Empire of the Ants: Digital Deluxe Edition

Pretty to look at but painfully dull and frustrating to play, Empire of the Ants's single-player campaign has none of the depth of the multiplayer and packages bad AI with boring missions and a meandering story.

Empire of the Ants features a lavish rendering of the world from a few millimeters high, but fails at the basics of interesting RTS play.

It can't decide if it wants to be an RTS or a platformer, so both areas feel like they're not achieving their full potential. The presentation is gorgeous and it's enjoyable thinking about the smaller creatures in our world differently, but Empire of the Ants tries to be too much at once. The multiplayer is fun for a time, but lacks the depth seasoned strategy players want. A focus on either the story or RTS would have helped a lot.

I thought that Empire of The Ants was going to have a lot more gameplay centred around the building of the colony. Now, don’t get me wrong, commanding armies against other bugs/insects is fun. But when I think of ants, I think of them as an entire colony. The combat is fun and engaging, although slow, especially when units are moving to a location. However, the ant we play should also be more a part of the action and not just use buffs. I do like the movement of the controlled ant. As the story starts off simple, I definitely say keep playing and you’ll be pleasantly surprised. It becomes rather fun and interesting, and when it did, I was hooked. I was surprised to learn that Empire of The Ants was also based on the book, which I looked into further, and honestly, I was intrigued. I’m awarding Empire of The Ants the Thumb Culture Gold Award. It’s a good relaxing RTS.

There you have it folks, a barebones RTS with gorgeous graphics and clunky controls. Even with all the negatives, I would say I had fun with it for the most part. It was a change of pace from the usual games that I play and it wasn’t so bad that I had to walk away from it. It’s an alright time waster, not much more than that. It looks like it was supposed to have some longevity to it as it does have crossplay multiplayer but I didn’t touch on this before for the simple fact that I couldn’t actually play it. There are so few people picking the game up that I wasn’t able to get into any multiplayer matches. In short, it was fun for a couple hours, but I probably won’t come back to it.

This iteration of Empire of the Ants is certainly an improvement over the original game released over 20 years ago. It looks absolutely gorgeous and has a fitting soundscape to boot. The lack of micromanagement makes it more accessible for most but alienates those looking for the next coming of SimAnt. The strategy elements and platforming are basic, but the game remains enjoyable in short bursts. As a whole, it's a good game that you'll only jump into if you want something that feels strategic without going too deep into what the genre offers.

I think that the best way I can describe Empire of the Ants is to compare it to a BBC biology documentary. Sure, it’s boring, but the presentation and delivery make the product feel more interesting than it really is. It’s a jaw-dropping gorgeous experience with an additional layer of scientific research and information to be delivered to whoever plays it.

“Empire of the Ants” takes the player into a breathtaking world powered by Unreal Engine 5, which captures the fascination of insect life in an impressive way. The gameplay offers a mixture of real-time strategy and platform elements, which provides variety. However, the pace of the battles feels a little sluggish and the AI of the enemies could be more sophisticated. The campaign provides a solid foundation for the game, but lacks in-depth characters and a compelling story. The repetitive tasks and slow pace of progress can slow down long-term motivation.

Empire of the Ants is an exceptional entry-level strategy game that lets players relax once in a while during exploration-based stages. Some things are unrealistic or inaccurate but are in service of making an enjoyable experience. At the very least, it has some of the most realistic visuals on current-gen consoles.

Empire of the Ants presents itself as a simple and direct strategy game, which requires the bare minimum to be effective and avoid a disastrous defeat.