What Remains of Edith Finch
What Remains of Edith Finch
Game
Game2013
Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension
Developer Illwinter Game Design
Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension is a fantasy turn-based strategy game created and published by Illwinter in 2013. It is the fourth game in the Dominions series, preceded by Dominions: Priests, Prophets and Pretenders, Dominions II: The Ascension Wars and Dominions 3: The Awakening and succeeded by Dominions 5: Warriors of the Faith released in 2017. Dominions 4 was initially released in Desura and later at… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
183 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Lemmy) · newest Aug 12, 2026 · last updated Oct 9, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
80
LovedLoved
146 positive · 36 negative
95% range 74–85%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 146 | 36 | 0 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
1 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
1,314 of 1,449 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 183 · most liked firstIts ok I guess.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bought this game, because found a lot of rapt reviews. I don't know. There is no tutorial at a lot. To start a game you need to setup a lot of parameters. When you actually start, you have no ideas what to do. Absolutely. Make random actions. As I understood, to learn the game you need to read a lot of guides and watch several videos... I don't wanna to do it. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1818097547 Also, the graphics is awful. It looks like it was created in 1993…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Watch a youtube tutorial before deciding to buy
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Graphics and user interface: Straight out of the 1990's. If you can tolerate that, it's not a terrible game. There's a very deep and customizable system with tons of unit types, magic variety and all the intricate details of an old school 4x multiplayer game that you might expect. There's a few things that stop me from recommending it though: 1. If you treat this like a single player game, there just isn't much here. It just feels old and out dated compared to other modern single player 4x…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Anyone who plays this game cant refund it because you spend 2 hours trying to figure out what to do for the first 5 turns
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ever take the time to learn how to build a fission reactor in your backyard? If so, you'll really enjoy the time it takes to even begin to understand the variables involved in the most basic levels of play in this game. Are you a monk who lives in a monastery and has read all the books int he library and achieved Nirvana and have nothing better to do anymore? Buy this game. I love a challenge, don't get me wrong, but I tend to buy games for pleasure, not to dedicate the next 14 years of my…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Just way too complicated for me - this game has gathered dust in my library for years because every time I've tried to play it I've just landed up scratching my head trying to understand what is going on - even a tutorial video on YouTube took like an hour just to get past some of the starting options, before even really getting into any game play. Not helped by the fact that there doesn't seem to be a proper inbuilt tutorial (well there is in theory, but it directs me towards reading the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I bought this game on sale a few years ago (I probably paid like 5 bucks for it or something). It had great reviews, was cheap, I thought what the hell. I loaded it up once... took one quick look at it, and was like "wtf is this supposed to be?" and uninstalled. It has sat in my library ever since. Here were are in 2020. New operating system install, new SSD hardrive... new start! Going through my Steam backlog, beating game after game... come upon Dominions 4. I think, "Oh yeah, this..." I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Micromanagment hell, almost overcome by being underneath, somewhere, a really excellent game. There is so much to like, but unfortunately so much time required to get the best out of it. There is so much detail, so much variety, so many ways to play BUT unless you have a lot of time and energy to invest in getting it, your experience may not be as positive as many of the reviews suggest. I've logged 80 hours to decide this, but unfortunately I have to err on the side of negative because I'm…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I enjoy Conquest of Elysium III, and have played plenty of other strategy games (Civilization, all of the Paradox ones), but just haven't been able to get into Dominions 4 (or 3) the same way. Why? Primarily that the main gameplay loop - recruit units, move units, watch battle - feels more like a grind than fun. But also that there is insufficient feedback on what's going on given the level of complexity in the game. Sometimes, you can tell why you lost. Your army drowned in a sea of…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I certainly didn't intend on playing hundreds of hours of this game, mostly because during my first attempts at playing it, the visuals and general appearance of the game made me incredibly lukewarm towards it. Yet, you get used to it. After just a little time playing, you focus so much more on the intricacies of the different nations, the importance of changing your playstyle and adapting to the unfortunate events that always seem to occur, the incredibly deep potential of magic rituals that…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →+ Very deep and lots of content. + Fantastic lore. - Very steep learning curve. - GUI is atrocious, and lack of QoL make it a tedious micromanagement hell. - Game Design is very outdated, with mechanics from the 90s that make no sense today. - AI is horrible, in both AI controlled opponents and our own mages. Dom 5 enhances a few things, but still the same problems. Better invest your time elsewhere.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →All things considered. Fun fantasy game. Steep learning curve. Too much micro management later in the game. Despite its enormous content, overpriced for the quality. If you are new to the game, it takes 40 hours of trial and error before you can beat the AI. It is not worth playing and learning this game right now for a price of 32 euros. I played for a hundred hours and I just grasp the basics. Combat system is straightforward. Magic system is very deep and complicated. There is not a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its okay, I guess.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I hope you like bagpipes. ACTUAL THOUGHTS: A lot of the people who love this game? They are insane. If you're a big wargamer or strategy gamer, you already know you want this. More casual gamers like myself will find this game has a steep learning curve. But I'm having a lot of fun learning through my mistakes, where most games are dull and boring and slow as you slog through a mess without feedback. You still need to watch 2 hours of Youtube videos or read the manual carefully to understand…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL;DR -- Dominions 4 is far less than the sum of it's parts, but not genuinely terrible. I haven't played Dominions 5 yet, but from screenshots alone it looks far more accessible than 4. If you're at all interested in this game, I have to strongly suggest *looking* at 5. Dominions is a long-standing Fantasy 4X game from an even longer-standing Fantasy 4X game developer. It is a positively ancient franchise, and the game does absolutely nothing to hide this fact. That said, unlike with most old…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is very difficult to get into and trying to learn about even through outside sources is a daunting task. I tried my best to learn the game but couldn't figure out how to amass a large army without immediately starving them to death even with high foraging skills. It has a good soundtrack but I regret purchasing it ( not that I think its a bad game I just spent more time researching how to play the game in place of actually playing the game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Having a minimalist style is fine, having such lazy visuals is not. It is just a blur with stuff that looks like place holders. There may be a deep game underneath that but frankly I'd rather be looking at spreadsheets rather than having to contend with such a mess of different graphic elements that do not blend together. The music is pretty good though so that's a plus but I'm not sure that it makes up for the rest. So I'm only writing this as a warning for people who may look at the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Want to like this game. I mean, everybody else seems to. But I don't find it deep in an engrosing way. I think personally 'deep' is being used as a description instead of 'complicated and confused, masquerading as deep'. I don't want to dive deeper. I want to dive into another game. It's pretty torturous... Love turn-based strategy games, so it's not as though I'm not interested in the genre. The better HOMM games I have sunk so many hours into I can't even count them. Not to mention other…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There are games you like, games you hate and there are some rare games that you love. Dominions (and they aren't paying me to say this) is THE PERFECT GAME!!! It is the ONLY RTS/ Turn Based Strategy game that actually involves strategy rather than tactics (I suppose Real-Time-Tactics/ Turn Based Tactics doesn't sound as epic as Real-Time-Strategy). Nevertheless, Dominions is an actual strategy game, where strategy is important and the actual tactics takes a back seat. The game is so…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dominions 4 is the fourth in a series of 4X turn based grand strategy games where you play the role of a would-be god and use powerful magic and massive fantasy armies to defeat your rivals and take over the world by capturing all the territories on the map. The game is extremely rich and deep in terms of the game design, with hundreds of unit types, a veritable arsenal of magic weapons that can be created, a couple dozen different empire types, the list goes on. Unfortunately, while the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Presentation & Polish - 2/10 Complexity & Replayability - 10/10 If you want an overly complex, engaging strategy game with tons to explore, this is a great pic! If you want a pretty, easy to pick up and play game with well thought out ui and nice graphics... look elsewhere.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The best fantasy strategy game since Master of Magic!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm an old wargamer. I've also played a number of fantasy-based games, though I've never been a fantasy-fiction fan. Dominions is perhaps the best PC grand-strategy game I've ever played. It has everything--enough to hold a player's interest for many years. A few caveats, though: (1) it's not much in the looks or sound department--it's very plain, (2) the player has no direct control over tactical battles, (3) certain features will be distasteful to some (e.g., blood magic, which involves blood…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Graphics dont mind with this game, it´s raw power to stimulate your imagination.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Buy this game in sale, so you know its worthy to buy Dominions 5 as well; Illwinter/Steam how about some discount for DOM IV owners for DOM V? Dominions is most worthy successor of Master of Magic, and it is even better than AOW franchise in overall expedience. What is really original in Dom, is simultaneous combat resolution in the End of Turn. Even that Im big fan of turn based combat, pre-scripted fight in DOM allows quick resolution of repeating and long/big army fights, without need to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Rating - Divine Strategy (8.5/10) Dominions 4: Thrones of Ascension is like a grand game of 4D chess with the gods. It's a turn-based strategy game that plunges you into a world where deities vie for dominion. Gameplay - Heavenly Tactics (9/10): The depth and complexity of Dominions 4 is astounding. You play as a Pretender God with a pantheon of powers at your disposal. From commanding armies to casting cataclysmic spells, the game offers a rich array of strategic possibilities. Graphics -…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Losers debate tactics. Amateurs study strategy. Professionals execute logistics. This is a view from the king or god of a nation. You do not participate in 1v1 fights, or commanding armies on the field to charge or retreat in concert with battle mages and reserve cavalry. This is a game of you telling the generals where to go; recruiting mages to find magic sites to extract gems to build weapons to give to your leaders, or summon otherworldly creatures. This is being smarter than Alexander…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It may be complicated to pick up, but it is well worth it! I got the gist of what I could do after about 4 hours of playing with a more knowledgeable friend. It has both macro management (resources, army movement, research category prioritizing...) as well as some micro management (what troops to recruit, which commander to put them under, battle field position, formation, and basic orders). I like how the computer auto-resolves the battles based on your setup and commands because I prefer the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm having fun playing this. One must be willing to view a couple hours of tutorials while playing along in order to understand the mechanics. It opens up the gameplay considerably. What I am enjoying the most is building gigantic, weird armies and using them in different ways. There are so many funny combinations that happen. My current (noob) approach is gigantic archer armies that I train in the forests of the primitives I conquer lead by an army of giants. And that's just the surface after…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Can't remember the last time i enjoyed playing a game this much. Had to watch a pretty long tutorial on youtube just to understand all the elements here. Really great investment.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Loved this game, definitely got me to buy Dom 5 and COE, modding is simple, and the game has immense depth. She won't win any beauty contests, but she's good in all the places I need her to be. That said unless it's on sale, go with Dom 5.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to like it but the gmae refused to let me. Unintuitive UI, outright bad AI, no attempt at making it look pretty all around just lazy.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have put real time in trying to understand this game. It makes next to zero sense to me.....it is very complicating. I have downloaded and skimmed the rule book, spent time in game trying out strategies, and even watched around an hour of youtube videos to try and make sense of it. Maybe im just stupid? One thing is for sure is that the tutorial is a joke. It is embedded within the manual.....this is very bizarre for any game; especially with one that includes so much complexity. It doesnt…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →At first glance the graphics might throw you off. The complexity might be somewhat unnerving. But here's what you get with a little time and exploration. . . . Impressive Battles both in epic and single proportions. What seems to be endless play through ways between troops, magic, divine, and demi-god rulers. Extreme strategy that puts many other strategy games wanting. Make sure you get this discounted as its a bit steep for the graphics it deploys and don't turn the music on it will make…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I would have said this is one of the best games ever made, but dominions 5 is out.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game, a little bit overpriced but great nonetheless. If you're looking for a really good strategy game with lot of content, old but cool textures, lot of units, modding, random generated maps, lot of replayability, amazing music, etc... Then this game is for you, go for it, maybe getting Dominions 5 would be a better idea but Dominions 4 and before are still really great games. 8.6/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the best games I have ever played . Good Job.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[Short-Style Review] This is such an astoundingly depthful game, in terms of the lore, class/races, magic system, spell list, and strategy. If I had to be stuck with one game to play for the rest of my life, this game would be on the short-list because there is simply so much there to play, and so much to work with in terms of trying new game elements or exploring new strategies.. The downsides lie in the amount of time it may take you to get a grasp on the complexity of the game. The UI…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Though to myself "game looks meh, likely to be meh" so I didnt get it for a long while. Judging games by how they look sometimes saves you some money, sometimes misses out on a really great game, this one falls into the second category. Massivly immersive, the possibilities for any one nation depend on how you want to play. Every nation feels unique and much depends on what sort of game you want to play, which is rather rare for games anymore. Its learning curve is a bit steep, but once you…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →My only regret is that I hadn't been paying attention and that I bought this a few weeks before the release of Dominions 5.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you have autism you will love this game series.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Thanks for your suggestion, as I said: I am mostly looking for competitive games. Turn based games are great, though, especially games like Dominions 4 with simultaneous turns.
unlabelledView post →It was so great as the Cthulhu and Atlantis sea people conquering the seas from all the crab-people, and merfolk, and frog people, then Middle Ages Ermor sent a bunch of skeletons into the water. It's fine, I put it down, but then once the seas were conquered I noticed the land looked a bit same colored as well... The skeletons kept coming. The Cthulhu sure are good casters but they sure do not have a lot of morale, but my troops stand up okay if it wasn't that there are a lot of sea tiles…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An elaborate fantasy strategy game where you play an awakening god that is attempting to become the one god to rule the world. It has lots of different factions that play differently, a massive magic system, and a ton of replayability. My only criticism of it is that Dominions 5 is out now, which has all this but more of it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →1,400 Hours speaks for the game better than I can.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This strategy game is great for both multiplayer and single player modes. It is turn based and slow, but very deep in its strategy. Purchasing the book that goes with the game is highly recommended, but not required. I am writing this having played more than 1700 hours on the game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Man Ive never found a game that hits this close to the perfect game for me. i dunno what to say except to express my sincerest thanks to Illwinter for making this series: Johan och Kristoffer ni är fantastiska och jag hoppas ni aldrig slutar att utveckla spel som följer era egna ideer utan att lyssna för mycket på allmänheten, för med era hjärnor tillsammans finns det en högre chans att vi får fler gudomliga serier som Dominions. Djupt tack <3
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still one of the best strategy games around. PROS massive amount of pretender characters to create and fine tune to your desired gameplan. large selection of diverse nations to choose with different start ages changing them even more. Battle tactics can be managed to suit your heroes and troops strengths and cover weaknesses. random map generation with variable options giving unique games All the above increases replay ability so much we still play it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unique strategy, one of a kind. You should buy latest part though (Dominions 5 right now).
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I mainly play Dom 5, but I wanted to help by leaving a positive review
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This in all honesty is one of the best games of all time despite it's old style. The only way you can't have fun with this game is if you have literaly no imagination. Me and my friend played one game and we had a blast as he was roleplaying as the leader and I was his 2nd in command commanding our army of heavily armored fire troops across the plains of the world burning everything in our path, all of course with Jesus at the front. This game is fun and is 100% worth the price even without…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dominions 3 was great. Dominions 4 fixes issues that 3 had, and introduces small/changes and tweaks that really improve the games experience. Dominions General Info: Turn based strategy with tons of replayability. You select 1/~50 factions. You then select 1/~15 gods. You then select 1/infinity ways to play. There is minimum city building aspects. The game is a war game, and your focus is conquering. Battles are automatic, but you can set orders for troops before hand. What Dominions Has: +…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →one of the best games in terms of theory and command
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Go play Dominions 6 if you can afford it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What my time on steam doesn't show is the hours spent reading through the game manual, guides, and online forums.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →UI "update(?)": So they add the ability to write notes, but remove the ability to view your CD keys? Dominions 4 comes with a key by default and the first time you download the game files one can check by running the game from the executable, not from Steam, that it prompts you for a key. After launching using Steam once, the key is saved to a file, in the same location of the executable. The fact however that this option is removed WITHOUT informing the people (the reason you exist in the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great Game. High, but not absurd learning curve. Easy enough to get to where you can play and enjoy; but deep enough it will take a long time to "master" it. Graphics are rudimentary, but for a strategy game, they're competent. Some controls are under-designed or reliant on confusing hotkeys rather than being intuitive (assigning summoning to multiple mages/priests, having commanders repeat commands, duplicating commands). Not a perfect game, but a very enjoyable and replayable game. The 5th…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really, really good soundtrack.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Only one thing prevented me from playing this more. And that was it's sequel Dominions 5.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
Posts are quoted from public profiles with links to the original. Want yours removed? Contact us.