Ancient Cities
- March 24, 2023
- Uncasual Games
- 9h median play time
Get on Steam"Ancient Cities" is a survival and strategy city builder game set in ancient times, starting in the Mesolithic era. Players must guide their people through generations, discovering new technologies, managing resources and population, and facing other tribes and Mother Nature. The game aims to simulate a fully believable world and ecosystem, with new eras introducing new game mechanics and features.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Unique concept blending city building and survival mechanics in a prehistoric setting.
- Beautiful graphics and attention to detail in the environment and animations.
- Active developer support with regular updates and community engagement.
- Poor user interface and navigation, making it difficult to manage tasks and resources.
- Slow gameplay progression, often leading to frustration and a sense of waiting rather than active engagement.
- Lack of content and features, such as hunting mechanics and a tech tree, making the game feel incomplete and repetitive.
- gameplay187 mentions
- 23 % positive mentions
- 70 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating the unique mechanics like migration and the realistic simulation of tribal life, but expressing frustration over the steep learning curve and lack of clear tutorials. While some find the core gameplay loop enjoyable and immersive, others criticize it for being repetitive, poorly explained, and requiring excessive micromanagement. Overall, players acknowledge the game's potential but feel it needs significant improvements in mechanics, user interface, and content depth to enhance the overall experience.
“Its beautiful to watch my little tribe as it grows, and the mechanic of work groups rather than micromanagement makes this challenging, new, and somewhat relaxing.”
“The flow from age to age (Mesolithic to Neolithic) is done very well in my opinion and I love the way knowledge is gained by the tribe; one of the best gameplay innovations it offers.”
“The migration mechanic is awesome; you can go anywhere you like, any river, mountain, lake, or coast!”
“The biggest downside is how hard it is to learn and understand the mechanics and the importance of them.”
“Important mechanics and strategies are not adequately explained, leaving players to figure out crucial aspects of the game through trial and error.”
“The gameplay is boring and repetitive, lacks a meaningful or controllable progression system, rather leaving that to RNG mechanics.”
- graphics158 mentions
- 56 % positive mentions
- 39 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received generally positive feedback, with many players praising their beauty, detail, and immersive quality. However, some users have noted issues with performance, particularly on lower-end hardware, and a lack of customizable graphical settings. Overall, while the visuals are considered a strong point, there are calls for further optimization and content development to enhance the gaming experience.
“I wanted to feel the hardship my ancestors went through and at the same time enjoy the fabulous graphics this game provides; this game is a beauty.”
“The graphics are beautifully stunning, from the animations of the animals running, horses run like horses, rabbits move like rabbits, rats are indecisive and move similarly to what you would expect rats to move like in the real world.”
“The graphics are great, love the population expansion part.”
“Graphics are awful.”
“The graphics don't look like they are shown on Steam at all.”
“A negative thing about the game is that unless you have an NVIDIA graphics card, it is a big problem and will flicker and have graphic issues.”
- optimization67 mentions
- 7 % positive mentions
- 69 % neutral mentions
- 24 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with many players reporting severe performance issues, including stuttering, long loading times, and crashes, even on high-end systems. While some users noted improvements in recent updates, the consensus is that significant optimization work is still needed to enhance gameplay experience and stability. Overall, the game's performance remains a major barrier to enjoyment, with many players expressing frustration over its current state.
“Some optimization will benefit this game a lot.”
“Performance has improved, and the new interface is an improvement.”
“Visuals are good and performance is stable.”
“I hated to dabble with the optimization stuff to find settings where the game isn't all blurry and buggy.”
“The performance is horrid, takes nearly 5-7 minutes compiling shaders because it slams only 1 core. Buyer beware if you're like me that test games before fully committing and refund if you don't like, ate in a lot of the time.”
“My PC fulfills the recommended requirements and then some, but I am still left with a headache-inducing, below 40 fps, janky, stuttering nightmare that makes the game unplayable.”
- grinding38 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 5 % neutral mentions
- 95 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding the farming and resource management systems tedious and overly complex. While some appreciate the depth of micromanagement and the organic development of knowledge, others criticize the slow progression and the need for excessive micromanagement, leading to a frustrating experience. Overall, players feel that the game could benefit from a more streamlined approach to farming and resource management to enhance enjoyment.
“The grinding is real, but eventually, the tribe grows.”
“Between the long in-game wait times for things to happen, the pain of attempting farming, and the volatility of the population, it's not enjoyable.”
“The only way for the knowledge to increase is to get a random person who magically wants to join your tribe and has tons of relevant knowledge after ~30-50 hours of grinding.”
- music17 mentions
- 53 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its calming and immersive qualities, enhancing the overall atmosphere and gameplay experience. Players appreciate the dynamic tempo changes that sync with the game's pace, although some note that the soundtrack can be repetitive. While the music contributes positively to the ambiance, opinions vary on its overall impact, with some feeling it is a standout feature amidst other shortcomings.
“The game boasts a captivating soundtrack that enhances the immersive experience.”
“The synchronization of music with the passage of time, where it speeds up along with the game, adds a dynamic touch to gameplay.”
“The map is very intricate and detailed, and the music slaps too, so the atmosphere is definitely a tick.”
“Despite its promising premise and notable features like music and animations, Ancient Cities falls short of expectations for many players.”
“The only decent thing here is the music.”
“The sound is immersive, although the music is repetitive.”
- stability15 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability has been widely criticized, with players reporting frequent bugs, crashes, and performance issues that significantly hinder gameplay. While some users noted that certain glitches could be overlooked, many expressed frustration with the game's unresponsiveness and poor resource management, suggesting that it feels unfinished and poorly optimized. Overall, the consensus indicates that the game suffers from serious stability problems that detract from the overall experience.
“I hated to dabble with the optimization stuff to find settings where the game isn't all blurry and buggy.”
“Tutorial tells me to place a fire, so I do, and the game freezes and becomes unresponsive.”
“Very buggy and hard to get started when you can't even click the informed buttons.”
- replayability11 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 45 % neutral mentions
- 27 % negative mentions
The game boasts high replayability due to its diverse starting conditions for tribes, including variations in demographics and challenges. Players appreciate the potential for future expansions and the migration mechanic, which allows for new experiences in different locations. While some users note areas for improvement, the overall consensus is that the game offers significant replay value.
“The replayability is amazing as each tribe is different when you start, from the number of tribe members, their age groups, pregnancies, gender distributions, and even in situations where there seems like there is no possible playability for it, there is.”
“There is a good degree of replayability, thanks to the migration mechanic, enabling you to experience different locations and challenges with the same tribe.”
“This game has such incredible potential, both in variety and replayability, and the scale of expansion in the future.”
“Though still not perfect, it is definitely a lot more playable.”
“I get that not all resources are available in an area, and that is part of the game, but it is hard to gauge that until you have scanned the entire playable area, and then it is too hard to discern what is useful and what is not.”
- story10 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The game's story is largely player-driven, lacking a predefined narrative or quests, which some players find limiting and tedious. While it allows for creative storytelling through resource management and village development, many users express a desire for more structured content, such as quests or milestones, to enhance engagement and provide direction. Overall, the experience is described as slow-paced, focusing on survival and community building rather than a traditional storyline.
“This isn't a game to quest line conquer, but one to play slowly and patiently over time, watching the villagers' lives unfold as you try to grow the tribe, survive, and hopefully flourish.”
“I made camp on the spot I started, created my gathering group, and laid down a plot to build a hut and fire pit.”
“Any prehistoric game that doesn't make predation of humans part of the story is missing a trick (and scientific fact).”
“There is no story here other than what you can create for yourself, provided you have a good imagination.”
“Everyone waited for this game for a long time; I'm bored in 30 minutes on fast forward mode. There's not much to do. Hopefully, developers will add quests or milestones, etc. Basically, you build everything until resources run out and everyone dies, or migrate to a different area and do the same.”
- atmosphere9 mentions
- 89 % positive mentions
- 11 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its chill, immersive quality, enhanced by intricate map design and engaging music. Reviewers appreciate the unique knowledge exchange system, which adds depth to the experience, and note that the game successfully creates a realistic and peaceful environment. Overall, the atmosphere is considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's appeal, even in its early access stage.
“Chill, immersive, and atmospheric.”
“The map is very intricate and detailed, and the music slaps too, so the atmosphere is definitely a tick.”
“It's definitely an early access game, but the atmosphere is fantastic, and everything from your inhabitants down to the items themselves have a more realistic feel to them.”
- humor3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players appreciate the humor in the game, noting that it adds to the overall experience. However, there is a desire for more interactive dialogue and laughter among characters to enhance the comedic elements. Users hope for future updates that will incorporate additional humorous content.
“Great game, it's funny! Keep updating.”
“Hopefully the devs will add in content soon and enjoy this bit of humor with translations through Google Translate.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization strategy has been criticized for being aggressive and perceived as a cash grab, with users expressing dissatisfaction over the product's quality and numerous bugs at launch. Many feel the pricing is unjustified, leading to requests for refunds and a reluctance to purchase again unless the price drops significantly.
“I have been behind your team since the beginning, but I have hated the dishonesty of advertising this aggressively when the product was so empty and buggy at the start.”
“I have requested a refund and will not be buying again unless it's under 20 AUD max. The developers have a lot to answer for - even basic things like spelling errors are abundant in this disgustingly overpriced cash grab.”
