I love both ants and RTS, so you can say this game had my interest from the very beginning.

The core mechanics are fun, the variety in units and enemies is there, and the presentation is charming, going for this false documentary angle. On its basis, this game has everything needed to be a unique and fun experience.

However, the Story Mode is a huge underperformer. At least for me, a good campaign mode is a must in any RTS game. It shouldn’t be all generic skirmishes; you must put some well-designed missions for a strategy game to have real substance and not be just an overambitious tech demo. And the story missions are either bland or annoying. At least at the point I’m in, everything is timed: survive for a defined period of time; collect these many resources before the time’s out. People who may want to rush the enemy can’t because either way you have to wait for the timer, and people who may want to take their time can’t either because the game is always rushing you just enough with timed assaults for it to be hardly achievable. The worst thing about the story missions is that you have to play each mission TWICE to get all rewards, and playing back-to-back the same “wait for 40 minutes” stage is NO fun at all. It’s just padding to make the Story Mode feel longer, which is not, by the way; it’s really short if you don’t count the repeated levels.

On a smaller note, between the story missions, you visit the “Formicarium” where you can make your own little colony, like an ant-themed Dungeon Keeper’s “Pet Dungeon”. Loved the idea; it was really refreshing to see the ants working and getting food from the overworld without peril. You can also use the resources you gained from the story missions to upgrade your colony, unlocking new ant types and improving their abilities. All this sounds wonderful, and I thought just that the first time I saw it. There’s always a but, though: the upgrades you buy ONLY work inside the Formicarium (at least until New Game+), which makes them kind of pointless. Yes, you have to defend the Formicarium in horde missions to unlock further levels and ants, but I never had any problem when doing it, even without upgrades. And the worst thing about the Formicarium is that the game makes you start over multiple times as you advance in the Story Mode, so it’s pointless to try and make it look cool because it will be taken from you sooner than later. Instead of making the player adapt their layout as they advance, the game just erases your progress and forces you to start again.

I don’t know. The charm is there, and the first couple of missions were fun enough. But the egregious padding, the restrictive way the game wants to be played, and the overall rushed feeling of a lot of the content outside the base mechanics leave me with a very sour taste from the experience.

It looks like doodoo but it has some of the best level design I've seen in an RTS.

To start off, this game was the best simulation game I had ever played, the attention to details of the environment and ants are amazing! I actually ant keep as a hobby and after playing this game for a while I love how majority of the details and behaviors of the ants are exactly similar to some of the ants I keep. Amazing graphics too with my RTX 3060! They definitely should add multiplayer to this game as it would be fun to experience this with other players. 10/10!