Test Ants, strategy within the anthill

Discover a game that will appeal to fans of Bernard Weber's novel The Ants or simply to those curious about nature. Between strategy, scientific explanations and gacha, the ants (and you) have work to do to keep their colony alive.

A tiny world yet huge to comprehend

The Ants is full of information. You can learn about the workings of an entire anthill, its nooks and crannies and its inhabitants while playing. The ant races each have their own interesting characteristics. In addition to the leaf-cutting ants, larvae and other 'normal' inhabitants of this huge structure, who simply help to keep the anthill alive, there are mainly fighting ants. This combat system includes both classic and original units.

The unit types are very recognisable: melee, long range and support. However, they are unlike anything you've ever played before as this strategy game doesn't just feature an ant " skin ", but rather an extensive lore. You will have to build a formation with the gacha system, collecting rewards daily, progress and events to unlock more advanced troops. You will be able to optimise your formation by placing certain types of ants in the rank of commander of your standard troops.

Some special ants (commanders) are more relevant than others in certain formations or situations. For example, their special trait may be Universal (making the ant versatile) or a Garrison specialization (making the ant excellent at defending the fortress) or even Rake (making it an effective hunter of PvE creatures like the Orange Thorn). What is also interesting is that the specificity of the ants is intelligently reflected in their gameplay.

For example, the South American Eciton burchelli ants, which in the real world make up an ant farm that is constantly on the move and chases everything in its path, constitute an effective ant commander in remote hunting, in addition to a carrier capable of directing or hatching the carrier ants, in order to better manage the ant farm.

Customisable basic scheme and sound ambiance

I kind of regret that, as in many real-time strategy games, the base building is essentially done as an infinite tutorial. So you have to build the right buildings at the right time to validate your current quest chapter as this will earn you more rewards than attempting your own progression strategy for your anthill.

Obviously, in this test The Ants, the title is essentially similar to games like Rise of Kingdoms or Infinity Kingdomeven though the latter have chosen history and mythology as their theme.

The background music also provides a pleasant experience. Although the loop is quite short, its natural and uncluttered feel leaves room for your imagination to immerse you in this ever-expanding anthill.

On the basic expansion side of things, touching the walls to extend the living space can be a pain, but the precise tracing of building paths results in an interesting building placement optimisation for those who like to play as budding architects. IK or RoK only have bases already built that you can only improve, unlocking a few extra buildings quite rarely, while The Ants experience and its building layout optimisation is reminiscent of Clash of Clans and co.

PvE, PvP and interface

As you leave your base, you'll be able to attack creatures in PvE such as ladybirds to gather resources and level up your commander ants or even lizards to attack alone or in guilds. However, The Ants is meant to be played more and more in PvP as the days go by. You will have the opportunity to create a guild or join an existing one. This guild will be one of your best assets from the start. Indeed, the members of this guild will be able to offer you help to reduce the improvement time of your buildings, exchange resources and even lend you troops.

Notably for a strategy game, The Ants is played in portrait mode, which is convenient on public transport or while walking. The title benefits from a clear interface, but the packs are a bit expensive with a lore that takes time to adapt to as many generic strategy game elements are renamed to fit the ant theme.

In conclusion, in this test, The Ants stands out for its deep and realistic lore that will make you discover the life of the infinitely small from your smartphone. Packed with information for the curious and with a basic construction and strategy system designed for fans of the genre, it will appeal to a wide audience but requires some learning of technical terms about ants to get the hang of it. If The Ants isn't enough for you, you can discover other similar games in our top strategy games on Android and iOS.

I take advantage of this conclusion to tell you that this test is written in partnership with Huawei whose App Gallery allows you to install games like on Playstore and Appstore but with rewards for the players via its Game Center as a bonus!

Positive points

• Original theme
• Comprehensive documentation on ants
• An immersive world

Negative points

• Classic strategy
• Infinite tutorial" feeling