Age of History 3

About

"Age of History 3" is a grand strategy wargame that allows players to shape the destiny of civilizations from the ancient era to the modern age. Players can expand their territories, manage resources, develop technology, and engage in diplomacy or warfare to achieve their objectives. With detailed maps, historical events, and various scenarios, this game offers a vast and immersive world for players to explore and conquer. The player's decisions and strategies will ultimately determine the fate of their civilization.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

+11

87%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,222 reviews

gameplay57 positive mentions

story7 negative mentions

Significant improvement over Age of History II with more complex mechanics and better graphics.
Engaging gameplay that balances simplicity and depth, making it accessible for new players.
Strong modding community support, allowing for endless customization and scenarios.

Lacks key features from the previous game, such as the ability to create custom vassals and send ultimatums.
AI behavior can be inconsistent, leading to frustrating gameplay experiences, especially in diplomacy.
The user interface is clunky and can be confusing, making it difficult to manage large empires effectively.

gameplay
279 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
75%
5%
The gameplay of Age of History III has seen significant improvements over its predecessor, with enhanced mechanics and a shift to real-time strategy that many players find refreshing. However, some users express concerns about the simplification of certain features, the lack of depth in mechanics, and various bugs that detract from the overall experience. While the game offers a more polished and user-friendly approach compared to other grand strategy titles, it still requires further refinement and additional content to fully realize its potential.
- “The AI is surprisingly clever and provides a genuine challenge—especially with its genius mechanic of penalizing rapid expansion.”
- “The gameplay is fun, and everything is really customizable.”
- “Age of History 3 offers deep strategic gameplay with a wide range of nations to command.”
- “The gameplay jumps from fun to boring fairly quickly, and within my six or so hours, I started maybe ten saves and created two scenarios from scratch but couldn't stick to one save after getting bored after a while.”
- “Extremely buggy at the moment; most features like scenario, civilization, event making, and editing are made way too difficult. It would be nice if we could edit individual province populations, or if there was a nationality or culture group mechanic. Often times, editing anything in-game won't save anything and will waste your time.”
- “Gameplay is painfully repetitive, with only minor tweaks separating it from its predecessors.”
graphics
64 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
80%
5%
The graphics of Age of History III are generally viewed as a solid improvement over its predecessor, offering a realistic and functional aesthetic that enhances gameplay clarity. While some players appreciate the well-designed user interface and overall visual upgrades, others criticize the simplicity and lack of polish, noting that the graphics may not appeal to those seeking more elaborate visuals. Despite mixed opinions, many agree that the graphics serve their purpose in supporting the game's strategic elements.
- “Age of History III's graphics are far better in every way than the previous game.”
- “The graphics and user interface are well-designed, making it easy to navigate through the complexities of the game.”
- “The improved graphics and sound design also enhance the overall gameplay.”
- “Now it certainly isn't perfect and the easiest point to criticize are the graphics, which are basically nonexistent.”
- “One problem I have with Age of History 3 is the fact that the dev used AI artwork.”
- “For example, there are crossbowmen and the graphic for them contains no crossbows.”
story
53 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
77%
13%
The game's story aspect is largely criticized for its lack of depth, with many users noting the absence of unique mission trees, meaningful nation formation, and engaging vassal interactions. Players express a desire for more diverse missions and diplomacy options, as the current system feels repetitive and uninspired. Overall, while the game has potential, it suffers from a simplistic narrative structure that detracts from the overall experience.
- “I hope he or modders continue to improve and build upon these by adding things like nation-region specific missions, events, etc.”
- “Recommendation: make it so that countries have their own specific missions and events [depending on the time period]; this is just a recommendation, but eh.”
- “+ extensive and original missions between other countries.”
- “Like I can build, declare war, all that, but I don't understand how I'm supposed to advance missions.”
- “The mission tree is very bare and mid, as it's just the same throughout everything and it's kind of boring.”
- “Next nation was the exact same story.”
grinding
35 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
37%
54%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and time-consuming, often requiring repetitive actions like managing large armies or selling provinces one by one. The interface is criticized for its lack of efficiency, making it difficult to navigate through numerous civilizations and tasks, which detracts from the overall enjoyment. Many reviewers express that the game feels like it demands an unrealistic amount of time and effort to progress, leading to frustration rather than engagement.
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “This became quite tedious when playing with large countries or when running an expansionist campaign in the game. For example, when playing as Russia, I was practically forced to use auto-click to build infrastructure as I couldn't find an easier way.”
- “My only complaint is that selling provinces is extremely difficult as you have to sell them one by one, searching for their names in the menu, which is very tedious if you are a large civilization since you have to scroll through a lot.”
- “Getting to 1k provinces and wanting to build something as simple as farms in every province is tedious and awful.”
stability
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
4%
4%
93%
The game's stability is a significant concern, with numerous users reporting frequent bugs, glitches, and performance issues such as freezing and crashing. Many features are described as poorly optimized, making gameplay frustrating, especially when editing scenarios or managing large numbers of civilizations. Overall, players feel the game lacks polish and may remain in a buggy state without timely updates from the developer.
- “I hope from past experience, Lucas can actually maintain the game bug-free (of course that is impossible, but I mean a sense of bug-free) and add some mechanics that it still needs, like making alliances bigger than only one country and possibly even factions, and more depth in people's liking of your choices.”
- “Extremely buggy at the moment, most features like scenario, civilization, event making and editing are made way too difficult. It would be nice if we could edit individual province populations, or if there was a nationality or culture group mechanic. Often times, editing anything in-game won't save anything and will waste your time. Most of the interface is extremely tedious to work with and lacks search functions, which can be a nightmare when playing with over 500 civilizations.”
- “Game is good, new features are pretty cool, but it is really poorly optimized for some reason. The game freezes and stutters a lot to the point where I have to close the game entirely, sometimes losing progress. This usually happens when I speed time up during a session.”
- “Some of the major bugs right now include not being able to end rivalries, my computer freezing every time I exit the game, and crashes to the desktop. There are also numerous reports of this game having viruses attached to it, which raises concerns about what the game is doing that would trigger anti-virus software.”
optimization
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
56%
25%
The game's optimization is a mixed bag; while many players report a generally stable experience with minimal performance issues, others encounter significant stuttering, freezing, and lag, particularly during late-game scenarios or when speeding up time. Some users appreciate the improvements over previous titles, but there are still calls for further optimization and bug fixes to enhance overall performance.
- “Overall it gives a good experience, very stable, and runs with minimal performance issues (only really saw any when having a very large nation and opening things like the economy and manpower stats).”
- “What a fun game, it's basically an improved and standalone take on the extended timeline mod for EU4 without the bloat of that game that makes performance crawl to a halt on later dates.”
- “Runs very smoothly and is optimized really well.”
- “Also the game is a bit poorly optimized.”
- “Game is good, new features are pretty cool, the game is really poorly optimized for some reason, the game freezes and stutters a lot to the point where I have to close the game entirely sometimes losing progress, this usually happens when I speed time up during a session.”
- “Literally the game is half made, it is clearly poorly optimized and riddled with AI-generated images.”
music
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
36%
21%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while many players praise it as an integral and enjoyable part of the experience, some note issues such as loud background noise and a lack of fitting compositions. Overall, the soundtrack is highlighted as a significant improvement over previous titles, with some compositions drawing favorable comparisons to renowned composer Jeremy Soule. However, technical issues like music settings resetting and occasional bugs detract from the overall experience.
- “The music is an important part of the game.”
- “Music is great.”
- “I can already say that the compositions are made quite well; some perfectly remind me of Jeremy Soule's music from Skyrim or Oblivion.”
- “The music doesn't really match.”
- “It has no music.”
- “The only step up is the music and graphics.”
replayability
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
36%
27%
The game offers high replayability through endless scenarios, extensive customization options, and mod support, allowing players to experiment with various strategies. However, some users note that a lack of significant differences between nations and the potential for steamrolling can diminish replay value. Overall, while the game has the potential for vast replayability, its execution may leave some players wanting more variety.
- “Endless replayability: tons of scenarios (historical and fictional) and the ability to create custom maps keep things fresh.”
- “For its price and replay value, this game is a steal.”
- “Additionally, the ability to customize and create your own scenarios enhances replayability, allowing players to experiment with different strategies and outcomes.”
- “That's not good for replayability.”
- “And if you couple that with the bad variety between nations, you get a game that doesn't really have much replay value.”
- “The lack of significant differences between countries makes replayability low, which is a missed opportunity.”
humor
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
89%
33%
The humor in the game is generally well-received, featuring amusing easter eggs and a lighthearted approach, though some players find certain aspects, like interface issues and the inability to create real nations, frustrating. Overall, the game is described as funny, with a mix of comedic elements and quirky design choices that enhance the experience.
- “It's really funny.”
- “Funny game.”
- “If you make a game like this, and never check the history maps, that's funny.”
- “A very fun game with very unfunny interface problems.”
- “The humor falls flat and often feels forced.”
- “I expected more laughs, but the jokes just didn't land.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy of the game has been criticized as a cash grab, with concerns about malicious software and intrusive ads being associated with it. Additionally, there are indications that the game may push players to encourage friends to make purchases, further emphasizing a profit-driven approach.
- “I don't know why the creator decided to make this other than as a cash grab.”
- “This game contains potentially unwanted applications (PUA) that can install malicious files and put ads on your PC.”
- “If they really add microtransactions, I will pressure my friends into buying them.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers highlight the game's impressive content length and strong community support, which contribute to a wholesome and emotionally engaging experience. The modability enhances player connection and investment in the game.
atmosphere
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
300%
The art direction is noted for its consistency, though some users feel it may detract from the overall atmosphere of the game.
- “The art direction is consistent, but it might cheapen the atmosphere for some.”
- “The overall ambiance feels flat and uninspired, lacking the depth needed to immerse players.”
- “Despite the game's setting, the atmosphere fails to evoke any real sense of tension or excitement.”