Ancient Space

 PC
Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 17 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 17
  3. Negative: 0 out of 17
  1. CalmDownTom
    Oct 9, 2014
    80
    I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Ancient space and I will beat that final level. Even if it takes me another twenty hours of complete and utter failure. Ancient Space has beaten me down ruthlessly but I still want to come back for more.
  2. 4P.de
    Oct 10, 2014
    76
    You’ll encounter tactical and AI issues, but nonetheless Ancient Space delivers challenging strategy where each and every ship you command is important.
  3. Everyeye.it
    Dec 15, 2014
    75
    It's an interesting space RTS, but the sub sectors of the maps make them feel much smaller than they actually are, and the units' pathfinding isn't always up to the task. On the other hand, gameplay mechanics do work really well, and there's depth enough for the veterans to enjoy.
  5. IGN Italia
    Oct 13, 2014
    75
    Bottom line, Ancient Space is a fun game. Not a masterpiece, not even a memorable game, but nonetheless fun, balanced and well-crafted.
  6. Softpedia
    Oct 1, 2014
    75
    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.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 56 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 56
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 56
  3. Negative: 12 out of 56
  1. MayhemMike83
    Sep 24, 2014
    7
    Don't get your hopes up, it is not a new Homeworld!

    What you will get is a space themed RTS with unit building, light resource management    Don't get your hopes up, it is not a new Homeworld!

    What you will get is a space themed RTS with unit building, light resource management (think CoH) and the ability to upgrade your mothership only between missions.

    The Campaign is a two edged sword, very difficult with seemingly impossible situations but also very rewarding if you manage to work your way through.

    The biggest disappointment for me was the lack of a skirmish mode. Well there is a menu button which is called "Skirmish" but behind that are just 3 maps with missions attached to it, like a horde mode for example.

    Pros:
    +nice graphics
    +nice sound
    +difficult campaign
    +small but interesting map design

    Cons:
    -no skirmish mode
    -not very innovative/deep mechanics
    -pathfinding is a bit edgy    … Full Review »
  2. Plusz
    Sep 23, 2014
    10
    Nice & challenging strategy game, you must play it :). Interesting story, very very good looking (amazing space scenery & ships), niceNice & challenging strategy game, you must play it :). Interesting story, very very good looking (amazing space scenery & ships), nice gameplay & game mechanics. What could I say? Just watch it and see it for yourself.… Full Review »
  3. Daemon_XE
    Sep 28, 2014
    7
    This game puzzles me to great lengths. After following the game for a while, finally playing it is resoundingly disappointing. There are someThis game puzzles me to great lengths. After following the game for a while, finally playing it is resoundingly disappointing. There are some excellent ideas here, and the genre itself is woefully neglected, so this entry has a lot going for it in that sense. It's just that it doesn't really play well.
    Visually, the game is absolutely stunning. The environments are amazingly well crafted, and the ship designs are in a fine balance of lending off known tropes along with genuine creativity. The music too, is quite nice. The tracks don't really do much by themselves, but sometimes do invoke feelings of say, the new Battlestar Galactica series, which is awesome.
    Alas, between the beautiful designs and nebula's, it's hard to see what's going on. I had a lot of trouble navigating the camera, which works in unpredictable ways. But that's only part of the problem. Despite faction colouring, I kept trying to control allied or enemy ships, thinking they were mine. I also lost many a ship for the opposite reason. It seems like a simple thing, and perhaps a more adept gamer than I won't have this problem, but it was very jarring to me. That, and everything ever clips.
    Talking about jarring, the Unity 3D engine seem to have a lot of trouble with this game. Which the visual effects are excellent, framerate drops were very frequent, even when keeping the 30fps refresh cap. I don't think the devs themselves are really to blame on this, and it never gets to be a proper slide-show, but it's not what I expected with my gaming pc. (i-7 860 & GTX 570 and the standard settings).
    The universe the game takes place in can be very intriguing though, and the story is functional but nonetheless enjoyable. The voice-acting is also superb, though it's hampered by a mediocre script.

    There is enough depth here for core gamers to enjoy. The resource system is simple and somewhat inelegant, but the units are well balanced and often just pretty bloody awesome. The bigger battles really do have this epic feel to them, and the campaign really pays off. My hopes are mostly for a few revisionary updates to streamline the UI and pace the progress of the missions a bit better. The promise is here, but the game design is just a bit too wonky at times to really make game excel.

    + Beautiful.
    + Captures the epic space battle really well at times.
    + Decent story.

    - Clunky controls.
    - UI.
    - Bad pacing.    … Full Review »
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