Age of Fear: The Free World

Age of Fear: The Free World

Released Jan 2019

Age of Fear: The Free World is an introduction to a decade-old turn-based strategy series that fuses a tabletop wargame with RPG elements. Choose your faction (Undead Legion, Human Kingdom or Greenskins Horde), build a unique army and embark on exploring the realm!

83% positive · 410 reviews
Not yet
Released, but still in active development
Medium confidence
Active Development
Not yet
Released, but still in active development
Medium confidence
Active Development

Where to get it

Free on Steam

Evaluation

Age of Fear: The Free World is a free-to-play entry in a long-running turn-based strategy series developed by Leslaw Sliwko. The game has been consistently updated since its January 2019 launch, with a clear record of major content additions and ongoing feature work. Named major content releases include: the Ratmen faction (April 12, 2024) — a completely new playable faction with complex stealth mechanics — and procedurally generated AI Heroes (October 6, 2024). Feature patches have continued beyond those, including expanded unique AI skills for heroes (November 29, 2024), an AI-only Pirates faction and Merchants appearing at sea (August 20, 2024), a Backward Compatibility Pack for mods (November 2, 2025), and a Global Battle State AI subsystem with UI and performance improvements (June 8, 2025). The developer's most recent communication is a New Year post on December 29, 2025, which directly references "a new questline" planned for 2026 — a forward-looking statement from the developer indicating further content is intended. The store description also explicitly states that Global Events are "still being developed," confirming ongoing work on an unfinished feature. The store page describes the game as "FREQUENTLY UPDATED," consistent with the actual release history. As of October 8, 2026, the last developer communication was on December 29, 2025, which is approximately nine months ago. The established cadence between major content drops has generally been in the range of several months to about a year. The developer has not announced any conclusion of development, and the prior statement about a 2026 questline has not yet been visibly fulfilled based on the available news posts. This is the boundary of what is observable — the developer signaled intent to continue, and the cadence pattern remains consistent with a game still in active development, though we are reaching the outer edge of the typical communication window.
Evidence
Procedurally generated AI Heroes introduced as a fully complete feature with unique skills.
news post · Oct 6, 2024 source content shipped
high
Ratmen faction released — a completely new playable faction with stealth mechanics.
news post · Apr 12, 2024 source content shipped
high

Media

Details

Developer
Publisher
Age of Fear
Achievements
25
Platform
Windows, macOS, Linux
Controller
—
Steam Deck
Not rated
Players
Single-player

About this game

Age of Fear is a long-running series of fantasy turn-based strategy games. Loved by fans for its tabletop wargame battle system and in-depth RPG customization.

Age of Fear: The Free World serves as a COMPLETELY FREE introduction to the series' tried-and-true gameplay, focusing on non-linear exploration and combat in an Open World style. Choose your faction, build a unique army and embark on countless exciting quests awaiting you throughout the realm!

FEATURE LIST

⭐COMPLETELY FREE - go ahead and try the series. If you like it, please visit 'Other Age of Fear Games' section on this page!

⭐HEX-FREE BATTLES - test your tactics with a novel movement system where size matters and units aren't constrained by artificial grids!

⭐OPEN WORLD - are you bored with the main storyline? No worries, you can always take a side-quest or play procedurally-generated battles. Play this game as you want!

⭐GLOBAL EVENTS that occur while exploring the World Map, à la Battle Brothers. This feature is still being developed and could serve to provide more lore and fun unit interactions conditional on the player's party!

⭐MERCENARIES - recruit your troops from multiple races and factions! Will a Dwarven Warrior work with a bloodthirsty Orc?

⭐ALIGNMENTS such as Evil and Holy. Units from opposite sides won’t like each other and may desert. A bit of diplomacy (or charisma!) is needed to manage such relationships.

⭐EXTENDED STORY including many sub-quests, optional events, more detailed lore, etc.

⭐FREQUENTLY UPDATED - we take our work seriously and patch our games often with new features and content. Also, whenever possible, those updates are back-ported to all our previous games!

⭐COMMUNITY-DRIVEN - we listen to our players and continuously improve! Go and check our forums, everyone has their say and we implement those suggestions.

⭐FULL OF JOKES - who said strategy games have to be serious? All the best fantasy jokes have a home here!

⭐PARTY CUSTOMIZATION - build and upgrade a custom army from more than two hundred unique units, skills and spells (but be aware of racial animosities!).

⭐DEEP BATTLE MECHANICS - learn the basics in a hurry, then develop new strategies around a huge variety of skills, spells and battle hazards like neutral factions and environmental effects (yes, you can anger bystanders!).

⭐EASY TO MOD - create your own missions, or even full-fledged campaigns, to be shared with the Steam community!

⭐PERMANENT DEATH - accept the grim realities of death where all units that fall in battle stay dead... unless an evil Necromancer raises them as Zombies.

⭐ARTEFACTS AND RELICS - discover numerous unique weapons, armours, potions and treasures, with the rarest granting powerful OP skills and stat bonuses.

⭐ADVANCED AI - our AI is built upon a self-organizing network of agents and meta-heuristics algorithms (yes, we are PhD-smart!). Discover one of the most sophisticated AI systems you've ever played against!

⭐LOW HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS - run the game even on that old potato laptop of yours. Your stone-age computer is good enough!

⭐COLOR-BLIND MODE - a special mode with higher contrast and outlined fonts.

⭐...everything else we come up with! Purchase only if you want access to the latest features in the Age of Fear series, and please keep in mind that this is an evolving product.

If you're hungry for a no-nonsense, old school turn-based strategy game, you've met your match in the Age of Fear series. Enter the fantasy world of Age of Fear today!

Last evaluated Oct 8, 2026
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