


Wizards have a domain, which is the area in which the Wizard can cast his spells. Instead, they improve by researching new spells and skills. Wizards are the only units in the game who can't level up or gain medals. healing spells or attack spells), to summoning spells. Spells range from passive spells (for instance, blessing a unit with additional strengths), to direct spells (i.e. Some Wizards have multiple spheres, but can only learn less advanced spells. Every player has one Wizard, each with a sphere of magic (Life, Death, Fire, Water, Air, Earth, Cosmos and finally Chaos/Secret), which decides which spells the Wizard can research. Wizards are very powerful at magic, but rather weak at close combat. The key element of the game are the Wizards. The game is played both in an overworld mode, on which parties are moved and raised, structures are built and heroes are contracted, as well as a battle mode. Note that both modes are still turnbased. The game can either be played in a simultaneous mode, wherein players move their units at the same time during a turn, and in a traditional turnbased mode. Scenarios may take place on one or more of these levels. The game features a world on three different levels, the Surface, the Underground and the Shadow World.

The series is the spiritual successor to Master of Magic. All three games were developed by Triumph Studios, a Dutch video game developer. Shadow Magic is the third incarnation of the Age of Wonders series, and is a direct sequel to Age of Wonders 2: The Wizard's Throne. Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic is a turn-based strategy video game in a fantasy setting.
