Ancient Planet

About

Ancient Planet is a single player casual strategy game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Moonlight Mouse and was released on February 3, 2015. It received positive reviews from players.

"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.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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80%

Audience ScoreBased on 658 reviews

story14 positive mentions

grinding146 negative mentions

The game features a colorful sci-fi aesthetic with charming graphics and a humorous narrative delivered through comic-like panels.
Gameplay is straightforward and polished, allowing for flexible tower placement and a variety of upgrade paths that keep players engaged.
The game offers a decent challenge with a gradual difficulty curve, requiring players to adapt their strategies as they progress through the levels.

The game suffers from a grindy progression system, often requiring players to replay earlier levels to earn enough resources for upgrades to advance.
There is a lack of tower variety, with only a few types available, which can lead to repetitive gameplay as players rely on the same strategies.
The difficulty spikes can feel uneven, with some levels being significantly harder than others, leading to frustration for players who may not want to grind for upgrades.

grinding
147 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
2%
99%
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it tedious and repetitive due to the necessity of replaying earlier levels for upgrades and currency. While some appreciate the grind as part of the tower defense experience, others criticize it for detracting from the overall enjoyment and strategy, especially as difficulty spikes occur unexpectedly. Overall, players agree that while grinding is a common feature in the genre, this game leans heavily on it, making progression feel slow and sometimes frustrating.
- “Almost no grinding: just reset upgrades you don't need and transfer diamonds to those you need.”
- “The grinding in this game feels rewarding, as every effort leads to noticeable progress.”
- “I appreciate how the grinding mechanics are balanced; it never feels tedious and always offers a sense of achievement.”
- “It is grindy and quite boring.”
- “The game requires massive amounts of mindless grinding to unlock upgrades that are absolutely required to advance in the game.”
- “You will have to grind most likely but it won't be too much grinding.”
story
114 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
12%
82%
6%
The story in the game is minimal and primarily serves as a backdrop for the tower defense mechanics, featuring a simple alien invasion narrative conveyed through comic strips and loading screens. While some players appreciate the light humor and art style, many find the storyline forgettable and lacking depth, with gameplay taking precedence over narrative complexity. Overall, the game is seen as a standard entry in the genre, where the focus is more on strategy and upgrades than on a compelling story.
- “The story is lightly sketched but serves its purpose, creating a backdrop that explains the use of futuristic weaponry and relic technologies that power the defensive towers.”
- “I thought the little comic/story before and after a majority of the levels was nice and funny.”
- “Clearly a mobile port, ancient planet lacks any real story beyond alien invasion (loading screens consist of memelike images with aliens saying 'ayuoy' a lot for some reason).”
- “The story, if you call it that, is a bit shallow, and the bits between rounds do seem to flash by quickly at times, but if they lasted any longer you might get tired of looking at them as the game loads the next scenario.”
- “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.”
graphics
107 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
36%
7%
The graphics of "Ancient Planet" are generally well-received, with many players praising the colorful, cartoonish art style and detailed visuals that enhance the sci-fi theme. While some find the graphics to be simplistic or reminiscent of mobile games, others appreciate the unique aesthetic and smooth performance even on lower-end machines. Overall, the visuals contribute positively to the gameplay experience, despite a few critiques regarding resolution and detail in certain elements.
- “The artwork is amazing, 9/10, I love it.”
- “Great little tower defense game with cool graphics.”
- “The graphics are good, kind of cartoonish but nice.”
- “The graphics are straight from a mobile game.”
- “Boring, but most surprisingly while the graphics look great in screenshots, in motion they are horrid.”
- “Graphics are a bit poor, and maybe the worst game aspect.”
gameplay
104 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
57%
11%
The gameplay of "Ancient Planet" is characterized by its straightforward mechanics and nostalgic tower defense elements, offering a mix of simplicity and incremental challenge. While many players appreciate the polished execution and upgrade systems, some criticize the repetitive nature and lack of strategic depth, with certain mechanics feeling grindy or frustrating. Overall, the game provides a solid, if unremarkable, tower defense experience that appeals to fans of the genre but may not satisfy those seeking innovation.
- “From the start, the game positions itself as a straightforward yet polished entry in the tower defense genre, focusing on mechanical clarity and incremental challenge rather than complex storytelling or innovation.”
- “Mechanically, the game’s strengths lie in its simplicity and responsiveness.”
- “There are many positives like the instant gameplay without long learning, system of upgrades, wide variety of defense structures and enemies, balanced economic model, optional level of difficulty, user-friendly interface and controls, and nice graphics.”
- “The obstacles on the game map that need to be cleared to make room for towers or mines were a nice variation, but became overpoweringly annoying as that mechanic was relied on so heavily as you progress.”
- “A mobile port of an extremely simplistic tower defense game with the pay-to-win elements stripped out, leaving nothing but grind and lackluster gameplay with no features to actually make things strategic or tactical.”
- “Gameplay is fairly basic, but okay.”
music
48 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
48%
21%
The music in the game is generally described as atmospheric and fitting for its sci-fi theme, with a mix of rhythmic, synth-heavy tracks that enhance the gameplay experience. However, many players find the soundtrack repetitive and some even opted to mute it after a short period due to annoyance. Overall, while the music has its merits, it tends to lack variety and can become tiresome over time.
- “The soundtrack complements the action with rhythmic, synth-heavy music that reinforces the science-fiction atmosphere without overwhelming the player’s concentration.”
- “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.”
- “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.”
- “My only complaint is that the music got annoyingly repetitive so I had to mute it.”
humor
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is generally well-received, with players appreciating the amusing cutscenes, comic strips, and quirky enemy designs that add a lighthearted touch to the gameplay. While some found the humor to be mild or inconsistent, many enjoyed the funny background stories and illustrations that enhance the overall experience. Overall, the game successfully incorporates humor into its tower defense mechanics, creating an engaging and entertaining atmosphere.
- “Had a great time unlocking all the upgrades and levels in this little game with unique humor and design.”
- “Great thing in this game is humorous cutscenes and loading screens (a key wait for finish reading would be nice).”
- “Funny illustrations between levels create the amazing atmosphere and you totally dive into the Aldurian and Hamalian world.”
replayability
19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
47%
16%
The game's replayability is generally viewed as high, with players appreciating the ability to change loadouts, tackle challenges, and engage in survival modes. However, some aspects, such as the grind for upgrades and lack of competitive features like leaderboards, can detract from the experience. Overall, while many find replaying levels enjoyable for upgrades and personal achievement, others feel it can become repetitive or tedious.
- “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 and while it may be a bit grindy, 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.”
- “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.”
- “The one thing, in my opinion, to point out (which is good or bad depending on your own opinion) is the 'forced' replay value; I had to play maps multiple times to earn enough credits to purchase tower/base/weapons upgrades so I could continue the campaign without either getting my butt kicked or figuring out that 'perfect combination' of towers.”
optimization
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
34%
33%
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with players noting that the difficulty is often unbalanced due to restrictive tower placement and enemy paths. Additionally, the user interface is more suited for touchscreen devices, leading to confusion for PC users, and the overall experience feels like a port rather than a native PC game. While it includes standard tower defense elements, the performance and usability issues detract from the overall enjoyment.
- “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).”
- “- Ported game; maybe I'm mistaken for this, but it feels like this, and it's not optimized for PC.”
stability
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability has received mixed reviews, with some players reporting minor glitches and occasional crashes, particularly after recent updates. While a few users experienced soft locks and buggy graphics, others noted no significant issues, suggesting that stability may vary depending on individual experiences and settings. Overall, the game is described as somewhat buggy but not overwhelmingly problematic.
- “Game is buggy and tends to crash.”
- “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].”
- “It is a bit buggy, including soft locks when loading every now and then.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The atmosphere of the game is enhanced by a rhythmic, synth-heavy soundtrack that complements the science-fiction theme while maintaining player focus. The colorful comic-style graphics and atmospheric music contribute to an engaging experience, supported by a variety of maps and enemies that enrich the overall ambiance.
- “The soundtrack complements the action with rhythmic, synth-heavy music that reinforces the science-fiction atmosphere without overwhelming the player’s concentration.”
- “Nice colorful comic graphics and atmospheric music.”
- “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.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
100%
The game features a one-time purchase model with no microtransactions, allowing players to unlock everything through gameplay. Initially, there were plans for in-game purchases, but these were scrapped, resulting in a more player-friendly monetization approach.
- “The game also feels like a mobile port, with needing to drag to place towers - fortunately, there are no microtransactions; the game is buy once and you can unlock everything in-game.”
- “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.”
- “It seems like they originally had a super evil plan to sell upgrades, and 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).”
- “The game also feels like a mobile port, with needing to drag to place towers - fortunately, no microtransactions came with it; the game is buy once and you can unlock everything in-game.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
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.