Age of Wonders Planetfall Deluxe Edition

Age of Wonders: Planetfall Deluxe Edition is a turn-based science-fiction 4X strategy game with tactical combat, empire management, diplomacy, and customizable armies. The current PC storefront name remains Age of Wonders: Planetfall; Deluxe Edition is a bundle containing the base game and Deluxe Edition Content Pack, not a renamed or definitive replacement edition.

Developed by Triumph Studios and published by Paradox Interactive, Planetfall combines an overhead hex-based strategic map with separate tactical battlefields. It is aimed at players who want the long-term planning of a 4X game but prefer direct control over individual units when wars begin.

Empire building meets tactical turn-based combat

Each match begins with a commander establishing a foothold on a damaged world. You explore sectors, claim locations, develop colonies, research technologies, recruit armies, and decide whether nearby factions become allies, trading partners, or targets.

The strategic layer is built around sector expansion, city specialization, resource management, and territorial positioning. Colonies can grow into larger economic centers, while nearby sites provide production, energy, research, food, or strategic advantages. The map is not simply a route between battles; it is where your economy, diplomacy, scouting, and military logistics meet.

When armies collide, the game switches to tactical turn-based battles on compact maps with cover, elevation, destructible objects, flanking opportunities, and line-of-sight decisions. Units use action points to move, attack, take cover, activate abilities, or prepare defensive responses. Status effects and resistances make target selection as important as raw damage.

Planetfall does not reduce combat to automatic army-strength comparisons. A smaller force can win by exploiting terrain, staggering key enemies, applying the right status effects, or combining unit abilities with commander operations. The result is a strategy game where the best empire on paper can still lose a battle through poor positioning.

Six factions, secret technologies, and adaptable armies

The base game includes six distinct factions, each with its own roster, identity, campaign missions, and strategic priorities. The Vanguard offers a relatively direct human military style, while the Kir’ko, D’var, Syndicate, Assembly, and Amazon factions introduce more specialized approaches to technology, mobility, diplomacy, biological warfare, stealth, or battlefield control.

Faction identity is only one part of army design. Commanders also select a Secret Technology that supplies an additional research path, operations, unit upgrades, and battlefield tools. This creates meaningful combinations within the same faction and encourages players to build around a coherent damage type, status-effect plan, or defensive strategy.

Units can be improved with modifications that alter their weapons, defenses, resistances, or special abilities. Heroes can gain experience, carry equipment, and lead armies across the map. Because equipment and research choices affect how a force performs in battle, army composition is a strategic project rather than a simple matter of producing the most expensive unit available.

Diplomacy also has practical value. Independent groups and NPC factions can offer quests, resources, units, and political opportunities. You can improve relations, negotiate with rivals, or pursue a more aggressive route toward victory. The major victory paths include conquest, diplomatic outcomes, and powerful doomsday technologies.

Campaigns, skirmishes, and long-term replayability

The main story structure is a multi-faction campaign set after the collapse of the Star Union. Its missions introduce the setting, explain the conflict between surviving groups, and give players a guided way to learn the differences between factions and Secret Technologies.

Planetfall is not limited to a linear campaign. Randomly generated maps support skirmishes with adjustable opponents, objectives, world conditions, and victory rules. These matches form the central replay loop for players who prefer building a new empire from a fresh starting position each time.

The game also supports a persistent Galactic Empire structure through its expanded content. Worlds can be conquered in sequence, with selected progress, heroes, technologies, and empire traits carrying into later scenarios. This gives the campaign layer a longer-term progression arc beyond completing individual maps.

Multiplayer supports online PvP, hotseat play, asynchronous turns, and team-based formats. Steam also lists Remote Play Together and Remote Play on Tablet. The turn-based design suits groups that enjoy planning, diplomacy, and delayed retaliation rather than real-time reactions.

What the Deluxe Edition actually includes

The Deluxe Edition package combines the full base game with the Deluxe Edition Content Pack. That pack is primarily supplementary content rather than a large gameplay expansion.

Its contents include a Digital Artbook, the Original Soundtrack, the Bravado Bundle cosmetic pack, the Spacerpunk Cosmetic Pack, and the Infested Worlds Scenario Planet. The cosmetic items affect commander presentation, while the scenario planet provides an additional setting for gameplay.

The Deluxe Edition does not include the full Planetfall Season Pass. The larger expansions, including Revelations, Invasions, and Star Kings, are separate purchases unless a storefront bundle explicitly adds them.

Revelations introduces the Heritor Secret Technology, the Forgotten NPC faction, anomalous sites, additional campaign content, and the Tomb World scenario. Invasions adds the Shakarn as a playable faction, the Therian NPC faction, Voidbringer threats, environmental world events, two campaign maps, and the Conquered Worlds mode. Star Kings adds the Oathbound faction, a new campaign, Grail Configurations, new wildlife groups, and the Galactic Empire feature through its associated update and content ecosystem.

Who should play Planetfall?

Planetfall is a strong fit for PC players who enjoy turn-based 4X strategy but want battles to feel more personal than a single combat-result screen. It rewards players who like experimenting with faction identities, Secret Technology combinations, unit modifications, and diplomatic relationships.

It is especially appealing if you want a science-fiction setting with unusual factions rather than conventional human space empires. Dinosaur-riding Amazons, cyborg-zombies, subterranean industrialists, insectoid survivors, and deceptive lizard invaders give the roster a more distinctive tone than a purely military space simulator.

The game may be a poor fit if you want fast real-time action, a purely economic city builder, or a short campaign with minimal rules to learn. Planetfall has layered systems, and the value of a research choice may only become clear several turns later.

Players who prefer squad-focused missions over planetary empire management can compare its battlefield positioning with science-fiction squad tactics like XCOM 2 Digital Deluxe Edition, although Planetfall adds a much broader strategic layer between battles.

PC features, controls, and localization

The PC version is distributed through Steam and is also represented in Paradox’s storefront ecosystem. Steam lists Steam Workshop, Steam Cloud, achievements, trading cards, Family Sharing, Remote Play features, and online PvP. Workshop support gives the PC edition a useful community-content layer beyond the built-in campaigns and skirmishes.

Steam identifies partial controller support, including Xbox controllers. Mouse and keyboard remain the more natural choice for managing a dense strategic interface, comparing unit modifications, inspecting sectors, and issuing precise tactical commands.

Multiplayer on Steam requires a Paradox Account that can be linked to the Steam account. The storefront also requires acceptance of a third-party EULA. No separate anti-cheat system is identified in the current storefront information, so it is better not to treat Planetfall as a competitive anti-cheat-focused title.

Interface and subtitle localization covers English, French, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, and Korean. English is the listed full-audio language, while the other supported languages provide interface text and subtitles.

For a broader empire-management alternative with random maps, diplomacy, and long-form turn planning, asymmetric 4X strategy in Endless Legend offers a useful comparison, though Planetfall places substantially more emphasis on direct tactical combat.

Age of Wonders: Planetfall Deluxe Edition FAQ

Is Age of Wonders: Planetfall Deluxe Edition a renamed version of the game?

No. The current PC storefront listing uses Age of Wonders: Planetfall as the game name. Deluxe Edition refers to a bundle that adds the Deluxe Edition Content Pack to the base game.

Does Deluxe Edition include all Planetfall expansions?

No. It includes the base game and Deluxe Edition Content Pack, with its artbook, soundtrack, cosmetics, and Infested Worlds Scenario Planet. Revelations, Invasions, and Star Kings are separate expansions unless included by a larger collection bundle.

Can you play Planetfall offline?

The core game supports single-player play, but Steam features such as cloud saves and multiplayer depend on online platform services. Multiplayer also requires a linked Paradox Account.

Does Planetfall have co-op or local multiplayer?

It supports multiplayer formats including online PvP, hotseat, asynchronous turns, team play, and Steam Remote Play Together. The exact available options can depend on the storefront and multiplayer setup.

Does the PC version support mods?

Yes. Steam lists Steam Workshop support, allowing players to access community-created content through the PC ecosystem. The official storefront also identifies modding tools as a PC feature, with tool availability varying by operating system.

Is the Deluxe Edition mainly cosmetic?

Mostly. The bundle adds commander cosmetics, a digital artbook, the original soundtrack, and the Infested Worlds Scenario Planet. It is not the package to choose if your priority is the additional factions and systems from the three major expansions.