Since November 7, 2024, Empire of the Ants has been released as a unique strategy game for Steam, GOG, Epic, PS5, and Xbox. Instead of managing everything from above as a “God”, you play as an ant, controlling your units up close. And such small creatures face very different challenges.
What kind of game is this?
- You play in Empire of the Ants as Ant No. 103,683, who has been appointed by the queen as a sort of commander.
- Your armies consist of different ants and beetles that you must lead to food and resource sources or command in battle.
- The ant controls everything itself the whole time. Base building, commands, and technology all work without isometric perspective.
This is how Empire of the Ants is received: On Steam, Empire of the Ants has a rating of “mostly positive” with 76% approval, but only 103 reviews. According to SteamDB, the game had 1,126 players at launch.
Users on Steam particularly praise how smoothly the game runs and how relaxing it is to play. The gameplay is said to be “refreshing,” but also “unexciting” and “almost meditative.” A special treat is that while playing, players receive the important message to please pay attention to their environment.
In the negative reviews, it is stated that the missions become repetitive quickly. Some ant lovers are also disappointed that the theme is merely superficial. It could easily be replaced with humans. Generally, the game isn’t bad, just too expensive for what it is, at 40-50 euros.
Colleagues from GameStar rate Empire of the Ants with 77 out of 100 points. They also praise the graphics and the rather calm gameplay. Criticism is aimed at the strategy factor and the story.
30 to 60 hours of playtime for ant strategy
The gameplay is somewhat reminiscent of a mix between Pikmin and Mount & Blade. Your ant rushes across the field, looking for resource nodes or enemies to command the units you have brought there. How much you see of what content depends on the game mode:
- Exploration is for players who like to roam freely and take on smaller tasks like rescue missions.
- Tactical has an additional combat component and is basically a skirmish mode where you only engage in one battle. The troops operate on a rock-paper-scissors principle.
- Strategic finally incorporates base building, resource management, troop training, and the tech tree into gameplay.
The campaign alone is said to provide between 30 and 60 hours of gameplay, depending on how thoroughly you want to complete all tasks. In addition, there is a PvP mode where you can compete against other players.
At gamescom 2024, MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus was able to play Empire of the Ants. As a big RTS fan, he was initially skeptical, especially since the game is optimized for controllers. But the unusual strategy game surprised him: I love strategy games on PC, but an RTS with a controller is my insider tip from gamescom 2024
