Empire of the Ants didn’t sound at all appealing to MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus. Gamescom 2024 had so many good games – and he had to take a look at a strategy game for consoles at the request of the boss. Luckily, because it is an extremely positive surprise.
Being a video game journalist sounds like a dream job to many people: you talk to the developers, get lots of games for free and early, and are basically paid to play. But sometimes you also have to grit your teeth through some pretty tough tasks.
While planning gamescom 2024, MeinMMO editor-in-chief Leya Jankowski made an appointment for me to play Empire of the Ants, a real-time strategy game with ants. She said: This is exactly my game, after all, I’m an RTS nerd.
That’s true in principle, but Empire of the Ants is a strategy game for consoles with ants and somehow not at all what I normally play. Nevertheless, Leya insisted that I keep this appointment.
Although I trotted into the hall with only moderate enthusiasm, I now have to thank her for it. Empire of the Ants absolutely surprised me and even though the game will certainly not attract hundreds of thousands of players, I had a surprising amount of fun.
Empire of the Ants: The trailer for the ant strategy game on PS5
More videos
Autoplay
Real-time strategy with controller works – thanks to a trick
Why I was skeptical in the first place: I love playing real-time and turn-based strategy games, preferably on a large scale. Crusader Kings, Total War: Warhammer 3 and Sins of a Solar Empire are among my favorite games. Dawn of War is still one of the best strategy games ever for me.
What they all have in common is that you play them with a mouse and keyboard because you simply need a large overview quickly and have to use several menus to manage troops and base construction.
Empire of the Ants is designed for controllers and is primarily intended to be a strategy game for consoles. That can’t work – I thought. But a trick from the developers makes the game a unique experience.
Instead of playing a “god” who manages everything from above, I use the controller to control a single ant that is right in the middle of the action. Using the sticks and buttons, I command entire armies instead of individual troops and send them around – either from a distance or up close.
Base building works by crawling to one of the nests and expanding it via a menu on the ground. I have to actively “walk” towards the buildings and troops that I want to build or train.
A bit like Pikmin with Mount & Blade
While gaming, I felt a bit like Captain Olimar – you know, the little astronaut with the bulbous nose who coordinates the little turnip men through the tall grass in Pikmin.
In fact, Empire of the Ants plays in a similar way. I use a cursor to select spots on the ground, structures or enemy armies to send my units there, collect resources or attack troops.
Similar to Mount & Blade: Bannerlord, I stand in the back as a commander and make sure that my ants, beetles and other insects actually win the battle. The selection of troops is a little smaller than usual and works roughly according to a rock-paper-scissors principle.
The game is played in different “missions” with different tasks and different levels of challenge:
Although the boss explained to me during the conversation that I should play an exploration mission, I chose a strategic goal more by accident. Luckily, because I was totally thrilled with the gameplay.
Here you can see the detailed gameplay video for Empire of the Ants from GameStar:
A completely different strategy and I’m really looking forward to it
It’s difficult to put into words what makes Empire of the Ants so exciting. I was skeptical myself, even though my colleagues at GameStar had already praised the game.
Because I play an ant and not an invisible commander, playing with the controller feels natural. I am the commander who passes on the queen’s orders to the workers and soldiers and monitors that everything is running smoothly.
I think what really helps with the gameplay is the mission approach. The whole game feels more like an adventure and relies on the campaign, something that is the highlight for players in many RTS games.
In various chapters you have to complete a certain number of tasks to progress. In total there should be between 30 and 60 hours of playing time, plus a 1v1 PvP mode and a FFA mode for 3 players. Co-op gameplay is not planned for now.
Empire of the Ants will certainly not be a game that I play for hundreds of hours over and over again. But I definitely want to check out the campaign and maybe play it now and then. The game will be released on November 7th for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Definitely my surprise tip for gamescom 2024 – but my highlight was something else: A role-playing game based on Warhammer 40k is the best game at gamescom 2024