the last seven years, we’ve been riding high on a wave of great 4X games. Civilization V, Endless Legend, Thea: The Awakening, Stellaris, Endless Space 2, Gladius: Relics of War, and Age of Wonders: Planetfall have all added something to 4X that didn’t exist before. Whether we end up calling this area the Second Golden Age or the 4X Renaissance is immaterial. The Golden Age was great for what it was, but right now, we have plenty of terrific 4X titles to explore and enjoy. So get out there and do that!
Troy is of the eXplorminate Old Guard, having been around since the beginning. He’s an eXplorminate reviewer, former Weekly eXchange co-host, assistant administrator, and old-school gaming enthusiast who joined the team when he was called upon to help.
Troy also has experience in developing tabletop role-playing games. He’s now working very hard on his book series, titled The Hunter’s Rose Series. His first book, “The Huntsman and the She-Wolf” can be found on Amazon and other book retailers!
Excellent write-up with some nostalgic humour thrown in for good measure.
It is curious how you skirted around Civ6, though it is still very popular. Sure, not everything makes sense (Tourism victory?), but you cannot deny it is a popular 4X game of recent years. It still has that “one more turn” feeling, that annoying craving to keep going just a bit more until you see it has been 8 hours and you’ll be a zombie during working hours.
And I will not pretend to like Star Wars: Rebellion. I think most people I know who are into 4X have never played it or even heard of it. I have. Sure, it is an interesting example of extremely asymmetric gameplay and works incredibly well with the in-universe mythos that is so familiar from the movies and somehow holds up over the series, prequels and Disney movies. But I would not call it captivating. While I was not in the 4X scene yet at the time it was launched (partly due to age, partly due to the geopolitical situation of the time), I doubt it was very popular, even among 4X fans. So when I saw it here, my thought was “You just haaaad to include it…”. And we’d be right, it deserves to be mentioned, though not necessarily liked.
But that is the point. Not every “big title” 4X game of a “Golden Age” is going to be outstanding, or even good. Everyone will find games they dislike (like Endless Legend, SW:R) and games they love (like Age of Wonders 3, SMAC/X). It is not about the genre becoming more popular among gamers, it is about having quality choices. It has been a long time since we had so many large titles in 4X concurrently developed, published, updated with patches and additional content. It has been a long time since we had so many different recent 4X titles to try out. I like it.
Excellent comments, Quarko2!
I wasn’t really skirting around Civ6. I wanted to list the games of the past few years that I thought did the most to innovate in 4X. I felt that changes from Civ4 to Civ5 were more significant than the changes from Civ5 to Civ6. That’s why I listed it instead. Now, this was written before the Battle Royale format for Civ6 was announced, so maybe it deserves its place in the list now. I’m very interested to see how that turns out with the fan base.
As for Star Wars: Rebellion, yep, I had to list it ;-D
I think SW:R and AoW1 served to show how the decline in 4X began. They each had innovations that didn’t work for many fans. Neither are fondly remembered now even though back then they sold well enough. They just lacked whatever the early and mid 90’s titles had that brought us out of the Primordial Age of 4X. Including SW:R and AoW1, I thought, would give the reader some nice closure on what The Golden Age was like and why 4X moved into a Dark Age.
And I do agree with you. I can’t recall a time when we’ve had a better selection of quality 4X games, ever. 🙂
Peace,
-Troy
Excellent article, right in the nostalgia feels! I have to protest that aow1 is not fondly remembered though. It is practically revered by a lot of strategy gamers! As for the fall of the 4x, for me it coincides with the fall of the turn based in general, and it is in large parts the fault of the RTS games boom in late 90ties and,to a lesser extent, the first person shooter boom of the early 00s. Also that was a time where hardware limitations served well the turn based genre in general, but as computer power started to soar, and graphic processors became much more powerful, the entire market gravitated towards exploring what new exiting things could be done to bring more realism and action to the gamers, and 4x was temporarily at least forgotten.
Oooh, excellent point. You’re right! The hardware did play a part in nurturing turn-based mechanics in the early 90’s. By the time the 00’s rolled around, I too had left 4X games for EverQuest and WoW. It wasn’t until Endless Legend and Worlds of Magic that I came back to 4X games.
I second Mormengil’s statement about AoW1. I think the main criticism for the game was and still is the lack of automatically generated maps, which hurts replayability (especially as each map had locked in what races would be on it). Beyond that, I am fairly certain that it is very fondly remembered.
What impresses me to this day is that you can play AoW1 on a 4K screen without anything really looking out of place, unlike SMAC (that bottom bar does not widen, it remains a tiny thing in the middle) or even AoW:Shadow Magic (there are textures on the UI that break/repeat, not to mention blurry image). The main thing that makes you realize that AoW1 is not a modern game is the menu that was oh-so-slightly inspired by Windows 95/98 (well, a lot of the UI was).
Awesome, awesome article Troy 🙂 I love a good break down of the history and evolution of a genre, and you knocked it out of the park.
For me, I got into the 4X game a little late. Alpha Centauri was my entry point (I still have my CD’s and instruction manual for it!) into the genre, and what an entry point it was. It kinda soured me on the rest of the Civ-franchise since Alpha Centauri was such an excellent game. I still play it from time to time (works awesome on my MS surface with a touch screen). I went back and dabbled with MoO 1 & 2 years later on, but really didn’t get fully immersed into the genre until Endless Space 1 rolled around.
As an aside, while not quite a full traditional 4X, Heroes of Might and Magic III was also a high water mark and also in 1999.
Your article has also planted a seed …. doing the same sort of things but a history of the “dark age of 4X” games, i.e. the period from 1999 – 2012
It was a strange and dark time 🙂
And of course, the darkest of all dark moments: MoO3.
If you write that article, I’ll be glad to pitch in with the editing! 🙂
You forgot Emperor of the Fading Suns, 1996. Still unrivaled.
I also like to add that for me the Golden Age ended with Civilization II Test of Time, which was awesome because of the “mod support” and the fact that you git 4 additional games (the Saurian Civ was pretty freaky).
Another thing you really have to realize is, that this game had – as units – religious fanatics, cheaply buildable by a fanatic religious government (a new government form) , who, yes, indeed, could do “terror attacks”.
The game was published in 1999, by the way. Civ 3 was released in October 2001, and guess what? No religious fanatics, no terror attacks.
In that regard, Test of Time has been mind-blowing – and then reality caught up with it.
Age of Wonders was a little late to the party but it was still successful enough to lead to AoW 2: Shadow Magic to be made which is one of my all time favorite games before the current turn based resurgence.
I think the hardware advancements making action focused games more viable and popular was most likely bigger factor in the decline of turn based gaming than the quality of the new releases. I think the decline in quality was more of a symptom than a cause.
Colonization was also one of my favorites and I’d really love a proper successor for that. I wish there were more of this kind of limited focus 4X games. Thea and At the Gates are probably the closest modern examples in this regard.
I like how you put that: “I think the decline in quality was more of a symptom than a cause.” Very astute.
And I do agree, Thea and ATG are close to colonization. I’ve never played the more modern remake. Maybe i’ll pick it up on sale someday on a sale. 🙂
I think it’s worth to mention one kind of 4X games you has for some reason neglected to place in your nice summary of the times: 4X with truly simultaneous turns (not like in SMAC where there is a real-time element involved but similar to Dominions 5). I love this kind of games in multiplayer as it leaves enough time for diplomacy and any necessary micromanagement.
Influencial examples:
Stars! (1995) – first 4X game of this kind that I know of, with its unique empire generation, pre-battle orders for military assets and a battle-simulator.
Star Trek Birth of the Federation (1999) – the last 4X game of the not-lamented-enough Microprose with automatic interception orders, neutral zones, sensor coverage and last but nor least a way of empire expansion by peaceful assimilation.
Space Empires series (SE4 in 2000, SE5 in 2006) – for me SE5, despite being released prematurely, with its flaws, bugs and terrible optimization, is the peak of the development of this kind of 4X games (Dominions5 is still below its level). Ideas in it are amazing and the most radical is the game being just a platform for mods with its vanilla setup presented as an exemplary mod.
This kind of 4X games was never hugely popular but it had players so devoted that they even reverse-engineered those gems removing bugs, creating additional content etc long after the games were abandoned but its developers and publishers – there are still vibrant communities playing modified Stars!, BotF and SE4/5 in multiplayer.
Was there ever really a Dark Age in 4X? I could argue that it started in 2006 😉
I think there certainly was a Dark Age. There still were some 4X games coming out every year but generally the number and quality was decreasing from the beginning of the 2000s. Most of them just weren’t that noteworthy.
I guess in some part it was due to 4X not being the new novel thing out there anymore and was eclipsed by the focus of the industry going to 3D action adventure and online games. Neither of those innovations wasn’t adaptable to the 4X format so it took a backseat for a while. But as always eventually the novelty of those wore off and now people were once again craving for some of that great old stuff from 90s.
Great article man!
I have fond memories of Star Wars: Rebellion and I feel you could maybe have been a bit more charitable with regards to it’s innovations: but it was certainly clunky. The range of actions your heroes could make was amazing though: they were a genuinely effective tool in your arsenal, and the game was built around them.
My biggest gripe with it was the awful 3D tactical combat. You can tell they had high hopes for it but it just didn’t work very well, and when I’ve replayed it, I’ve almost exclusively used the auto-resolve, which never works out so well!
But that character focused gameplay was great, I had a lot of fun with that. There was a certain tension in not knowing where the enemy would pop up next as well!
Great article. I am gob-smacked at the amount of time and effort that must have gone into writing it.