Ancient Cities

I highly reccomend this game - it's early release but well rounded enough that even after 120 hours I'm still playing new and old games. The supply and crafting toolchains are relatively intricate, and it's enjoyable to play at both small and large scales. Large scale sedentism becomes difficult (my largest village was 280 people) which is very realistic in the archaeological record, however especially with the recent update of large scale, highly habitable hide tents, that migratory patterns are unlocked even for large tribes. The game is very realistic, both visually and archaeologically - I have a background in social anthropology and took enough archaeology classes and read enough historiographies that this hits all the right spots for an ancient history nerd. There is of course endless ground to cover yet for such a realistic game - clothing, pottery for trade, more intricate and/or localized architecture, and additional ages such as copper, bronze and steel ages. In some cases we had multi-story buildings and urban settlements, especially in coastal areas already by 12,000 BCE (I can't recall the name but the first "urban" settlement was on the coast of Peru around this time, I remember learning that fishing nets played a huge role in the population expansion), and in some ways that has been accomplished with the longhouses, but I expect more intricate/advanced buildings to come eventually.

I'll warn, this game can become addictive !!!

I run it on Linux Mint with an Nvidia RTX card. Originally, like with my other games had an issue, but as it turned out I had formatted an external drive as ntfs instead of ext4! When I changed it to ext4 and re-installed, the game worked flawlessly. The only mod that works for now is nut processing, as it seems the mod API is in flux, but that is to be expected for a game in such early stages

i wanted ; to take the time too leave a very good review i truly adore this game `; the grapics and game play are well done ...... keep doing great work ` i cant wait for the evolution of the game

its good tbh, price is right on the accurate, and you can tell a lot of work has been put into it. Feels kinda like a professor made this game - which is a good thing btw

This game seems pointless to me. My impression has been, start the game, assign people to a certain task / field... then just sit back and wait. Then, when resources come in, make a small shacks... But wait, there is more, I can choose to then travel to a new location, and do that exact same thing again. Avoid this title.

15 hours in folks and I am really enjoying the game. Very slow gameplay, but in a world of speed and chaos its a lovely pace change in gaming.

Incredibly detailed and building everything is painfully slow, as it was, as I image back in the day!

Graphics are fantastic and AI seems pretty switched on. Highly recommend the tutorial aswell as its a complicated game.

Overall, seems to coming along nicely and still seeing updates :)

It can takes 1000+ years to build a house. But otherwise fun game.

I'm not gay but 20 bucks is 20 bucks. So when this game on my wish list went on sale for less than 20 bucks ($14.99) I pulled the trigger.

First time opening the game I put in 16 hours non stop. Albeit, consuming audio and video content on the side.
I started in the middle of the Alps next to a river in "ice age" 10,000 BC with slow progression settings.

This game scratches that city builder/community simulation itch. It allows you to play it at a slow pace without aggressively constant micro-management. This is a game that you can have some good satisfying fun for hours while also staying abreast of current events listening to podcasts or watching video content on 2nd screen without losing focus on either.

VERY HAPPY with this purchase. Definitely worth the sale price. After experiencing the game I would also be happy to pay full price for this as well.

Seems thin at first but is actually incredibly deep and rewarding.

Love these little guys, could watch them do their thing all day.

Very nice game!!!

I would have like to give a thumbs up to this game.

I followed its development since the launch of it, when it was then still on kickstarter.
I finally bought it...

NEGATIVES :

- Boring. I mean, at some point I was simply watching my screen at max speed fast foward waiting for tiny hut to be built and I really feel like I was loosing my time.
- Terrible UI. I know the devs changed it since the beginning. But it is just not good. Doesnt feel intuitive at all and it is invasive.
- Why can't I choose the visual of my tribe ''flag'' ?
- The world feel empty. Nature feel lame. Wild animal doesnt even roam in groups. They do nothing, they feel souless.
- Why can't storage contain more than one ressource !?
- There's not much to do or to build either.
- The same annoying ambiance music is playing FOREVER.
- Development is just too slow.
- Do not think you will build a neolithic town with complex politics, religions and the first wars in history. Your society will be simple and it is more about managing resources.
- No mesopotamians ? No semitic cultures and middle-eastern map ? Neolithic is all about the fertile crescent...
- The concept of ''ancient cities'' is a little bit too much here.
- Doesnt feel optimizated at all, but wasnt that much laggy for me (one crash only)

POSITIVES :
- Graphics are good I guess
- Seems pretty accurate historically
- You are really put in the survival aspect of paleolithic and neolithic
- Niche kind of game that I really like

Honestly, the game is worth 10 $ I would say... Sadly.

This game is made with passion and love !

IF YOU'RE UNAWARE OF GAME'S HISTORY:


As someone who loves ancient history, I've followed A.C. since it's early days, with the announcement and green-light campaign on Steam back in 2017. This movement had tons of traction and generated well over 120K by the time it was green lit. Surpassing it's funding milestones where it promises to eventually build in additional climates such as the Middle East and and even an Ice Age pack. Each with their own set of challenges according to their atmospheric elements. Same is true for natural disaster features, also related to each climate. And throw in some raiding to spice it up even more. Improved sky life and the Aurora-Borealis etc.

These things have yet to be included, but I'm more than confident they'll be added, as the few building this game up are still working on it in a whole list of ways. Tons of life variety and Optimization has improved far beyond many other city build games. There's plenty of features already added at this point.

Honestly, I'm impressed with how far this has come. To say that Uncasual Game's team of several Devs have tackled a tremendous feat (considering the shear size of their vision for this one of a kind piece) while working this project is in itself a deep understatement. There's so many times this game should've gone under over the years and yet somehow against all odds, the Devs have managed to persevere, coming out on top, improving the entire game from it's very poor early access state in 2021. And all this in the face of what was initially ruthless ridicule from original followers base, who's patience for the complete game lasted about a week. And who seemed to think Uncasual Games were the size of Ubisoft Studios; not to mention the overwhelming financial and development threats they were confronted before and after the fall out.

The end game of this project has yet to be realized. But what the game provides for playable content as of this post is very enjoyable. It'll take some learning investment to really feel the vibe the world around is meant to give, So prepare yourself to be committed to learning the mechanics of your tribe and the environments.

If you're doubtful about paying full price up front, then definitely consider getting this on sale. But understand that the more funds the ever-improving Devs receive from this genre base, the closer they'll be to really making this into the full masterpiece they've intended it to be. I bought this at full price and I can say confidently that I'd do it again. I'm really looking forward to what's potentially in store for the future with this. I wish the Devs an ever successful outcome. They've earned it.

I've played probably every settlement sim on Steam and I find this one extremely frustrating.

It's very difficult to get started and there is very little in the way of handholding.

The tribe is constantly bothered by things I can't do anything about. Don't whinge about needing a better house when I already built you the best house you know how to build.

The settlers don't do the work assigned and there doesn't seem to be a way to work out why.

Immigrants just don't come, even when everyone was 100% happy for a few days... crickets

Time is ridiculous. 60 years to build a basic hut. Crazy. I prefer something a little more realistic.

The storage system sucks so hard - one item type for each storage, I spend more time finding space for new storages and managing them than anything else. Awful grind and a real pain in the neck.

I'll uninstall (again) and wait for update improvements (again).

Buy it in a sale if you must try it out.

****************************
Response to developer reply:

Obviously I am not asking for a realistic 1 game year = 1 real year pace, that's ridiculous to suggest that and is frankly insulting.

I've built multiple types of housing including more of the best type available than the tribe needs. They still whinge about housing. I can find no other reason they are unhappy, they have food etc.

The probability of immigration perhaps needs tweaking then, because they sure as heck die off fast enough when they're unhappy.

The guided tutorial is bare minimum, which is fine, as I said I've played probably every game of this type available, I don't expect them to be the same and wouldn't want them to be either.

It would have been nicer if your response had taken on my criticism a bit more instead of turning it back on me somehow being at fault. I'm not some little kid. I rarely write reviews at all and if I've gone to the effort to do so, it's because I want to see improvement.

I will write a good review when I feel the game deserves one.

Even though this game is a bit tedious in the beginning and progress is slow, It gets more fun and interesting as time goes on. The tutorial could be more informative but it is not a difficult game to learn.

Something about time is very 'off' . With days equaling year quarters Building a straw tent or a fire doesn't take 3 months. Separate the Yearly progression from actually constructing the settlement. American Indians would pack up their homes and set up in a day.
Or building tents and early structures should be much quicker. Keep the three month 'day' count toward advancements.
Sandbox mode is more accurate as far as building goes.

It has a lot of potential! I like killing time with it. The visuals and sound are pleasant and I am always waiting for the next addition to add more spice to the gameplay

I was hesitant about buying this game because of the mixed reviews but after i saw recently a youtube video about the last updates i decided to buy it and i can say it is a very good game despite being in works. I like the graphics, better than Dawn of man which is also an ancient city builder, the game is balanced, everything works pretty good. I didn´t see any bugs or glitches. What i don´t like is the storage system because you can store only 1 resource in a storage building. But i am sure the devs are working at this. I recommend the game and i hope the devs will keep working and give us more content and features.

Vaut la peine malgré ses défauts.

good

El juego se desarrolla bien y de un momento a otro se acaba todo, se estanca, no produces nada, pones a hacer algo y nunca se termina, aún habiendo recursos... en fin solo es pasar trabajo y es un juego para sufrir tanto...

Actually a fun game, a bit tough can be worked upon but stunning...

Thoroughly enjoy playing this historical ancient village builder. It is a learning and educational city builder based on real archaeological and historical evidence. It never crashed on me once... Good graphics and playability; however, their needs to be a "vanilla" cinematic free camera option (mods do not work) to simply enjoy watching ones village grown up without the icons crowding out the beauty of the visuals... At least, provide a toggle on or off of every item-- or, simply allow me to hover over an object and click on it to see its status, etc... Moreover, there needs to be an option to expedite the openings of more technology and an easier way to NOT have to migrate-- possibly an option tab. In fact, after one builds a great village with city potential; suddenly you have to move do to lack of resources, etc... One last improvement, is the beautification of our villages, such as a decree made by the leader for planting orchard trees and even flower gardens, etc...

This Ancient Cities has real potential to grow into a masterpiece! Please continue to expand this project of art, education, and love! Blessings

Nice game

this review really depends on how realistic this game is planning to be:
1. add nudity, now hear me out, in the period of time this game this game takes place in clothing was a natural thing, humans invented more covering clothing when they got more civilized or when they started to be more self conscious of themselves but that was when humans were already using copper or in really cold regions.
2. clothing, now clothing in the game should match the culture and religion of the tribe, also there should be different types of clothing like, early hide robes, and later on better attire like leather and fabric tunics.
3. Customizable religions and cultures, look at Rimworld's ideology DLC, something like that would be nice.
4. more threats like wolf, bear, or other wild animal attacks, also human raids would nice, you make the human attacks function by making them come from other settlements or come from camps that the player needs to sent a raiding party to destroy.
5. a bit bigger and more realistic maps would be nice.
6. more buildings or maybe you could upgrade buildings to different level that will give bonuses like better sleep in houses or long times food lasts in buildings that store food.
7. disasters, like fires and outbreaks of diseases, which this could have things to combat this random events.

This is a good game and can be very fun. Has potential to be great

Very limited content, great concept but you run out of things to do very quickly. Spent the entirety of playtime (multiple playthroughs) on fast forward

I am like 9 hours deep right now so not enough that I would actually recommend to anyone or not. This is also my first game of this type so I am terrible at it currently. However I am enjoying it and I like the look/vibe.

I will say, I am on easy for learning purpose and it's quite slow which I believe this to have increased resources.

Could have the potential to become the best city builder out there (currently covers Mesolithic and Neolithic eras).
Most of the things present in the game are very well done. Some things are just basic like trading and raiding (you can raid but cannot be raided).
As of this writing some things,that are expected within the timeline of the game,are missing (metal working,pottery and clothing making-naming the more important ones)-they will be added eventually.

I wholeheartedly recommend the game despite the missing things.
The game is being actively worked upon.It looks and feels much better than upon release.

There aren't enough games that take place in this era. with a little fleshing out it could rival sim city and would be much better than City Skylines.

It is taking a little time but this game is getting amazing (it is already very good) - huge level of depth and quality - looking forward to it reaching new heights!

Unfortunately I did not enjoy most of the game-play, the game looks and feels unfinished. There are a lot of issues with the FPS and I find it sometimes that you just need to leave a lot of time in the game until something really happens. On the bright side it looks very nice, some mechanics are very interesting, such as selecting a tribe to raid or to do trade with. I hope this game will receive more attention.

I bought the game last year (2024) during a spring sale and then noticed the reviews were mostly negative. The reviews have turned around since then. I can't say how the game was then, but it's an enjoyable game.

It's still a work in progress but it's playable and enjoyable. There's some learning curves that the tutorial doesn't teach you, however, I like that in games, there's more depth than I expected.

It's also a really pretty game. My first games were pretty much flat lands with rivers. Then I chose a different location with a river flowing into a waterfall dropping down into the ocean. Also lightning and sunsets/ sunrises can be missed if you're playing on fast game speed.

The devs are actively engaged on the forums, which is a good thing.

Fantastic game! The interface takes a while to fully grasp (about 2 - 3 frustrating hours), but after that you're growing your city easily.

Exactly the game I've wanted for decades!

this game blows. it's one of the biggest disappointments i've ever seen because the way it was advertised is the opposite of what it is.

:]

Even tho my pc specs fits the description of the needed performance optimization is shitty, the ai is dumber than a bacteria.
Long story short doesn't worth the prize

terribly inconvenient interface

+ good visuals, especially for a game in bird perspective
+ active & continuous development
+ good baseline structure with knowledge system, simulation of people, etc
+ good overworld for selection of playable area covering a historical simulation of Europe
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- game struggles in performance when building larger settlements
- unintuitive user interface if you're used to playing any other game comparable in genre

I've waited for a long time to buy this game, seeing that the reviews have improved recently I've decided to give it a try.. First impression - graphics are very basic, little immersion as you don't see the people very well. It's also not clear what to do ie how to assign people to tasks. After less than half hour i just decided to play another game.. I'm a fan of the the genre so will keep the game and try it again after next update.

It's a lovely game with a lot of effort put into it. It seems to be pretty realistic and still fun to play. If it would be too realistic I would imagine it would be boring.

The graphics are really good, the people also behave in a manner that does not frustrate me when guiding them. What really makes this great is that you can pick a location in Europe yourself which makes it very personal. It also makes the game map gigantic and on the map you can build wherever you want and rotate buildings the way you want them so you are not limited to a square grid like many city builders have.
I appreciate that a lot of effort was put into the animation of people doing various tasks, Also great to see that a lot of resources look proper and the fact that each resource item is accounted for, there are a lot of city builders where resources go into a warehouse and then can be used right away. Here individual resources are individually gathered, transported and can even decay. This must have taken a lot of work to program and it makes the gameplay outstanding. Very similar with the construction of buildings, resources are carried to the construction site and the construction can be seen. It's not a "plop your house"and also not a cheap animation where a building just grows out of the ground.

The game is no longer Early Access, however it does feel like Early Access as it lack a bit of deeper content. Since there is no doubt that this game will be a success, the modding community will probably add different buildings and resources at some stage so probably no need to go deeper here. However interaction with other tribes could do a bit better, trade could be deeper, especially there could be unique resources that only some tribes have, exchange of knowledge or helping out when needed or hostile attitudes with all it's consequences.

The map also needs to be a bit more diverse in my opinion, landmarks are not there yet but also the landscape could do with a bit more with more unique features such as massive rock formations, caves or other features such as abandoned villages from other tribes or anything else that could be used as an advantage. And right now, the map is reset when you migrate somewhere and then migrate back. It would be great to find your place again, I get it that some structures like huts should get a bug decay penalty if you are away for a few years but solid structures like burial sites or stone monuments should remain along with the possibility to bury tools somewhere for later use.

Pretty good game idk why so many people giving bad reviews.

109 hours in and the game gets better and better every time i come back. The game is challenging and some mechanics of the game are not super clear, that said the game teachs you what you need to know to survive and grow and to me that experience is fun and worth checking out, but also leaves enough room for you to learn through a bit of adventure and trial and error which i really like. Good ancient culture sim. Good play loop IMO, can change up how to survive and progress every run

This game has come a long way since it's inception, it's now the definitive Neolithic experience and I can not wait for them to expand it further.

I like this game. It is slow - I'm okay with that. I don't mind the learning curve, especially with the current tutorial. I really enjoy the map time-lapse changes, music, information per citizen, and the overall aesthetics. I do wish some portraits were a bit upgraded and I do wish there were mouse-over tool tips for resources, or a way to identify gathered items and plants *before* picking them up, perhaps as a feature unlock.

Lovely, relaxing game where you guide mankind through Ancient times. Can build wonderful villages, and guide population in a sims-like fashion.

Many improvements added makes the game runs smooth enjoyable and of course fulfilling. great sims village builder it's on the horizon.

Extremely fun game, took me a little while to work it all out but now one of my faves

Hi. First of all, respect to the creators of this game. If they are only 2 programers and one graphic designer - respect. Now to the point... I can not reccomend this game yet, reasons below:

1.After I had like 25+ houses, I saw in building menu - red blured- two new buildings; longhouses. But after some minutes of playing, they were just gone from menu. No idea why. Even a new migrants didn't provide new ideas, so you can build additional buildings.

2. When you reach some age in history, new migrants start coming allongside with livestock. But those animals are reproducing in really slow manner in your village. Later on, migrants are suddenly comming without a livestock (wtf, why??), which leads to your current livestock to exting - and later on, dieing your people of starvation.
In later stages you can't just feed your people with meat only from hunting. There are just too many people and too few animals in the woods.

3. Farming is broken. The system how to keep needed crops to seed them next season simply doesn't work. You can set up a pit, so the food inside would not be eaten/processed, but you have no mean how to make your farmers put there the seeds in the first place. Example - I had two pits for wheat seeds. One to store only and to be used in next plating season, second free to use. But there is no option, how to make your ppl store seeds to the first pit and AFTER to the second (free to use) pit. This applies to all crops.

4. Straw. The need of straw is just too high. You need it to build the most of the houses and also to feed your animals. About houses - the need of straw has to be max 1/3 of current status and maitenance prolonged lol. I build roundhouse that needs 300 units of straw and only after 18 Months of game time (that is really a few) the house need to be repaired with additional 80 units of straw omg.

After you migrate, your ppl are colecting enough straw. But after some moments, they just stop. The straw from some reason just can not be found nearby of your village. This applies also to reed.

5. Food. Only realiable food is meat. All the rest is meaningless thing. Fish is impossible to catch in big numbers, no mater how many fishers you got. Bread production chains seems to be broken. No matter what I did, I never had like 20+ pieces of bread.

6. Migrating. I understand the concept of this game - you need to migrate to be able to obtain new resources (and ideas from some reason...). But it doesn't work. When you migrate, you need to build EVERYTHING again, that is still understantable. BUT - until you gather all the raw materials to build houses, then build them, the people became angry because of lacking a place where to live and they start leaving your village. That is probably the most frustrating factor for me.

7. Trade. Concept is good, but there need to be done some balance. Most of the clans around you are trading wares, that you alone have plenty (ropes for example...). From all the options what you can trade, you find maybe one another tribe that offers something usefull for you. Not to mention, that raw materials can not be traded at all. Why not?!

8. Livestock. As mentioned they reproduce too slow. You can not just find the animal in woods, lure it and domesticate, like in DoM. A player is deppendent on coming a new migrants with livestock. After 40 hours of playing I didn't get, if the herding group personnel in fact slaughter the animals when it gets old or not. Many times I saw just rotting the dead animal on the ground, without anybody harvesting its meat and bones. I needed to let kill the animas manually in menu, so I got the needed meat and bones. Oh and the last thing - why the HELL can't animals just eat grass from spring to autumn? They need to be feeded with straw all the year.

There are many more things that need to be updated in this game, but I am already too lazy to write it all down, sorry.

This game can be just brilliant, but it needs A LOT of work. Somehow it feels like some light, or web version of Dawn of Man.

it's an okay game, definitely still has some flaws. I wouldn't pay the full $30 for it. I got it on sale and still thought it was pricey for what it is.

For the Devs: the storage system is ridiculous. I should be able to store more than one item in each container, especially for the bigger storage shed. There also needs to be a way to assign villagers to job groups even if they aren't "skilled" in it. None of my villagers ever signed up for the herding group and all my animals would die every time. Last thing, if you're going to require migration, the villagers should be able to take more supplies with them in the journey.

No matter how many times I play this game over the past year, and I've restarted probably five or six times, I can never get far in this game and there isn't really any logical or in game explanation for it. Everyone in my tribe always get mad then leaves. No matter how many gatherers I set to gather everything, builders, hunters, fisherman, crafters, etc. This game just isn't fun to play and as much as I wanted it to be, it hasn't been and I don't think it will be. I hope others find a way to make it work for them.