There’s a fascinating side to our natural world that we can only imagine. From the dark depths of the sea, to the leafy jungle canopy, and the uninhabited spaces in between, the world of Empire of the Ants might be closer to home, but it’s no less mysterious and unknown. You take control of ant 103.683e, planning, surviving and strategising in the midst of a micro-environment: the outdoors.
Based on the best-selling novels by Bernard Werber, Empire of the Ants charts a story set within the same world, putting you in direct command as leader of the antennaed forces.
What we’ve got here is fundamentally an RTS, though there’s a sleek fluidity and stripped-back feel to proceedings that should help it to be more accessible and approachable than some of the genre’s stalwarts. There are also different mission types that play with the formula, or even discard it completely, taking you away from commanding the army to go exploring the environment, collecting items, capturing creatures or even platforming, hopping from vibrant leaf to leaf.
There are three core troop types – Workers, Warriors and Ranged – with an ant-infused weapon triangle meaning that each is strong against one and weak against the other. That means that encounters and skirmishes require more than simply sending every ant in your nest in the same direction, placing the emphasis on choosing the correct unit to fight against the correct enemy.
It’s all very clearly orchestrated and organised, despite the myriad ants scurrying across the dirt. Each unit in your army and your enemy’s is indicated by a large, recognisable icon, and it’s these that you target rather than the ants that make up the units on the ground. You begin with five units, raising that number to seven once you’ve progressed, and once again there’s a focus on tight and controlled skirmishes rather than an overwhelming force. Admittedly, just one unit is made up of a multitude of ants, so it would otherwise get immediately overwhelming.
Perhaps it’s the garden setting, or the micro scale you’re working in, but there’s more than a hint of Pikmin at work here. With a controller in hand and the simplified but robust controls, you can command your minuscule minions with ease, but just like in Nintendo’s exceptional but approachable series, there’s still clear tactical depth, even in our short hands-on.
One of Empire of the Ants clearest selling points is its incredibly lifelike visuals. Unreal Engine 5 is being used here to spectacular effect, and everything we were shown through our hands-on was in-engine. Watching the inhabitants of an ant nest scurrying to and fro, foraging for food and material, looks stunningly realistic. As part of that, the animators have meticulously observed the movement of ants and the other creatures in the game, and faithfully replicated it, and the results speak for themselves.
I particularly liked the way in which Tower Five has baked in the UI and menu systems into the landscape, and your ant commander must access the upgrade trees and building options for each nest by physically moving around them, highlighting the required option while doing so. It’s little touches like this that make the game more grounded and less game-like, and it feels like that’s more important here than it might be elsewhere, despite the sci-fi and fantasy leanings of its source material.
Empire of the Ants has the potential to be a great success this winter, appealing to fans of the book and the RTS genre, as well as insect aficionados who won’t often find this level of detail in gaming. The timing seems perfect as well, with Empires of the Undergrowth, a more faithful RTS that’s drawing on many of the same inspirations, having just had its final update, leaving its raft of players looking for the next ant-filled epic. In Empire of the Ants, they might well have found it.
Empire of the Ants releases for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X on November 7th.
