Ancient Space Review (PC)

good
key review info
  • Game: Ancient Space
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: No
  • Reviewed on:
Ancient Space

Ancient Space was seen by some players as the game which would finally take up the mantle of Homeworld as the go-to choice for those who want a solid, beautiful and engaging space-based real-time strategy series.

The game created by CreativeForge Games and published by Paradox Interactive does have some intriguing ideas and can deliver spectacular and very intense combat sequences, and it has a story which is interesting without aiming for innovation.

But at the same time, the title has some unclear missions and a focus on complex battles that can quickly turn into defeats, which means that it is ill-suited for more casual players.

The single-player focused Ancient Space has a lot to offer but it can be hard to love at times, although the most dedicated strategy fans will be satisfied with its depth and the challenge that it offers.

Story

Ancient Space does not have a multiplayer mode and the skirmish is limited to just a few battles, so the meat of the experience is the single-player campaign, which follows the efforts of a group of characters, both military and civilians, to explore a Black Zone that has already swallowed a previous expedition but could also hold the key to the evolution of humanity.

In order to do so, they need to face almost impossible odds and to battle a wide array of powerful opponents.

Battle time
Battle time

The story aims to be epic but it’s in many ways a compilation of the best the science fiction has had to offer during the past 20 years or so, which makes it instantly familiar to most fans, but it also means that it’s easy to forget who is talking, what the subject is or why a particular piece of info is actually important.

The presentation of Ancient Space is engaging from the visual point of view, but the cast of characters feels one dimensional most of the time.

Gameplay

Ancient Space is a real-time space-based experience with some limited building and resource collecting and a slight progression system for the player-controlled fleet.

The tutorial can easily be skipped by those who have played something similar in the past, but it does offer some solid direction on how to control the camera, which can sometimes be a little fiddly. Then, the game ramps up slowly, initially only offering control of a limited number of units and then putting the player in charge of the entire army.

Each type of unit that can be built from the mobile carrier has a clear role on the battlefield and an enemy type that it can easily take out, along with special abilities that enhance that battlefield role.

Much of the gameplay of Ancient Space is built around matching attacks to the best suited targets and carefully timing the moment when the special powers can make a difference.

There are three types of resources featured in the title, with one of them used to basically place a limit on the number of units a fleet can field at one time, and the excess metal and energy needs to be spent in order to place turrets in specially designated nodes and some other offensive and defensive boosting structures.

Each level offers a new set of tactical challenges to deal with, and the players need to constantly learn the abilities of their forces and carefully plan how to use them to take out enemy forces.

Before missions, Ancient Space also offers customization choices, with officers introducing special abilities that can be crucial at times and with an upgrade system for all involved unit types, which gives gamers some space to evolve their fleet.

Ancient Space is not an easy game to fully understand in terms of mechanics, and the missions are very difficult right from the start, with plenty of enemy units to deal with and some tough tactical choices to make.

Gamers need to carefully use their officer powers and the abilities of their ships in order to quickly take out the more vulnerable enemies, while also using their large units to try and soak up damage at the start of an engagement.

The scripted nature of the levels means that failure and restarts can be a good thing because they allow players to create a better plan around the events they know are coming and adapt their strategies in order to quickly achieve the objectives given.

Initially, Ancient Space is satisfying from a gameplay point of view, but as it progresses, it tends to become a little repetitive, and the way missions are scripted and objectives are evaluated can often feel very frustrating.

Graphics and audio

Ancient Space is a good-looking game that really manages to deliver a solid science fiction space-based universe with plenty of details and some great references to the best representatives of the genre, from the classic Homeworld to Battelstar Galactica and Farscape.

The development team has managed to extract a lot of beauty out of the Unity engine, despite the fact that there are times when the framerate drops noticeably as the tech struggles with the levels created by CreativeForge Games.

The ships, from the lowest fighter to the biggest capital ships, have quite a bit of detail and move through space with grace and a sense of power, and the chosen battle locations can also be impressive, with lots of obstacles, cool nebulas in the distance and other astronomical bodies around.

Tactical choices
Tactical choices

The developers have also created a working user interface, although there are times when the camera moves around in some weird ways and needs to be carefully controlled in order to focus on ongoing battles.

There’s always the option to zoom to a sort of overhead tactical view, but that means missing on the battles between fleets, which are one of the high points of the title.

Prior to launch, the developers and publisher Paradox have talked about the quality of the Ancient Space, and the line-up, including John Billingsley, Aaron Douglas, Ron Glass, Richard Gunn, Dina Meyer and Dwight Schultz, does a good job with their lines, although they have a tendency to be overly dramatic.

The soundtrack is also engaging and evokes classic science fiction series and provides an extra boost when tackling the battles that feature a difficulty spike.


The Good

  • Strategy gameplay
  • Presentation and voice work

The Bad

  • Overscripted missions
  • Weird camera movement

Conclusion

Ancient Space is a good game that fans of strategy titles will love to spend time with, but it might be too difficult and too limited in terms of content in order to attract new fans to the genre or to serve as a spiritual successor to Homeworld.

The developers at CreativeForge Games have managed to create space battles that look and feel great to control, with just the right mix between building and fleet action, but there are moments when the game does not communicate objectives well and delivers missions that cram too many objectives together, making them hard to complete and enjoy.

The studio should have probably focused a little more on the design of their levels and less on the presentation of Ancient Space, trying to find at least one core innovation that can push the entire genre it belongs to forward in an interesting way.

story 7
gameplay 7
concept 8
graphics 9
audio 8
multiplayer 0
final rating 7.5
Editor's review
good
 

Ancient Space Images (25 Images)

Ancient SpaceAncient SpaceAncient SpaceAncient SpaceAncient Space
+20more