Dominions 6 expands the already packed 4X series next week

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Image credit: Illwinter Game Design

Dominions 6 was announced last year, with promise that the latest iteration of the complex 4X god-battler would be thick with UI and quality-of-life improvements. I dared to dream of a game that was more accessible than Dominions 4, the last in the series I played.

Well, it now has a release date of next Wednesday, January 17th, and there are videos that show it in action.

Dominions 6 trailer.

Ah. More accessible? No – as someone who skipped the last one, I couldn’t tell you what has precisely changed other than that it doesn’t look like a game changer in terms of accessibility. It still looks like Dominions and as wonderfully maximalist as ever.

The same YouTuber has another, hour-long video which runs through some of the major things that are changing, and the list is substantial. There are new nations, reworked nations, singleplayer diplomacy features, and UI changes that should make life easier for those already experienced in playing – among many other additions.

If you’re not familiar, Dominions lets you pick an entity that aspires to godhood – huge beasts, an evil mage, an inanimate boulder – and then construct an army of fantasy creatures. You then march across the world, capturing various thrones, performing various blood sacrifices, and otherwise building your power until you’re able to ascend. Battles happen without your direct control but it has such a vast number of units, weapons, spells and other toys to play with that it doesn’t matter, every part of the game produces wonderful anecdotes.

Sin recently wrote about Dominions 3, 4 and 5 for Rally Point, which covered her excitement for this coming sequel:

It’s hard to name a standout feature that I’m excited about. But I’m optimistic about the combined effect of hundreds of changes, and finally seizing the excuse to write about a series that once inspired me and several other RPS commenters (including co-contributor Caelyn Ellis) to write a diary that climbed to over 25,000 words of scheming, lamenting, joking, and taunting poems. There just aren’t many strategy games that so readily feed your imagination, and while it may be gradual, the 20 years of refinement going into Dominions 6 is one of the Good Things about an independent games scene; we’ve room not only for off the wall ideas, but for people persistently working on their own specific thing.
Too true. I don’t think I’ll be playing Dominions 6, but I look forward to reading words from Sin about it.