Ancient Cities

About

Ancient Cities is a single player simulation game with a historical theme. It was developed by Uncasual Games and was released on March 24, 2023. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

"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.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

+20

Skip User Reviews

61%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,190 reviews

gameplay49 positive mentions

optimization21 negative mentions

The game offers a unique and immersive experience, allowing players to guide a tribe through the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras.
The graphics are visually stunning, with detailed environments and animations that enhance the gameplay experience.
The knowledge system is innovative, requiring players to manage and pass down skills among tribe members, adding depth to the gameplay.

The user interface is clunky and unintuitive, making it difficult for new players to understand the mechanics and navigate the game.
The game suffers from performance issues, with long loading times and frame rate drops, even on high-end systems.
Progression can feel painfully slow, with tasks taking an excessive amount of time to complete, leading to frustration and a lack of engagement.

gameplay
207 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
67%
9%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting a steep learning curve due to poorly explained mechanics and a lack of intuitive user interface. While some appreciate the depth and unique mechanics, such as migration and knowledge management, others criticize the repetitive nature and slow pace of gameplay, alongside technical issues like long load times and bugs. Continuous updates are improving the experience, but many feel the game still lacks substantial content and polish to fully engage players.
- “The release of regular content updates is steadily making this feel less like a tech demo and more like a fully realized game, and a very good one at that, with interesting takes on familiar mechanics.”
- “The game is challenging, and some mechanics of the game are not super clear; that said, the game teaches you what you need to know to survive and grow, and to me that experience is fun and worth checking out.”
- “The migration mechanic is awesome; you can go anywhere you like, any river, mountain, lake, or coast!”
- “The gameplay is boring and repetitive, lacks a meaningful or controllable progression system, rather leaving that to RNG mechanics.”
- “The slow-paced gameplay, inadequate tutorial, and subpar user interface may overshadow its strengths.”
- “The mechanics of the game are laughably bad, constant stuttering, and a world that feels empty were the main things; I couldn't bring myself to finish the tutorial as it was confusing at best, and nothing seemed to work properly.”
graphics
185 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
39%
5%
The graphics of the game receive mixed feedback, with many players praising the stunning visuals, detailed environments, and overall aesthetic appeal. However, some users report performance issues, particularly on lower-end hardware, and express a desire for more graphical customization options. While the graphics are generally considered a strong point, there are concerns about optimization and the game's overall content depth.
- “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.”
- “The detailing of the graphics are sharp and amazing, the sun truly radiates and moves askew across the sky like nature would have it.”
- “The graphics are very basic, with little immersion as you don't see the people very well.”
- “Graphics are not very beautiful.”
- “Graphics are awful.”
optimization
77 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
64%
27%
The game's optimization has received overwhelmingly negative feedback, with many players reporting severe performance issues, including lag, stuttering, and long loading times, even on high-end systems. While some users note minor improvements over time, the consensus is that significant optimization work is still needed to enhance gameplay and overall experience. Many players express frustration with the current state, indicating that the game's potential is hindered by its poor performance.
- “Tons of life variety and optimization has improved far beyond many other city build games.”
- “Performance has improved, and the new interface is an improvement.”
- “The gameplay loop works, the game feel is very much there, many features have been greatly optimized.”
- “God awful, laggy, people just stand around, takes ages to make anything, you give them tasks and they don't get fixed. The performance hasn't improved literally at all since launch, and it's an effort to play. A shame though, because it's a nice concept and not many games based on tribes at this point, but I honestly cannot recommend this game in its current state; it's just frustrating to play.”
- “I played for maybe two minutes, noticed that the game was stuttering and jittery (my machine can run Cities: Skylines 2 above its recommended specs, it should be able to run this), and then it crashed.”
- “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.”
grinding
40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
95%
The grinding aspect of the game is frequently described as tedious and slow, particularly in the early stages where players must manage resources and tasks with limited progress. While some players appreciate the depth of micromanagement and the organic development of knowledge, many find the repetitive nature of tasks, long wait times, and cumbersome storage systems detract from the overall enjoyment. Overall, the game offers a grind-heavy experience that may appeal to those who enjoy meticulous management but can frustrate others seeking a more dynamic gameplay experience.
- “It just is not fun; it's a tedious mess.”
- “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.”
music
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
35%
15%
The music in the game is generally praised for its captivating and immersive qualities, enhancing the overall atmosphere and gameplay experience. However, many players note that the soundtrack can become repetitive over time, detracting from its initial appeal. While some appreciate the synchronization of music with game speed, others feel that the music alone is not enough to elevate the game, which is perceived as unfinished.
- “I really enjoy the map time-lapse changes, music, information per citizen, and the overall aesthetics.”
- “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 same annoying ambiance music is playing forever.”
- “- the sound is immersive, although the music is repetitive.”
- “Despite its promising premise and notable features like music and animations, ancient cities falls short of expectations for many players.”
stability
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting frequent bugs and glitches that can disrupt gameplay, such as freezing and unresponsive controls. While some users noted that these issues can be somewhat forgiven due to overall performance, others expressed frustration with the game's optimization and resource management, leading to a repetitive and challenging experience. Overall, the game appears to be in need of significant improvements to its stability and design.
- “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.”
- “Buggy as hell, laggy as hell, poor resource balancing... for instance, build a reed hut, within 2-3 day/night cycles it's uninhabitable and falling down because you have no reeds to maintain it.”
atmosphere
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
85%
15%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its immersive and chill qualities, enhanced by intricate visuals, detailed maps, and engaging music. Players appreciate the realistic feel of the environment and the unique knowledge exchange system, which adds depth to the gameplay. Despite being in early access, the game's atmosphere is considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the overall experience.
- “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.”
replayability
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
Overall, players highlight the game's strong replayability, driven by diverse starting conditions for tribes and the migration mechanic that allows for varied experiences in different locations. Recent updates have improved playability, enhancing the game's potential for future expansions and challenges. While some players note areas for improvement, the consensus is that the game offers significant replay value.
- “This game has such incredible potential, both in variety and replayability and the scale of expansion in the future.”
- “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.”
- “The game has a lot of replayability.”
- “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.”
story
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
40%
30%
The game's story aspect is largely absent, offering players a sandbox experience where they can create their own narratives through gameplay rather than following a structured plot. While some players appreciate the opportunity to observe and manage the lives of their villagers, many express disappointment over the lack of quests or milestones, leading to a repetitive cycle of resource management and survival without significant progression. Overall, the narrative potential is seen as limited, with a desire for more intricate storytelling elements and challenges.
- “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.”
- “Any prehistoric game that doesn't make the predation of humans part of the story is missing a trick (and scientific fact).”
- “I'd like to eventually make two-story houses or design the color of clothing by crushing flowers for dye or something.”
- “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, but I'm bored in 30 minutes on fast forward mode. There's not much to do; hopefully, developers will add quests or milestones. Basically, you just build everything until resources run out and everyone dies, or migrate to a different area and do the same.”
- “This isn't a game to conquer with a quest line, 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.”
humor
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in "Ancient Cities" is noted for its unintentional comedic elements stemming from the game's broken mechanics, which players find amusing. While the game lacks sufficient dialogue and character interactions, players express a desire for more humorous content and updates, particularly through the use of translations that add to the comedic experience. Overall, the game's charm lies in its ambitious yet flawed execution, providing laughter amidst its challenges.
- “Ancient Cities is beautiful, ambitious—and utterly broken in the most hilarious ways.”
- “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.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization of the game is viewed negatively, with users labeling it as a "disgustingly overpriced cash grab" and expressing dissatisfaction with the value for money, leading some to seek refunds and set a low price threshold for future purchases.
- “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.”
- “The monetization strategy feels exploitative, with essential features locked behind paywalls that make the game feel incomplete without spending extra.”
- “It's frustrating to see so many in-game purchases that disrupt the balance of gameplay, making it clear that the developers prioritize profit over player experience.”