Ancestors Legacy by Polish indie studio Destructive Creations was released on steam in 2018. Since the game was received with positive reviews, a ps4, and Xbox One port is being released. Bringing a real-time strategy game to consoles is not the easiest of tasks. RTS games tend to be more fluent when played with a keyboard and mouse. On that matter, Destructive Creations have mentioned before, they developed Ancestors Legacy with consoles in mind.
Medieval gory lesson
Ancestors Legacy is a historical real-time strategy set during Medieval times in Europe. The different campaigns span a period of 500 years starting from the 8th century. In Ancestors Legacy, you’ll play as Vikings, Brits, Slavs and a German tribe. While many historical figures and events are mentioned, the game’s battles are only “inspired” by real history. This means the story told throughout Ancestors Legacy takes a turn with history and makes it an original experience with room for more twist and turns. Throughout the campaign, you’ll take control of all the different “factions” learning their strengths and weaknesses as you go along. Playing with each faction feels different, the only thing that truly ties each group together is the amount of gore used, especially during the epic looking cutscenes.
Reporting for battle
Most current-gen RTS games take the basic formula and try to add a different gimmick to stand out from the rest. Sometimes this works but I feel the additional gimmick mostly takes away from the core gameplay which is battling the other factions on the map. Ancestors Legacy has no gimmicks implemented. Ancestors Legacy is in fact heavily focused on the battles. Off course the need to gather supplies to build the likes of barracks and armories is present but it’s pretty minimal. If you conquer a village you can order it’s inhabitant to do the gathering for you, so you can focus on the next battle instead.
Strategy-driven
Just developing hordes of attacking units and going all out when the time is right, has always been a valuable tactic in RTS games. In Ancestors Legacy you have to be more strategic about your attacks. The type of troops, the way they approach the enemy, the focus of the attack, … All these things make a lot of difference in your success rate. Hiding in bushes and attempting an ambush might proof much more valuable than going for the braveheart route. Flanking the enemy, burning villages to attract enemies away from their camp, using traps, retreating, holding the fort and much more are all possible tactics to choose from. Planning your tactics during a rainstorm at night or during a windy day all makes a difference. Ancestors Legacy is clearly a very strategy-driven game.
Not much guidance
Ancestors Legacy’s port to consoles actually plays just fine. The lack of a mouse didn’t really bother me. Destructive Creations went for a building wheel system which is easily controlled with a joystick. The different commands are given with the use of the shoulder buttons which bring up the commands. The learning curve was a bit steep in the beginning. The lack of lengthy hold-me-by-the-hand tutorials is something I actually applaud but a little bit more help could’ve benefited the start of my game. On the other hand, there is a digital manual present in case you really can’t figure it out on your own.
Skirmish and multiplayer
After completing the campaign and experiencing every faction, you can test out your learned skills in either skirmish mode or in multiplayer. Both modes are more or less the same. Each has you picking a faction, a map, and a winning goal. The difference, of course, is that you play other real-life players in multiplayer. At the time of this review, I couldn’t get a multiplayer game going due to lack of other players. This will surely be improved once the game is a few weeks older. On the other hand, the skirmish mode, worked fine. It’s refreshing to have everything unlocked and ready for use. The 2vs2 mode was particularly fun to me. In this mode, you also have to take into account what your ally is doing which felt refreshing.
Conclusion
Ancestors Legacy focusses on battling it out in a gory way. Not bothering much with the whole gathering of supplies and developing your nation aspect like in certain other RTS titles, might sound like it would be an easy game. The depth presented in the whole battle aspect of the game is what makes this game just as hard as other hardcore RTS titles.
