Age of Wonders 4: The Silver Seas came out on November 3, 2026. It costs $24.99 / £20.99 / €24.99 on Steam, or comes in Expansion Pass 4 ($49.99). The paid expansion adds the Mercantile culture, the Sharkkin and Aqualon forms, four new tomes and the Free Captains pirate dwellings. The free Manta Update (game version 1.017.001.126767) came out the same day for every owner. It adds Trade Routes, cheaper embarking, Outposts on water and a new Chilled status effect.
Below: what each part contains (from Paradox and Triumph Studios’ own Steam posts and dev diaries), the patch-note changes that matter most, and our picks for the new tomes and units to try first.
Table of Contents
Quick answer
- Release: November 3, 2026. The Steam store page lists Windows only (no Mac or Linux).
- Price (Steam, checked Nov 4, 07:35 UTC): The Silver Seas $24.99. Expansion Pass 4 $49.99. The base game is $19.99 (60% off $49.99, offer ends November 18).
- Paid DLC content: Mercantile culture (Barony and Cartel), Aqualon and Sharkkin forms, Tomes of Hydromancy, Piracy, the Damned and Eternal Ice, the Bond of the Free Captains dwelling, Ocean Happenings, plus new ocean wonders, landmarks and wildlife.
- Free Manta Update: Trade Routes, flat 20 Movement Point embarking, water Outposts, new rules for ships in combat, Sword & Staff weapons for Magic Fighters, Chilled, and five Hunter form traits.
- Free weekend: the base game is free to play on Steam and Xbox from November 5, 10 AM PT (18:00 UTC) to November 9, 10 AM PT.
Age of Wonders 4 The Silver Seas price and editions
These prices come straight from Steam’s store data for the US, UK and Germany. No discounts were active on the DLC or the pass when we checked.
| Product | US | UK | EU | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Silver Seas (expansion) | $24.99 | £20.99 | €24.99 | The expansion only (needs the base game) |
| Expansion Pass 4 | $49.99 | £41.99 | €49.99 | Singer of Storms (instant unlock), The Silver Seas, Court of the Archfey, Forge of the Firstborn |
| Age of Wonders 4 (base game) | $19.99 (was $49.99) | £16.79 (was £41.99) | €19.99 (was €49.99) | 60% off until November 18, per the Steam store page |
Paradox also said the 2026 Collector’s Bundle on Steam now includes the Expansion Pass 3 content. It also added a new Steam bundle that pairs Age of Wonders 4 with Owlcat’s Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous – Enhanced Edition. Paradox’s Expansion Pass 4 announcement gives no release dates for Court of the Archfey or Forge of the Firstborn.
If you are waiting for a bigger sale, see our guides to whether Steam has a Black Friday sale this year and the next Steam sale dates.
A Mercantile metropolis on the water, with Trade Routes, a Pirate Haven and an Accursed Grave around it. Image: Paradox Interactive / Triumph Studios
What’s in The Silver Seas DLC
Mercantile culture: Barony vs Cartel
The Mercantile culture is built around trade. According to Dev Diary #66, both subcultures can found Cities on the ocean by turning water Outposts into Cities. The Manta patch notes say no other culture can turn a water Outpost into a City. Both subcultures share the Hireling (Tier 1 ranged) and the Bravo (Tier 2 shock unit that taunts). Each has its own scout, Tier 1 unit, support unit and Tier 3 unit.
| Barony | Cartel | |
|---|---|---|
| Affinities | Shadow + Materium | Shadow + Chaos |
| Trade mechanic | Larger Outposts (Improved Work Camp claims 2 extra provinces), extra Trade Routes per Vassal | Hidden Smuggling Routes, even to hostile Empires’ Cities, with no Free Trade Agreement (slightly lower income) |
| Combat mechanic | Bounty: support units and heroes mark a target; Bounty Hunters take less damage from it and deal more to it | Leverage: Observant units stack it at range 4; the next flanking attack deals bonus damage and ignores status resistance |
| Scout | Envoy (builds Outposts) | Informant (Universal Camouflage) |
| Tier 1 | Marine (shield, First Strike and unlimited Retaliation in Defense Mode) | Goon (Replaceable: buy back after death for gold, XP kept) |
| Tier 2 support | Magewright (heals 40 HP) | Curse Peddler (Curse Inversion cleanses every debuff) |
| Tier 3 | Silvershot (ranged, Silver Bullet Shot range 6, Giant Slayer) | Mage Slayer (Magic Fighter, inflicts Mana Drained, steals buffs) |
| Special improvement | Trade District (gold per Trade Route connected to the City) | Privateers Camp (stability from raiding and pillaging) |
New forms: Aqualon and Sharkkin
The Aqualon are described as near-human with an aquatic look. The Sharkkin are a large, martial form that Triumph puts “shoulder to shoulder with Orcs and Ogres.” In the Xbox Wire launch post, game director Tom Bird says both forms came from player requests. The Aqualon grew out of concept art shared during Eldritch Realms, and “Sharks!” came up every time Triumph asked players which new peoples to add. A new society trait, Children of the Waves, turns your people into Merfolk.
Building a Sharkkin Mercantile ruler in Faction Creation. Image: Paradox Interactive / Triumph Studios
Four new tomes
The tiers and affinities below come from the tome cards in Dev Diary #65.
| Tome | Tier | Affinity bonus | Headline unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tome of Hydromancy | I | +1 Nature, +1 Materium | Flowbinder Archer (Tier II ranged), Riptide, Summon Lesser Tide Spirit, Meditation Fountain (land or water) |
| Tome of Piracy | II | +1 Materium, +1 Chaos | Swashbuckler, Ember Cloud, Powder Keg Diplomacy (siege project), Pirate Haven (water only) |
| Tome of the Damned | II | +1 Chaos, +1 Shadow | Accursed Lamenter (Tier III support), Mark of the Damned, Accursed Undertow, Accursed Grave (water only) |
| Tome of Eternal Ice | IV | +2 Shadow | Ancient Hoarfrost Manta (Tier V mage), Ice Fusion, Deep Freeze, Whiteout, Permafrost Nexus |
Each tome also brings its own status effects. Wet (Hydromancy) makes the Flowbinder Archer’s immobilize certain. Ember Dust (Piracy) explodes the next time the target takes Fire damage. Rob steals gold once per target. Ghostfire (the Damned) is a Frost and Fire damage-over-time effect that counts as Burning. Damned gives a 25% chance that a dying enemy spawns an Accursed Wisp. The chance rises to 100% if the enemy had five Ghostfire stacks.
Free Captains, Ocean Happenings and new map content
- Bond of the Free Captains: pirate dwellings that appear only with this realm trait. The Steam page lists six captains, some Bloodthirsty, some Avaricious and a few Heroic. Each captain has their own quest line. Each quest line ends in an artifact. If you raise your standing, you can buy pirate items, spells and units. You can also send their raids against other empires. If raiders come for you, you can bribe them with gold.
- Ocean Happenings: 20 events (18 minor, 2 major) that start in the mid-game and last 8 to 15 turns. You can set how often they happen under Advanced Settings, Realm Content.
- Locations: the Spawning Shoal infestation (Silver tier), the Uncharted Harbor (Bronze) and Pearltide Dome (Gold) Ancient Wonders, the Tempestuous Vortex and Armada’s Fall landmarks, and the Pale Tidebloom magic material.
- Extras: 6 achievements, 3 music tracks, 4 premade rulers including the Legacy Ruler Marinus, the Pirate Reefs realm template, Seamare mounts and a pirate interface skin.
Age of Wonders 4 Manta Update patch notes: the highlights
The full Manta Update patch notes are very long. These are the changes most likely to affect a new campaign.
| Area | Before | After Manta |
|---|---|---|
| Embarking cost | All remaining Movement Points (minimum 12) | Flat 20 Movement Points |
| Outposts | Own income, 10 Gold upkeep | No upkeep, no income until a Trade Route connects them to a City; can be founded on water |
| Free City tribute | Tribute in Gold and Mana | Base tribute capped at 10% of its Gold and Mana. A Trade Route shares 5% to 25% of all its income |
| Raiding | n/a | Win a 1v1 battle against the Route’s escort for 3x its per-turn income |
| Embarked units in combat | -2 Defense, -2 Resistance, casualty damage penalty | Large Target, Reinforced, -2 Fire Protection, Limited Maneuverability (turning costs movement) |
| Freeze resisted | Status Vulnerability | Chilled (5 stacks = Frozen for 1 turn) |
| AI income | Gold and Mana multipliers on Normal and above | Multipliers removed |
How Trade Routes work
You create Routes in the Trade Route panel and build them in the unit production queue. Their Draft cost depends on the target and the distance. Distance is measured in your race’s movement, so routes over water are usually the cheapest. Each City starts with 1 Route. The Trade Post (City Tier 2), Trade Quarters (Tier 3) and Trade Bazaar (Tier 4) add one each, and the Caravaneer’s Guild adds one more. The Megacities realm trait or the Chosen Destroyers society trait adds 3 per City. Each core structure also lets you pick one of two upgrades. Examples are the Outpost Supply Hub (+50% income from connected Outposts) and the Wizard’s Exchange (+10 Knowledge and +10 Mana per Route to another Empire).
| Free City relationship | Trade Route share of its income |
|---|---|
| War or Pact of Cooperation | 5% |
| Pact of Loyalty | 10% |
| Vassal, stage -3 / -2 to 0 / +1 / +2 / +3 | 5% / 10% / 15% / 20% / 25% |
| Another Empire’s City (Free Trade Agreement, after a Wizard Bond) | 20% of its Gold and Mana |
A Route to a Free City also grants +100 Relation with it. A Trade Focus (5 Imperium per turn at base) raises that city’s output of one resource by 50%.
Other notable Manta changes
- Sword & Staff: a new Magic Fighter weapon (Hero Loadout and Item Forge) with Staff and Melee Infusions. Spellblade and Death Knight skills now treat Magic Strikes as Melee Strikes.
- Hunter form traits: five new 1-point traits (Ashland, Forest, Sand, Snow, Water) that give camouflage and Very Fast Movement on that terrain.
- Economy nerfs: Tyrannical Exploitation drops from 20% to 2% per allegiance, Absolute Loyalty from +40% to +20%, and Chosen Uniters from +30% to +10%. The patch notes say the Tyrannical Exploitation cut accounts for the much larger Vassal income from Trade Routes.
- Frost rework: Cryomancy, Cold Dark, the Frost Dragon Lord and the Frost Giant King now use Chilled in place of many Slowed and Frozen effects.
Best new tomes and units to try first (our picks)
These are GamingRoute’s picks based on the official descriptions and numbers above. They are not results from playing, and the community will test the balance over the coming weeks.
- Tome of Hydromancy as an early pick on water-heavy maps. It is the only Tier I tome of the four. Most of its abilities inflict Wet, and Wet makes the Flowbinder Archer’s Waterbind Arrow immobilize every time. Riptide does double damage and pushes twice as far on Wet targets. The Meditation Fountain earns more Knowledge and Mana for each adjacent Ocean or River province.
- Swashbuckler (Tome of Piracy) for a hit-and-run combo. Dash Strike jumps up to three hexes. Dust Disengage leaps back while applying Ember Dust and Blind. Shoot Pistol then sets off the explosion. Feint lets it pass through enemies. Pirate Haven, a water-only gold improvement, pays more for each adjacent water province.
- Tome of the Damned with fire builds at sea. Ghostfire counts as Burning. Triumph pitches it as the way to keep fire builds working on water, where Wet and Frozen normally remove Burning. The Accursed Lamenter’s Dirge of the Damned recharges whenever a Ghostfire-affected enemy dies.
- Silvershot (Barony) or Mage Slayer (Cartel) as your Tier 3. The Silvershot gets +50% accuracy and +20% damage if it starts its turn unengaged and stays put. The Mage Slayer shuts down casters with Mana Drained and steals buffs with Arcane Interrogation.
- Ancient Hoarfrost Manta as the late-game target. This Tier V mage freezes single targets and spreads Chilled and Wet in a 2-hex radius. Its Eternal Hoarfrost passive heals nearby allies whenever an enemy is Frozen. Whiteout can freeze water so your whole army can walk across it.
The Tier IV Tome of Eternal Ice gives +2 Shadow and unlocks the Tier V Ancient Hoarfrost Manta. Image: Paradox Interactive / Triumph Studios (Dev Diary #65)
Free weekend, dev stream and treasure hunt dates
| Event | When |
|---|---|
| Post-release dev stream (YouTube) | Thursday, November 5, 14:00 CET (13:00 UTC) |
| Age of Wonders 4 free weekend (Steam and Xbox) | November 5, 10 AM PT (18:00 UTC) to November 9, 10 AM PT |
| Silver Seas Treasure Hunt (Discord) | Ends Monday, November 16, 4 PM CET (15:00 UTC) |
| Base game 60% Steam discount | Ends November 18 (per the Steam store page) |
The free weekend covers the base game, not the expansion. For more no-cost games this week, see our list of free Steam games this week with end times and the full free games for November 2026 across Epic, PS Plus, Steam and GOG.
FAQ
Is the Manta Update free?
Yes. Paradox calls it a free update for every Age of Wonders 4 owner. Trade Routes, the water changes, Sword & Staff and Chilled do not need The Silver Seas. The Mercantile culture, new forms, tomes and Free Captains do.
How much is Age of Wonders 4 The Silver Seas?
$24.99 / £20.99 / €24.99 on Steam on its own, or $49.99 as part of Expansion Pass 4. The pass also includes Singer of Storms, Court of the Archfey and Forge of the Firstborn.
Sources: The Silver Seas and Manta Update Out Now, Manta Update patch notes, Dev Diaries #65, #66 and #67, the Expansion Pass 4 announcement (Paradox Interactive / Triumph Studios on Steam), Xbox Wire (Tom Bird, Triumph Studios), and the Steam store page (prices checked November 4, 2026, 07:35 UTC).
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Featured image: AI-generated illustration
