One of the very first real-time strategy games I played on the PC was SimAnt, which was made by Maxis before their other pure simulation, SimCity, became the juggernaut that would forever be associated with their rise as a game developer. I always wondered why it was never remade, although the success of SimCity, and of course The Sims, might have had something to do with that. But SimAnt was a good title with a lot of deep systems in place for managing the ant colony that at the time were pretty revolutionary.
Years later, we now have Empire of the Ants, which is available on the PC through Steam, GoG and the Epic Games Store, and also for the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 next generation consoles. It could possibly be considered a spiritual successor to SimAnt, although the two titles are markedly different in scope. Whereas SimAnt was a pretty realistic simulation, Empire of the Ants has bits of realism but is mostly a combination adventure game and real time strategy title. Empire is really fun to play most of the time, and those players who are used to tanks, airplanes and other traditional weaponry in their combats might end up surprised at how addictive fighting with different legions of insects can be on contested battlefields consisting of a few feet of dry sand or a detritus-littered forest floor.
Dividing Empire of the Ants into the adventure and the real time strategy side, players start with a series of purely adventure-type missions. In these, you play as an ant named 103,683 who’s a lowly worker, one of millions within your society. However, there is something special about 103,683 as is evident by the jagged scars across the back of her torso. You can tell that she has been though some stuff before and survived. The other ants you meet, including your own queen, treat you with the respect due to someone who was able to rise up from among millions to become noticed for your deeds.
While your character is fast and nimble, the real strength of 103,683 is probably her intelligence. Not only can she scout out new lands to find food and resources for the colony, but she is also able to act as a general when commanding battles, skillfully leading legions of ants in offensive combat or defensive actions. This only improves 103,683’s reputation even more as she gets sent on increasingly dangerous missions in the field, like rescuing some of her lost ant sisters before floodwaters sweep them away or leading a last minute defense on the battlefield where the fighting is getting hopeless and all could be lost. Good old, reliable 103,683 is sent in when it’s clear that nobody else can get the job done. And she succeeds in those tasks (with the player’s help). It’s pretty cool that the other ants recognize that and respect her for it.
The story missions are basically platforming levels where you need to navigate through the beautifully rendered world, climbing, jumping, running and exploring the landscape as you pursue whatever mission or agenda has been assigned to you by an ant taskmaster or maybe even the queen. While on those missions, you will sometimes come across side missions where you find something mysterious like an old tire or a discarded soda bottle. To identify what the object is, or at least if it hides any potential use or danger to the colony, you need to crawl all around it and find pheromone points until the item is “scanned.” Those side missions are optional but interesting if nothing else because you get an ant’s view of the strange things they sometimes find littering their environments.
The story missions balance realism and storytelling. Some of the realistic parts of Empire of the Ants include unlocking different types of insects in your nature encyclopedia and learning about how they interact with the natural environment and the ant colony. On the storytelling side, the ants have a lot of human qualities, and 103,683 gets pulled into political intrigue, plot twists and other challenges more akin to human kingdoms than what happens in the real world of ants. Still, it makes for a nice story set in this tiny universe. It’s apparently loosely based on the Empire of the Ants sci-fi novel by French author Bernard Werber.
And then there is the real time combat side of Empire. Those tiny ants have a lot of natural enemies, from termites with similar societies to rival ant colonies to all kinds of creepy crawlies like spiders and other apex predators that snack on ants. So, there are battles. They come up as part of the story missions where 103,683 is tasked with leading legions to victory. There is also a multiplayer component to Empire of the Ants that includes one-on-one missions and three player free-for-alls. There is, surprisingly, no way (as of launch) to have a single human player take on AI opponents, a weird omission of a mode that has become a staple of RTS games for many years now, with some series of titles like with Stronghold becoming known for that. Perhaps this will be added at a later date, which would increase the fun factor for many players.
Battles are not nearly as complex as with other RTS games, but you are fighting as a bunch of ants, so that is expected. On the field, 103,683 commands the legions in battle, but does not enter combat herself. The most she can do is buff her fellow sisters to with spores or pheromones that improve their battle prowess or defenses. Control of those legions is surprisingly intuitive. You simply stop and hold a key to have your commander ant look up, and then select what legion you want to issue commands to. It’s easy to direct them to different points on the battlefield with a single click, which makes it a good title for play on consoles where most people don’t have keyboards or mice at their disposal.
The general rules of combat play out like rock, paper, scissors. Acid-spewing gunner legions can devastate heavily armored and slow soldier brigades, but they are quickly overwhelmed and destroyed by fast worker legions. Meanwhile, the workers don’t stand a chance when going up against soldiers. Combining arms properly and setting strengths against weaknesses is a key to winning most battles with minimal losses. Later in the game, you also get to control special non-ant legions using pheromones, including tank-like blue beetles that can taunt and lock down enemies and wasps which act like an air force for your armies.
The other key task for the player’s commander ant on the battlefield involves planning out how to build up nests using available resources. Nests can support legion upgrades and other powers, while acting as a hub for the collection of valuable materials like wood and food. Nests can also become battlefield strongpoints if upgraded with wooden walls, gunners and special defensive shock troops. Each nest can only support so many upgrades however, so capturing enemy nests is critical if you want to field really powerful armies as a battle continues to rage.
The balance between the adventure parts of Empire of the Ants and the varied real-time strategy missions keeps things interesting and fun from start to finish, with about 20 to 25 hours of gameplay packed in there depending on how much or how slowly you explore the beautifully rendered maps in adventure mode. And seeing the world from an ant’s perspective, even if it’s kind of a fairytale version, is quite a unique experience. Those searching for something new and exciting in either real time strategy or adventure titles should look to the mysterious and deadly world that exists just below our feet. There is a lot happening in Empire of the Ants, and exploring that tiny world is not something that gamers will want to miss.
Developers: Tower Five
Platforms: Epic Games Store, GoG, PlayStation 5, Steam, Xbox Series X