Ancient Planet
- February 3, 2015
- Moonlight Mouse
- 26h median play time
Get on Steam"Ancient Planet" is a Tower Defense game where you defend an ancient civilization's stronghold from invasive alien hordes using upgradable towers and diverse strategies. The game features 40 unique levels, a variety of enemy types, and improvements that can be reset and redistributed at will. The game's storyline and setting are based on the memories of intergalactic war veterans and were created with input from the High Council of Intelligent Civilizations of the Galaxy.
iPad
iPhone
Mac OS
PC
Phone
Windows
Android
Mobile Platform
Tablet
Reviews
- Great value for the price with a good amount of content and replayability.
- Challenging gameplay that requires strategic thinking and planning.
- Nice graphics and art style, along with a fun upgrade system for towers.
- Significant grinding is required to progress, especially in later levels.
- Some levels can feel unbalanced, leading to frustration and repeated attempts.
- Occasional crashes on modern hardware can disrupt gameplay and cause loss of progress.
- grinding80 mentions
- 1 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 99 % negative mentions
The reviews indicate that the game features significant grinding mechanics, which many players find tedious and frustrating, particularly as they progress through levels. While some appreciate the need for grinding as part of the tower defense genre, others criticize it for detracting from strategic gameplay and creating a reliance on repetitive farming for upgrades. Overall, the grinding aspect is seen as a common but often excessive element that can diminish enjoyment, especially in later stages of the game.
“Almost no grinding: just reset upgrades you don't need and transfer diamonds to those you need.”
“The game requires massive amounts of mindless grinding to unlock upgrades that are absolutely required to advance in the game.”
“However, after about a dozen missions you get stuck on levels that can only be overcome by grinding back on earlier levels to get coins to upgrade your stuff.”
“Certain levels do not provide a valid way of progression without grinding for more gems.”
- graphics72 mentions
- 65 % positive mentions
- 31 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The graphics in this tower defense game are generally praised for their charming art style, crisp visuals, and unique designs, with many players appreciating the hand-painted feel and comic strip cutscenes. While some reviews note that the graphics may not be cutting-edge or sophisticated, they are considered well-executed and suitable for the gameplay, running smoothly even on lower-end machines. Overall, the aesthetic appeal and attention to detail in the graphics contribute positively to the gaming experience.
“The graphics are a nice balance of looks while keeping the interface clean enough that you can see what's going on.”
“Graphics are very crisp, nice, and the art is unique.”
“Great little tower defense game with cool graphics.”
“Game's been a bit old and its ancient-like graphic quality might shush some potential users.”
“Boring, but most surprisingly while the graphics look great in screenshots, in motion they are horrid.”
“The graphics are straight from a mobile game.”
- gameplay66 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game is characterized by its straightforward tower defense mechanics, featuring handcrafted maps and a fun upgrade system that incorporates lite roguelite elements. While many players appreciate the solid core mechanics and user-friendly interface, some criticize the repetitive nature and grindy aspects, particularly those stemming from mobile game influences. Overall, the game offers a mix of enjoyable and challenging gameplay, but it may not stand out significantly within the genre due to its lack of depth and variety.
“Handcrafted maps, nice art style, and a fun way to upgrade towers with a lite roguelite gameplay that lets you farm maps for upgrades for your towers.”
“There are many positives like the instant gameplay without long learning, a system of upgrades, a wide variety of defense structures and enemies, a balanced economic model, optional levels of difficulty, user-friendly interface and controls, and nice graphics.”
“Very fun tower defense title with some unique design elements, which is cool in a sea of games that are all trying to be Kingdom Rush. Fairly standard fare here, but you have some branching upgrade style tower diversity, plenty of things to upgrade with the gems you get from winning levels, and the gameplay contains a good mix of challenge and macro time.”
“There is 1 big flaw with this game, which is that on modern hardware it will occasionally crash after 2 or 3 hours of gameplay.”
“Addictive tower defense ruined by mobile grinding mechanics - 5/10”
“Repetitive straightforward gameplay.”
- story62 mentions
- 15 % positive mentions
- 81 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally considered minimal and lacks depth, with many players noting that it serves primarily as a backdrop for gameplay rather than a focal point. While some appreciate the humorous comic-style storytelling and light political commentary, others find the narrative to be underwhelming and not integral to the experience. Overall, the story is seen as a light addition to the tower defense mechanics, with players often prioritizing gameplay over narrative engagement.
“A great little tower defense game: nice graphics, interesting towers, mildly funny story.”
“Interesting tower defense game as it has a story as well as gameplay.”
“The art and sound design is great, there is a bit of a story (although I admit I ignore it, still a nice touch) told through still images and pictures.”
“The downsides of the game are - non-existing story, system of luck affecting the game difficulty, inability to build structures while pausing the game, the absence of dubbing, and the creeping stereotype as there are not so many inventive ideas.”
“There is almost no story to speak of, and what little there is consists of asinine attempts at political commentary, the kind that Russians just can't help themselves from delivering.”
“The story is nothing big; it's more to show off their artwork and give you a reason, but I don't care about the story to be honest.”
- music30 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 37 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players finding it repetitive and annoying, while others appreciate its ambient qualities and fitting sci-fi themes. Many agree that while the soundtrack may not be groundbreaking, it complements the game's atmosphere and graphics well. Overall, the music is described as decent but can become tiresome over extended play sessions.
“The music is all I can remember when not playing, and perhaps unfortunate but from me that is actually not too bad, as a creator of music some of the tunes one can hear in this game is quite ambient in the realms of space ambience.”
“Art and music are greatly chosen for this sci-fi tower defense game!”
“A grace note: I am surprised, actually, by the music, which is more intelligent and moody than these soundtracks deserve to be.”
“The sound and music are just so incredibly bad and annoying I had to turn both off after about 4 minutes.”
“The music is like the same track again and again.”
“- annoying and repetitive music”
- humor18 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is highlighted through its amusing cutscenes, loading screen comics, and quirky enemy designs, which contribute to a lighthearted atmosphere. Players appreciate the funny background story and the engaging comic strips that enhance the overall experience, making it a charming and entertaining tower defense game. Overall, the humor is a key element that adds to the enjoyment and immersion in the game's world.
“Great thing in this game is humorous cutscenes and loading screens (a key wait for finish reading would be nice).”
“The enemies are humorous creatures; they are like the minions from Gru but equipped with a deadly arsenal.”
“I really like the art style and funny little comic strips between levels.”
- replayability17 mentions
- 41 % positive mentions
- 41 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is a mixed bag; while many players appreciate the ability to change loadouts, tackle challenges, and engage in survival modes, others find it limited due to repetitive gameplay and a lack of competitive features like leaderboards. Some users enjoy the grind for upgrades, which can enhance replay value, but others feel that certain aspects detract from the experience. Despite these criticisms, many agree that the game offers enough variety and challenge to keep players engaged for extended periods.
“It makes the levels very replayable, as you can change the loadout or challenge yourself not to repeat the same maze-like design you did last time.”
“The game has great replay value; the upgrade system is meaningful, a bit grindy maybe but not terrible, and you don't have to spend any additional money to earn gems.”
“The cool sci-fi indie graphics, chilling soundtrack, challenging levels, replayability, and the many cool upgradeable towers will keep you entertained for many hours.”
“Very basic tower defense, no replay value but getting all achievements is not bad.”
“I do wish there were some sort of competitive leaderboard to make this game mode more replayable, since at the moment it’s just for personally patting yourself on the back.”
“But the survival mode and even the hard difficulty ('medium' vs. 'easy', there is no 'hard') both are badly lacking so replayability isn't much more than repeating what you already did.”
- stability6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, user reviews indicate that the game's stability has been negatively impacted by a recent update, leading to increased bugs, crashes, and performance slowdowns. While some players report minor glitches, others experience significant issues, particularly with graphics and crashes, suggesting a mixed but generally concerning stability experience.
“The only problem I now have is that after the recent update it's become buggy, unstable, and has slowdown [this should be able to run on a tomato].”
“Game is buggy and tends to crash.”
“- Buggy graphics unless you play in window mode.”
- optimization6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with players noting that the difficulty is often unbalanced due to restrictive tower placement and creep paths rather than enemy strength. Additionally, the user interface is criticized for being more suited to touchscreen devices, leading to confusion for PC users, suggesting that the game may not be fully optimized for the platform.
“You earn gems based on your performance and use these to upgrade towers in between levels.”
“More gems are awarded for better performance.”
“Your performance is rated on a 3-star system that appears to be based on the health of the gates leading into your base.”
“The recommendation is for those who like tower defense games, as the difficulty seems to not be optimized and some levels are really tough, not due to the enemies, but more due to the restriction on where you can put towers and the path of the creeps.”
“The menu UI is confusing and optimized more for touchscreen than mouse; for example, dragging the list of towers instead of using scrollbars is just unexpected on PC, and there is almost no indication that it is even possible.”
“It feels like a ported game, and it's not optimized for PC.”
- atmosphere3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is enhanced by its vibrant comic-style graphics and atmospheric music, creating an engaging experience. Reviewers appreciate the ironic art style and the overall aesthetic, noting that the combination of visuals and sound contributes to a well-balanced and enjoyable tower defense game with a decent variety of maps and enemies.
“Nice colorful comic graphics and atmospheric music.”
“Atmospheric and ironic art.”
“Pretty nice tower defense game with good atmospheric graphics and music, a decent amount of maps (35) and enemies, and more or less balanced gameplay.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game features a monetization model that relies solely on in-game currency earned through gameplay, as there are no real-money purchases or microtransactions. This decision appears to be a shift from an initial plan to include paid upgrades, reflecting a commitment to a more player-friendly approach.
“It seems like they originally had a super evil plan to sell upgrades, but then their conscience got to them and they stopped the microtransactions.”
“After that, you have to invest rare gold coins dropped by your enemies (don't worry, there are no in-game purchases).”
- emotional1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is negatively impacted by quality of life issues, such as the need for manual collection of resources, which can detract from the overall immersive experience.
