Empire of the Ants Review

Empire of the Ants Review

Imagine living life through the eyes of an ant in an expansive colony, just trying to survive the harsh conditions of the world through changing seasons. This is the experience you’ll find in the newly released Empire of the Ants developed by Tower Five Studio. A beautiful and engaging real-time strategy experience with thoughtful narration and well thought-out gameplay. Come join the colony, their future depends on it!

Empire of the Ants is based on a story of the same name written by author Bernard Werber in 1991. It follows a colony of ants as they navigate life through the different seasons in a forest setting. Some of the game’s narration was even co-written by the original author. The ants in the colony speak with each other, via written text, giving a deeper look at this world. While I assume it’s not 100% realistic, as I’ve never spoken with an ant beyond not-so-kindly telling them to get out of my house, it’s an interesting way to convey a story from their perspective. These ants have a pretty tough go, and this game has given me a better appreciation for the lives they lead.

Mission Variety

The game is divided into a variety of different hubs that you’ll come across as you progress. Each hub will have a variety of missions that you’ll need to complete to proceed the story. In some cases, you’ll be able to pick and choose which order missions are played.

One aspect of Empire of the Ants that I’m particularly fond of is just how much variety there is between missions. Defined by the studio, there are three different types of missions. Exploration Missions are the relaxed opportunities to explore and truly take in the beautiful environments. Here you’ll get the chance to track down collectibles and interact with other non-playable ants & insects. Then there are Tactical Missions. These missions are designed with a more streamlined focus, with limited-to-none nest management options. These missions will usually have pre-set legions for you to command throughout the battlefield. Finally, there are Strategic Missions. These are the full-meal-deal missions that give you the full experience including nest management, upgrades, and much more.

Nest Management

Nest management includes quite a clever approach. You’ll move the ant on top of a nest and a radial dial will appear at your feet. Moving your ant to one of the different options will unlock even more options to choose from. This could be picking which type of ant legion this nest specializes in, such as a worker ant or a gunner ant. Another option is what type of resource this nest creates, such as food or wood. There are quite a few defensive, offensive and strategic options to choose from. And on maps where you have multiple ant nests strewn throughout the environment, you’ll need to navigate between them and plan your strategy accordingly. Deeper in the game when the training wheels come off, you’ll absolutely need to plan ahead how each nest functions for your overall army.

The first handful of missions are very focused, with clear objectives helping players learn controls and gameplay systems. Developers did an excellent job slowly introducing more and more functions. For players wanting to really dive into the full experience, you’ll just need to be patient and push through these tutorial-style missions. Eventually you’ll be rewarded with more robust missions that will really test your mettle. The game gets tough, and with no difficulty settings to adjust, you might be tackling and re-tackling missions over and over again.

It’s Hard to be an Ant Sometimes

The game’s controls were designed with a controller in mind. Every button is utilized and, for the most part, it works very smoothly. Controlling your legions is very intuitive, and it didn’t take long until I felt like I was truly in command of the battlefields. Where the game has some challenges is the platforming aspects. Jumping can be tricky, as you need to hold down the jump button and release it at just the right time – it’s completely a timing thing and it’ll take some getting used to. But you will under-jump or over-jump obstacles many, many times while trying to get the hang of it. Running is also a bit of a mixed bag. If there’s some bumpy terrain, running over it could have your ant ramping off in some random direction.

The camera is generally good, but as I mentioned in my preview, there are some serious challenges when trying to navigate your ant when it is upside-down (underneath an object). There have been many frustrating times when I’m fighting with the camera and controls just to get the ant to move in the correct direction when it’s upside down. These frustrations haven’t been addressed at all.

Combat is as simple as selecting which legions you want to fight with, and then selecting which enemy units to engage. There are a few ways of selecting single or multiple legions. After that, the legions engage on their own. You can support your legions further with certain buffs, such as increased strength or shielding. These are abilities you’ll need to develop in nests, but come in handy. If a legion dies in battle, you’ll need to wait for it’s home nest to make a replacement legion at the cost of resources.

Playing with Friends?

Empire of the Ants features a multiplayer mode with three different modes; ranked 1v1, ranked 3-player free-for-all, and custom games (private lobby against a friend). Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to experience either of these modes, despite trying. The devs set aside times during our review week to log-on, however, they picked incredibly inconvenient times during the week. Not a single evening or weekend session was offered. Attempts to find sessions outside those hours were unsuccessful.

Unreal Ants

The game features an original soundtrack composed by two industry vets, Mathieu Alvado and Mark Choi, that is absolutely stunning. The sweeping, orchestral arrangements is just so beautiful. I truly hope this soundtrack becomes available on streaming services to listen to anytime. Accompanying the stellar soundtrack is the incredible sound design. From the clitter-clatter of our ants feet across the ground, to the nature sounds resonating throughout the forest. You feel like you’re in a living, breathing forest.

Visually, the game is on a whole other level. There aren’t many games that put gamers in the eyes of an insect, but this is by far the best visual representation of that world that I’ve ever seen. Maybe it’s a testament to how awesome Unreal Engine 5 is, or maybe it’s the talented team at Tower Five Studio, or a combination of both – but the visuals are amazing. Reflective water, beautiful plant life, a vast assortment of different insects. If I wanted to show a non-gamer friend how good games have come visually, Empire of the Ants will be near the top of that list.

Gotta Catch Them All

One final thing worth mentioning is the game does have quite a few different collectibles to find throughout the adventure. These come in a number of forms, from discovering new insects and objects, to finding well-hidden golden tortoise beetles. These add just another layer to Empire of the Ants and was very welcomed.

Empire of the Ants is an excellent game. This is one of those games that seemingly come out of nowhere but will likely be a beloved favourite for many gamers for years to come. While a lot of these gameplay aspects have been seen before in other games, the way they’re included here, through the eyes of an ant, can be quite unique. The visuals are outstanding and the music is brilliant. There are some challenges with controls and the camera, especially in confined spaces or when your ant is upside-down. And unfortunately, I didn’t get an opportunity to experience the multiplayer aspects. Fortunately, the single-player experience is overall so well done that I’d consider the multiplayer mode a nice bonus more than anything. If you’re looking for a unique gaming real-time strategy experience, then you really can’t go wrong with Empire of the Ants.

***Empire of the Ants Xbox Series X key provided by the publisher.***