Take command of your army as you storm through medieval Europe in an extensive series of campaigns. Choosing one of the four available nations – Viking, Anglo-Saxon, German, Slav – you will be tasked with more than just conquering, raiding and pillaging enemy camps, villages and towns. Only by utilizing the full range of available tactical options, taking strategic advantage of the environment, and managing your temporary bases and settlements, will you emerge victorious. Ancestors Legacy is a history-inspired real-time strategy game influenced by historical events in the Middle Ages. The game combines resource management and base building with large-scale, squad-based battles across vast battlefields, all rendered in great detail thanks to the Unreal Engine 4 tech. Experience medieval bloodshed like never before, thanks to the cinematic action camera that puts you right in the middle of the battle at the press of a button.
Game Discussion
Steam User 7
Ok so I'm not in love with this game, but it's a fun way to spend an afternoon or two if you get it on sale.
The good:
- super smooth UI, responsive buttons, easy navigation
- every unit has a role
- hotkeys have a 'gridkeys' type format that makes abilities pretty easy to activate when you need them
- the double retreat system is cool and allows for some interesting tactical choices
- fast movement speed for units around the battlefield
- the campaign story is interesting for bringing alive a period of history I don't know much about
- little details in the modelling of ships and environmental effects make the cinematics stand out
The bad:
- campaign (at least the main one I tried) is extremely linear, with no options or freedom. Literally follow this canyon to one objective, follow another canyon to the next objective etc
- tech levels are fairly basic and don't unlock much of interest
The ugly:
- voice acting is a bit uninspired
- pathing can sometimes lead units to get stuck on the edge of a river or something
- the inability to build base buildings forward of your main base means it can take a long time for units to reach the front lines, especially on the sprawling campaign maps
There really isn't much wrong with this game, it just isn't deep enough to hold me compared to other strategy games I like. As other reviewers have said, it has strong Dawn of War vibes - but far fewer tech and unit options.
It reminds me also of Iron Harvest 1920. While Iron Harvest had a great campaign but terrible skirmish/multiplayer, Ancestors Legacy has a terrible campaign (at least in terms of the actual gameplay) and reasonable skirmish. But without the very creative dieselpunk setting.
Given the small squad count (10 maximum), lack of unit variability and tactical options, i think it could have been really cool if they took the Dawn of War 2 style approach - unique, specialised units that level up and can be upgraded over the course of the campaign, with progress carried over. As it is, Ancestors lacks depth to hold my interest for long.
Steam User 8
Game consists of a roughly 8 campaigns with 5 missions each. Main objectives and side quests keep things a bit interesting. Not the greatest RTS but I didn't mind it. Typically you rely on supplies to survive which means capturing villages or finding the odd supply in the field. Units consist of sword, bow, crossbow, catapult, bow horseman, sword horseman, pikeman, cleaver, and spear launcher thing all depending on what campaign you're playing. You usually have a hero or two on your team as well. You don't really have too many options in terms of gameplay. If your looking for a complex RTS this ain't it. Buy this game if you want to enjoy the campaigns. I also recommend getting the DLC (onsale) its quite different from the main game but a good change.
Steam User 8
I just saw that the game is on heavy discount, and honestly, I can recommend it to anyone who like RTS genre. It's not too long, but campaigns are pretty fun, factions feel different enough to not be boring to go through. And if you need a comparison its definitely better then COH3 or DOW3
Steam User 26
it's a modern take on dawn of war. Pretty fun on easy mode I didn't enjoy it on harder difficulty. Simple base building, rts, easy to play on controller.
7/10
Steam User 8
Absolute diamond for Company of Heroes/Dawn of War fans.
Furthermore I've been down with Age of Empires since the very beginning and I honestly feel this game captures the feel of prolonged skirmish far better, It's incredible and thank you to the Devs.
(There are a few minor issues so far. Long pathing of units? All easy to overlook however.)
Steam User 14
AWESOME GAME. I love how you cant control your units nonchalantly slaughtering the randomly scattered civilians as they pass by each other. Historically accurate indeed.
Steam User 7
With an interest in Vikings and other ancient civilisations, I decided to give this a try, honestly expected this to be a copy and paste of Age of Empires with a different art style, but it's not that at all.... well similar.
You're relying on far less groups of warriors, there's hiding tactics, retreating tactics and how you prepare each group of men prior to starting each battle really matters, the gameplay is much different to what I expected.
Visually the game looks great, the cinematics and story cut scenes are great, not quite as good as Warcraft 3 but it reminded me of that style, and I loved Warcraft 3.
This game is very enjoyable, not a carbon copy of other RTS's, good chance I'll completely finish this one.