The Ancients Steam Charts & Stats

Well... Definitely early access. Is it recommendable at this stage? Depends. The gameplay is solid. The theme is awesome and well implemented. Very buggy still and performance needs more work. I played on an i9, 32GB 4070 graphics and still had to lower specs to run properly. A hard game to learn. I died more times than I could keep count of. But oddly enough I had fun dying. I really hope the developers continue their work on this, as nothing like it exist. It's a complicated game and the tutorial part needs fleshing out with more crafting examples etc. I initially gave up on the game, partly because of the difficulty (there are no difficulty settings), and partly because of the bugginess. But alas, here I am not able to get the game out of my head. It's actually THAT interesting. Are the negative reviews fair? Is this Early Access perhaps too early? More an alpha test stage than open beta perhaps? Either way, it is recommended if you love the theme and want to support the developers finish the project.

I want my $20 back. This game is sold then no updates. dick move.

Maybe I'm missing something, but it felt like the game is micromanaging cavemen. I got bored with it pretty quickly. The hunter gatherer lifestyle doesn't really appeal to me. I didn't really care what happened to my tribe so when they died it didn't seem like a big deal. Maybe this needs something to make you connect with the ancients more. Perhaps card events with individual tribesmen like Thea has. Whatever they do it definitely needs something more.

It has a unique style compared to other strategy and management games, I liked that. Not big fan of the UI stuff tbh but models and art is definitely consistent and eye-pleasing. It's hard to get into the game so you should definitely play the tutorial. It's actually cool that developers care to add two different tutorial levels and an ingame guide you can check whenever you want. Had problems with crafting and lost my progression couple of times but developers say they will fix these issues soon so let's wait and see if it's fixed. TLDR: worth the money and time but you need to wait at least a week for developers to iron out some bugs.

In the games current state (frequent crashes and non-working save system) I cannot recommend this game. Between the crashes I do enjoy the game play, but I would wait until a fix that comes out that makes the game playable.

The idea is very good, the implementation - not so much. There are too many game breaking bugs right now. Give this a few patches/hotfixes of time and try this out, the potential is amazing.

This game wasn't put out in early access in the sense that it would be developed. It was just put out for whatever cash could be generated. There were a few hotfixes, but nothing substantive as in a 'roadmap' to release. It is dead now and far from in a playable state. Many crashes, little in the way of tutorial or help. And many bugs. A good concept. a tech tree, and some interesting mechanics. But don't be tempted. It just isn't playable. Could've been, but devs gave up.

Do you ever wonder what would happen if Xcom and Age of Empires had a love child and dropped it on its head a few times? Me neither, but that's this game in a nutshell. Does it have technical problems? Yes, but what game doesn't need some time to shine? Even the big titles need time to fix. I haven't hit any crashes yet, so I'm cool with the minor hiccups. My gameplay isn't interrupted by them, so I don't care. What really hooks me is the intense decision-making and the constant survival pressures like food, heat, and dangerous animals. Every action point counts. At first, trying to keep up with all the systems made my smooth ape brain feel like it was still in the Stone Age. But after some quality time with the game, you start to navigate the mechanics like it's second nature. Plus, there are so many different ways to optimize your strategy. It’s like a playground for your inner geek caveman.

Since I've experienced a fair amount of the game, I think I can tell you a few things. First of all, The Ancients is a game that I have been following for a long time, it has its own style and a very high potential. After all, how many games are there where you start with a tribe ages ago and explore the map you are on by migrating, establishing relationships with other tribes, surviving in adverse conditions? The Ancients definitely differentiates itself from other 4X games with its atmosphere by offering a unique experience in this regard. [h2]Pricing[/h2] Since this is a product, let me first give my opinion about the price. I am in the MENA-USD region and I bought the game with a 10% discount. It's hard to be in the MENA-USD region and find the courage to pay for a game, lol. But I definitely think it deserves the money I paid. Even though I was going through a very busy period, this game deserved to take 7 hours of my time, picture this. [h2]Graphics & Details[/h2] To experience the game, I played it in a few different graphics modes. Considering that my laptop came out 7-8 years ago, the game ran pretty well. I cannot say that it is a masterpiece in UI/UX, I have to be honest about this, but at least the scene you see when the models in the game gather around the fire on the tribe screen will satisfy you. During the hunt, you can even see the injury details of the animal you will destroy in 2 rounds! Also loved the pop culture references in the names of achievements. [h2]Gameplay & Story[/h2] The game has a campaign mode, but it would be ridiculous to expect such a big story. After all, this is a sandbox game and it aims to offer you a different experience every time you play. They have created two separate tutorial modes that you can play to learn the game. Even if you are not a very smart person like me, you can easily understand what you need to do in which menu and scene by playing the "Basic" and "Advanced" tutorial sections. In the game, you can shape how your tribe treats other tribes, you can act together with other tribes or bring about their end; Long live the H. sapiens! While camping, you can produce items that can increase your tribe's chances of survival. I don't think it goes without saying that you need to collect resources from the world around you to craft these items. You can also build a few things. After all, your tribe is also human, they too have some needs, as Abraham Harold Maslow said. Your tribe wants to be fed, safe, socialized. It is up to you to provide these. You can include outsiders in your tribe over time, you have a certain chance for this and it is up to you to increase it. Although new people make your tribe stronger and give you more action points, they can also make your tribe feel insecure. Yes, I said action points. Action points are a measure of how many actions you can take in a round, as you will learn this in the tutorial. Actions such as hunting, gathering, camping, and producing items require 1-2 action points from you. That's why I recommend that your tribe be of a considerable size. Also, don't spend all your research points on crafting items... Let your tribe gain some socialization skills, too! You represent our ancestors. [h2]Atmosphere[/h2] [b]I FELL IN LOVE WITH SOUNDTRACKS OF GAME.[/b] This is not a AAA game, so don't expect the graphics to promise you great things, but the soundtrack of the game can definitely put you in the atmosphere. [h2]Last Words & Summary[/h2] If you are too lazy to read the parts above where I say many things... Just kidding. The Ancients promises a lot for its price, the fact that it is in early access should not bother you because when you share your ideas and feedback via Discord, you can find answers in a short time. The developers are interested in this issue and I'm sure they will trim the bad parts of the game if we don't hesitate to contact them. [b]In short, do not hesitate to buy it to experience this kind of unique gameplay because there is no other The Ancients. :)[/b]

Notice how I only have an hour of gameplay time? yeah...that's the reason for my thumbsdown. But before I got into that let's talk about the good. Good Price Good Idea Good Foundation for future good gameplay But the game is broken as hell. Resolution issues galore. Functions breaking in the game. The game messing up the resolution on my desktop. The game not coming on screen after it's started. The graphics are poor. There's no ambiance. The gameplay is confusing and poorly explained and managed. The User Interface is confusing, ugly and with text too small. The gameplay is imbalanced. Oh and did I mention the game is barely stable? Granted for 20 dollars at least they're not asking for an excessive amount of money for us to beta test their game. The idea is interesting, the gameplay definitely has potential. But they should have worked on the game for a few more months to iron out it's stability before releasing it on steam. As of this particular moment I recommend waiting and see if this game ends up becoming better. If you'd like a more in-depth look then please check out the review on my YouTube Channel (link below). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kB184xLDP3k Otherwise, thanks so much for reading and I hope I managed to help some of you out there spend your money wisely.