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Ancient Space

Ancient Space’s tactical depth and unit variety are tarnished by excessive micromanagement and vexingly slow combat.
Ancient Space Game Cover
52%Game Brain Score
story, graphics
optimization, stability
44% User Score Based on 266 reviews
Critic Score 69%Based on 4 reviews

Platforms

PCMac OSWindows
Ancient Space Game Cover

About

Ancient Space is a single player management game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by CreativeForge Games and was released on September 23, 2014. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and neutral reviews from players.

Ancient Space is a story driven single player real time strategy game where you take command of a fleet embarking on a scientific mission to chart undiscovered reaches of space called ‘The Black Zone,’ Overcome overwhelming odds and fight for your life, your faith and the survival of your ship and its crew.

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44%
Audience ScoreBased on 266 reviews
story49 positive mentions
optimization5 negative mentions

  • Good graphics and beautiful space environments with well-designed maps and backdrops.
  • Interesting story with decent voice acting and atmospheric music enhancing immersion.
  • Unique gameplay elements such as persistent units between missions, fleet upgrading, and tactical pause feature allowing strategic planning.
  • Poor and frustrating unit pathfinding and controls, with ships getting stuck or behaving erratically in a cramped 2.5D environment.
  • Gameplay is slow-paced and often tedious due to micromanagement demands, slow unit movement, and small map sizes limiting strategic freedom.
  • Technical issues including frequent crashes, poor optimization resulting in low FPS, tiny UI/font scaling problems, and bugs affecting mission progression.
  • story
    229 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story of the game is generally praised for being engaging, well-voiced, and supported by strong atmosphere and sci-fi themes, though some find it predictable or not fully developed. However, many players note that mission design and technical issues sometimes overshadow the narrative, causing frustration and disrupting immersion. Overall, while the story shows potential and contains interesting elements, it is hampered by pacing and presentation problems, leading to mixed impressions.

    • “The story is enticing and well-written, the voice acting is done with care, and words cannot describe just how beautiful the scenery is.”
    • “The sound design and music are well-done, the cutscenes look cool, and the story overall is fairly interesting, though there are a few predictable beats and some threads left hanging that may not get resolved in a sequel.”
    • “The story, voice, music and overall ambiency is, in my opinion, very well done.”
    • “The endless foe transforms every mission into a marathon effort just to protect a convoy or rescue some crew members, spiraling out of control into a dull, repetitive slog of a game, oozing wasted potential and a shoddy excuse for a story.”
    • “Game doesn't explain to you that if you don't collect side-things first that it will forcibly end the mission and you will permanently lose out on progression that can make the game easier unless you restart the mission completely, have an old save, or restart the entire campaign.”
    • “Gameplay is stale and the pathing for the AI is absolutely horrendous, the story was flat and while it was a great premise, it has terrible execution.”
  • graphics
    67 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's graphics are generally praised for their detailed artwork, space backdrops, and solid visual fidelity, though they often feel dated or reminiscent of late 90s-era RTS titles. Some users note issues with UI readability, performance problems on higher settings, and occasional graphical bugs like terrain obstruction or pixelation when zoomed in. While ship designs and effects are visually appealing to many, criticisms include a lack of polish, limited graphics options, and unfitting aesthetics for certain models.

    • “The premise looks good, and for the most part, so do the graphics, at least insofar as ship and terrain textures are concerned.”
    • “Graphics, voice acting and play scenes are nicely done and give a good space feeling like you were out there.”
    • “This games has great graphics, gameplay, voice acting, and artwork whether moving or not.”
    • “I have a 75" Samsung TV, and no matter what graphics settings I put it on, I cannot read a single word in the UI.”
    • “Edit: I managed to figure out how to get the UI to a readable state, but to do so required the graphics to be in fullscreen with the resolution at 1920x1080, which makes the graphics look fuzzy and low quality.”
    • “Furthermore, the graphics are very buggy; for example, large parts of the asteroids are just white.”
  • gameplay
    58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Gameplay receives mixed reviews, with some praising its solid foundation, fleet customization, and strategic depth, while others criticize it for being slow, tedious, overly simplistic, or plagued by bugs and poor AI pathing. The combat mechanics can feel repetitive or unbalanced, and the gameplay often lacks innovation or engaging tactics, though a few find it fun and challenging once mastered. Overall, the gameplay is competent but may not appeal to those seeking fast-paced or highly polished RTS experiences.

    • “The base gameplay is honestly neat and fun.”
    • “Personally, the gameplay is fun and challenging even on the easier settings, and must be downright nightmare ragemode on the hardest settings.”
    • “- detailed and intricate RTS with RPG aspects gameplay works very well - a solid foundation to build upon.”
    • “Gameplay is stale and the pathing for the AI is absolutely horrendous; the story was flat and while it had a great premise, it has terrible execution.”
    • “Slow, unexciting gameplay means Ancient Space never becomes interesting enough to warrant the time it takes to play through it.”
    • “The hull-vulnerability mechanic dominates the gameplay so much that it really is the only aspect of your ships which matters, and on skirmish (as well as most of campaign) the game is not truly 3D.”
  • music
    32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's music is widely praised for its atmospheric, epic, and inspiring qualities, with some tracks reminiscent of Battlestar Galactica and contributions from noted composer Marcin Przybyłowicz. While many find the soundtrack immersive and well-integrated with the game's tone and story, a few note repetitiveness and a semi-tribal style that can become monotonous over time. Overall, the music significantly enhances the game’s ambiance and narrative depth.

    • “The story is pretty strong -- though suffering slightly due to technical limitations -- and the soundtrack is one of the best I've heard.”
    • “Let get back on track, you need a fairly powerful machine to run this with graphics on high, the story is ok letting you upgrade your ships and use officers to boost combat capabilities, ship designs are unique and unlike any ships I ever seen, like I said before the soundtrack is amazing it will have strap yourself to the bow of your ship and give the finger to the universe as you slowly ascend towards epicness... ok maybe not all that but it really is good.”
    • “The voice acting, music, and overall ambiance is very well done.”
    • “Weary voice, repetitive music.”
    • “Music kinda grinds on you, makes you turn it off.”
    • “[*] has some decent music.”
  • optimization
    13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game suffers from severe optimization issues, causing consistently poor and choppy performance even on high-end hardware. Despite decent graphics, the engine struggles to maintain smooth gameplay, often forcing players to run at low frame rates. Overall, the game's optimization is widely criticized and significantly hampers the experience.

    • “Performance is crap; don't even expect to get 60 fps with GTX 970 in SLI and an i5@[email protected] GHz!”
    • “Very poorly optimized, I get like 5 fps on medium quality (on a mid-range laptop).”
    • “If you can get around the horrid engine optimization that forces you to play at low frames, even for people who are running dual cards.”
  • stability
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game suffers from significant stability issues, including frequent crashes, numerous bugs affecting graphics and gameplay responsiveness, and slow performance. Technical glitches disrupt the experience, making controls unreliable and enemy encounters frustrating. Overall, stability is a major drawback despite some positive gameplay elements.

    • “The gameplay is good, but it is so buggy and keeps crashing.”
    • “Furthermore the graphics are very buggy, for example large parts of the asteroids are just white.”
    • “The near silent ships (much moreso than homeworld), the level design (endless reinforcements for the enemy thus far, plus a buggy skirmish level), the incredible slowness of every ship, including fighters, the weapon discharges that appear out of nowhere, with no effects or moving turret (only applies to some of the ships).”
  • replayability
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Replayability varies notably among users, with some appreciating the skirmish modes and occasional playthroughs despite issues like poor pathfinding and lack of multiplayer. Others find the game limited due to a linear mission structure, few factions, and absence of multiplayer, resulting in shallow or minimal replay value once the campaign is completed. Overall, while the game offers some replay potential at a low price, its replayability is considered modest and may disappoint players seeking deeper, long-term engagement.

    • “Replayability is pretty good via skirmishing, even without multiplayer.”
    • “Star Wars: Empire at War has a lot of replayability, not only having a real skirmish mode but a galactic conquest mode (campaign's pretty much GC with specific missions).”
    • “Even though I get upset about the lost replay value, I enjoy playing it from time to time.”
    • “The game also lacks a basic skirmish mode and any form of multiplayer; hence, replayability is a bit shallow, which may be a dealbreaker for many people.”
    • “This is a reasonably enjoyable game with a few challenges and an okay story; however, once completed, there doesn't seem to be any replay value.”
    • “Much could be said about how this game could be better, like more variety in carrier upgrades/abilities, less linear, script-driven mission structure, more satisfying ship/weapon visuals/effects, more playable factions, etc., but much of that is offset by its low price and ancient space, such as it is, is a full working package.”
  • grinding
    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Grinding in the game is often seen as tedious due to limited resource collection per mission and overly long, drawn-out missions. Ship movement can be frustratingly erratic, requiring tedious micromanagement that detracts from the fun. Overall, these factors make progression feel slow and repetitive.

    • “Gameplay was more tedious than fun.”
    • “Ship movement sometimes seems erratic: ships get caught into the megastructures or into each other, and it can be quite tedious to direct them waypoint by waypoint.”
    • “Missions can run long at times and sometimes contain tedious overlong sections.”
  • atmosphere
    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its rich, subdued tone and strong character, reminiscent of classic titles like Homeworld. The music effectively enhances this immersive ambiance, creating a unique and memorable experience. However, some players find the controls frustrating despite the compelling atmosphere.

    • “I'm at mission 4 and until this point it has a very good atmosphere, something only older games, Homeworld or Conquest: Frontier Wars, were able to give.”
    • “During the tutorial, the music was able to create a great atmosphere, something many games are unable to achieve.”
    • “If there was a scale, ranging from 'modern Fortnite garbage' to 'Dark Souls', this game would promptly say 'screw that noise', and crane-kick the scale apparatus through the ceiling, into the sky, at such velocity as to set the atmosphere on fire.”
    • “Story, music, and atmosphere: everything in this game has a subdued tone.”
  • emotional
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The emotional aspect of the game is largely underwhelming, lacking impactful or memorable moments such as romance, humor, or epic stakes. The story is described as boring and fails to evoke strong feelings or engagement.

  • humor
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game largely stems from its comically poor ship pathfinding, which players find amusing due to its unrealistic and glitchy behavior.

    • “Ship pathfinding is hilariously bad.”
    • “It locks that way unrealistic, it's kind of funny.”
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3h Median play time
3h Average play time
2-3h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Ancient Space is a management game with science fiction theme.

Ancient Space is available on PC, Mac OS and Windows.

On average players spend around 3 hours playing Ancient Space.

Ancient Space was released on September 23, 2014.

Ancient Space was developed by CreativeForge Games.

Ancient Space has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked Ancient Space for its story but disliked it for its optimization.

Ancient Space is a single player game.

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