Ancient Frontier
- September 21, 2017
- Fair Weather Studios, LLC
- 8h median play time
Get on SteamAncient Frontier is a cinematic turn-based strategy game set in deep space, where players explore, conquer, and plan strategic battles. Two free DLCs are available: "Quests and Events" offers a quest system, random events, quality of life improvements, and balance tweaks, while "The Crew" introduces dynamic crew members, new missions, rewards, and optional deployments. Equip your ships and prepare for an interstellar adventure.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Offers enjoyable turn-based tactical gameplay with a variety of ship types and customization options.
- The campy and irreverent dialogue adds a humorous touch, making the game entertaining despite its flaws.
- Solid mechanics for fleet management and ship development, providing a sense of progression and strategy.
- Frequent crashes and save file issues detract from the overall experience, making it frustrating to play.
- The writing and voice acting are often criticized as cheesy and poorly executed, impacting immersion.
- Gameplay can become repetitive due to limited mission variety and predictable AI behavior.
- story210 mentions
- 7 % positive mentions
- 87 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally considered mediocre, with many reviewers noting that it starts weak but improves as the campaign progresses, offering some emotional depth later on. While the missions are hand-crafted and provide unique experiences, the dialogue and writing are often criticized as cheesy and forgettable, detracting from character engagement. Overall, the narrative serves as a backdrop to the tactical gameplay, but it lacks the depth and intrigue that could elevate the experience.
“The development of the ships is intriguing, the story is basic but engaging and the battles are satisfying.”
“I thought the story started out very weak, but by about 10 missions in it had improved considerably, and the emotional hits late in the campaign really had some punch to them.”
“The story missions are fully voiced with a lot of flavor in the banter between the different characters.”
“The writing makes all the characters unsympathetic, but it's the plot of the campaign that makes me want to flip the table here.”
“Combined with the fact that the storyline and dialog is horribly cheesy and forgettable, the game starts to feel more like a chore than something keeping the player engaged.”
“The game is not necessarily hard in individual missions but the challenge comes from shepherding your forces throughout the full campaign.”
- gameplay29 mentions
- 24 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 24 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game is characterized by fun battle mechanics and a solid foundation for turn-based spaceship tactics, but it suffers from repetitiveness and a lack of engaging mission variety, leading to boredom for some players. While some appreciate the depth of fleet management and the tutorial's thoroughness, others criticize the overall execution as basic and uninspired, with poor graphics and a forgettable storyline detracting from the experience. Overall, the gameplay is seen as average, with a mix of enjoyable elements overshadowed by frustrations and a lack of originality.
“The gameplay is great and the story is good too.”
“The graphics are crisp and readable, the sound is great (excellent voice actors, and a kickass soundtrack along with plenty of satisfying combat sounds), and the gameplay is engaging, with a sufficient difficulty curve on veteran to make things challenging.”
“And yet there are some key differences with other titles in the genre giving this game a unique feel all of its own to gameplay.”
“The game is not a bad TBS mechanically, but it is very basic and has a lot of minor frustrations, and the storyline is entirely forgettable.”
“The reason I can't recommend it is because the gameplay is very repetitive.”
“This repetitive gameplay just led to me putting the game down out of boredom.”
- graphics25 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 48 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising the crisp and detailed visuals, particularly in ship modeling and battle animations, while others criticize them as poor or lacking depth for a modern title. Many players appreciate the high production value and polished presentation, but some feel that the focus on graphics detracts from gameplay quality. Overall, the graphics are generally considered good for an indie title, though opinions vary significantly among players.
“The graphics are very nice, and the voice acting is great.”
“I enjoyed the general look of the game with the graphics quality being top notch.”
“The graphics are detailed and the gameplay is enhanced by the music, sound effects, and voice acting.”
“But poor graphics (I know, I know, 'graphics in turn-based strategy, go back to school', etc., but it's not me who constantly tries to add '3D' with all its shortcomings into turn-based strategies), just a few hull types and tactics based on a severely restricted paper-stone-scissors game: some ships are good against capital, almost none are efficient against fighters, and everyone beats the crap out of the escorts.”
“Graphics are poor for its age, gameplay is slow.”
“Writing is terrible, graphics are meh, gameplay is inspired by something rehashed from the 1990s and I was bored with the game before I finished the first mission.”
- music7 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 14 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received high praise for its quality and ability to enhance the overall gameplay experience, with many reviewers noting the excellent soundtrack, sound effects, and voice acting. The sound design is considered a standout feature, particularly impressive for an indie release, contributing to the game's high production value. Overall, the music is described as enjoyable and well-integrated, complementing the graphics and gameplay effectively.
“Amazingly, the soundtrack is very nice to listen to.”
“The graphics are detailed and the gameplay is enhanced by the music, sound effects, and voice acting.”
“The sound design and music well complement the gameplay, and are excellent, especially for an indie release where such things can be tossed to the wayside in favor of getting the game to work.”
“The music is forgettable and doesn't add anything to the overall experience.”
“The soundtrack feels repetitive and lacks variety, making it hard to stay engaged.”
“The music choices seem out of place and detract from the game's atmosphere.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessive, with some describing it as "grindy as hell." Many note that leveling up ships through combat becomes tedious over time, particularly due to a lackluster campaign experience.
“Grindy as hell.”
“After a point, it can get grindy -- you need to level your ships through combat, otherwise the experience becomes tedious.”
“You have to endure a wooden and tedious performance for the whole campaign.”
- replayability3 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
Players appreciate the game's high replayability due to its random elements and engaging mechanics, which contribute to its addictive nature. Despite being developed by a small company, the game offers a polished experience that encourages multiple playthroughs. Overall, the combination of variety and quality enhances its replay value significantly.
“What you can't tell from the store page is how slickly done it all is, especially for a game from a very small company, or that it's fairly addicting and has some nice replay value.”
“There's a lot of random elements that can happen, so there's replayability too.”
“The review crew's evaluations are based on paying close attention to forum responses and activity, system demand, fun of the game genre, position of originality in the respective genre, growth of the project in its current state at the time of review, graphics as a whole for the end user, presentation of the game and display, replayability, patch/tweak progress, beginner friendliness & gameplay direction, content & depth, attention to detail on small things (polish), lag and multiplayer application if applicable, badge card availability, with a minimum of 8 hours of gameplay and interaction with the customer base after release.”
- stability2 mentions
- 150 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The stability of the game is mixed, with some users reporting frequent crashes and freezes after missions, while others have found it largely bug-free during testing. Overall, the experience varies significantly among players.
“Testing; seems bug-free thus far. If there are any bugs, they are not game-breaking.”
“The game runs smoothly without any noticeable crashes or glitches.”
“I've played for hours without any issues; the stability is impressive.”
“The game is incredibly buggy; it freezes or crashes after every mission.”
“I can't enjoy the gameplay because of constant crashes and glitches.”
“Stability is a major issue; I experience frequent game freezes that ruin the experience.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviews indicate that while the story begins weakly, it gains emotional depth as the campaign progresses, delivering impactful moments later on. However, some players feel a lack of emotional attachment to certain characters due to their absence in key missions, which affects the overall emotional engagement.
“I thought the story started out very weak, but by about 10 missions in, it had improved considerably, and the emotional hits late in the campaign really had some punch to them.”
“This hero doesn't go on the 'bounty missions,' which means he levels up a lot slower, and also when he does turn up, you have no real emotional attachment to him.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
The optimization of the game's tutorial has been criticized for being excessively dull and monotonous, with players finding the lead character's performance to be wooden and tedious throughout the campaign. This lack of engaging content detracts from the overall experience.
“The optimization is so poor that it feels like I'm playing a game from a decade ago.”
“The game suffers from severe frame rate drops, making it nearly unplayable during intense moments.”
“I encountered numerous bugs that completely broke my experience, highlighting a lack of proper optimization.”
