The latest set of rumors about the fate of the Age of Sigmar universe seem almost as fantastical as the setting itself.
For those not in the know a set of wild rumors appeared on the web yesterday. Here is a quick synopsis:
- The rumor says Age of Sigmar would stop being a setting built across eight magical realms and instead collapse into one single planet called The Last World.
- The claimed idea is that Sigmar had a hidden plan to fuse the realms together at the last moment, after Archaon and the Skaven supposedly helped destroy the existing order.
- Under this version of events, a huge amount of established AoS lore would effectively be swept off the table, including many mapped regions, famous cities, and much of the worldbuilding from the last decade.
- The leak also suggests Sigmar is dead, which would be an enormous shock because he is the central divine figure of the setting and the anchor for the Stormcast Eternals.
- If Sigmar is really gone, the Stormcast may no longer be able to use reforging, which is the process that lets them return after death and is one of their defining traits.
- Several other major gods and godlike powers, including Nagash, Gorkamorka, and the Aelven pantheon, are said to be missing or possibly dead, which would upend the entire cosmic balance of AoS.
- The new world is described as feeling much closer to old Warhammer Fantasy, with Cities of Sigmar becoming more like the old Empire and some regions being reworked into more familiar fantasy nations.
- A lot of established characters are rumored to have died in the transition, so longtime players would see this less as a normal edition change and more as a hard reset.
As you can see this is huge shift. I am somewhat skeptical of these rumors as it is such a change to the setting. The rumor goes that the reason for such a shift is that it is difficult to generate profitable IPs off of the current setting (think games like Total War, etc). While I agree Sigmar still seems to be searching for its breakout hit, this seems a bit drastic. The End Times were very controversial at the time as they were seen as a sloppy attempt to wrap things up, spawning plot holes, loose narrative threads, and dismal storytelling. Throwing in another tonal shift so recently will risk jilting the current player base.
Furthermore, this begs the question: Who is this change for? Old World players already have their own setting and this looks like a cheap attempt to cash in on the similarities. Love it or hate it AoS had its very distinct vibe that set it apart from a lot of other settings and grim-darking it feels wrong. Who knows if this will presage other changes to the game itself (the double-turn may want to renew its life insurance).
We will see if these are all smoke and mirrors (the rumor is that these were wild rumors invented to out a mole, very cloak and dagger). But big things may be coming down the pike for AoS!
