I’m more than used to seeing Microids release games based on European cartoons and comic book franchises, but I never thought they’d ever make a game based on a 1991 French novel about… ants. To make matters more amusing, I wasn’t expecting for the game, aptly named Empire of the Ants, to not be a complete dumpster fire. Whilst flawed in many aspects, which I’ll talk about in this review, Empire of the Ants is actually very unique, and an interesting concept for a game.

I don’t have enough knowledge on the 1991 novel to know if Empire of the Ants, the game, is a faithful representation of the source material or not. The reason I was drawn towards it like an ant to a popsicle was the fact that, well, you play as an ant. Sure, I’ve been doing this since 1999, thanks to the largely underappreciated A Bug’s Life game, but this game promised to give us a realistic take on how an ant colony functions, how ants interact with each other, and how they face off against other nests and predators with surprising amounts of strategy and collective thought for such small creatures. What we have here then, as a result, is a real-time strategy game.

A shallow strategy game, but a strategy game nonetheless. In a nutshell, you play as a specific worker ant, one that has a surprising amount of clout over most ants in its colony. Your main objective is pretty simple: you gotta ensure the survival and prosperity of your nest in the beginning of the spring season. That means that you need to scavenge for food, scout your vicinities, look for lost “sisters” (remember, the queen did give birth to them all), and defend the nest against rival “tribes” and other animals like termites, beetles, and more. It all depends on the mission you take part on, but the core aspect of the game is, without a doubt, real-time strategy bouts.

A strategy-focused round is comprised of you, the worker ant, walking around the battlefield and telling other units what to do in real time. It’s not unlike, say, Brutal Legend, but you don’t actively partake in the battles themselves. Again, you’re a worker ant. You will tell warriors and shooters to kill other batallions, then conquer a new nest, create groups of workers to look for resources, scavenge for food and materials, perform upgrades, and eventually win the round. It’s a very interesting concept, but there’s just so much you can actually do in a round. It’s a bit shallow. Remember, you’re an ant. You ain’t going to research a machine gun turret or advanced siege units any time soon, as metal as that would have been.

It gets tiresome after a while, even if one or two missions have a bit more “action adventure” elements in them. There is just so much you can do with such a premise, so I don’t exactly blame Empire of the Ants for that. If anything, the developers came up with what I can only describe as a psychological trick to fool me into thinking the game is actually more interesting than it really is.

The trick? Simple: the game is absolutely gorgeous. It’s a really impressive showcase of the power of Unreal Engine 5, delivering jaw-dropping locales with impressive textural, post-processing and lighting effects. Everything is rendered with a shocking degree of realism at rock-solid framerates, without ever putting my hardware’s fans into overdrive. The overall degree of, uh, “biological realism” is really impressive. From ants talking to each other via pheromones, to every single leaf blowing in the wind in a lifelike appearance, the game fooled my brain into thinking this was less boring than it really was. To be honest, it’s something worth praising.

I think that the best way I can describe Empire of the Ants is to compare it to a BBC biology documentary. Sure, it’s boring, but the presentation and delivery make the product feel more interesting than it really is. It’s a jaw-dropping gorgeous experience with an additional layer of scientific research and information to be delivered to whoever plays it. As a strategy game, sure, I’ve played much better games. I also don’t think I’ll ever play this game again. But I didn’t regret tackling it. Just like a documentary voiced by David Attenborough, it’s not something you would ever consider to be one of your favorites, but it’s interesting enough to keep you amused for a substantial amount of time.

Graphics: 9.5 A really impressive showcase of the power of Unreal Engine 5, delivering amazing visuals at rock-solid framerates, without ever making your hardware scream in agony.	Gameplay: 6.5 It somewhat reminded me of a mixture between Total War and Brutal Legend‘s strategy elements. You command one ant in real time, telling other ants what to do. It’s functional, but also quite simplistic. The excellent visuals give the shallow gameplay an additional layer of epicness, fooling your brain into thinking the game is a lot more complex than it is.
Sound: 8.0 The music is actually quite good, whilst the sound effects are a bit limited in scope. They’re ants, for crying out loud.	Fun Factor: 7.0 It could have been extraordinarily boring. It isn’t, even if it gets tiresome after a while. Don’t expect a lot of depth in this real-time strategy game, but more of an easygoing experience with some fantastic visuals and a bit of factual information for biology fans.
Final Verdict: 7.5

Empire of the Ants is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X and PC.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB.

A copy of Empire of the Ants was provided by the publisher.