PC Gamer

It’s the abilities, you see, they’re just

not very interesting. A key part of the

Relic-style-RTS is that each unit has

a bunch of powerful

abilities. The iconic

moment of Company of

Heroes is when you

realise that the humble

rifleman, if equipped

with a grenade and

well micromanaged,

can defeat a machine

gun nest, his own hard

counter. There simply isn’t an

equivalent ‘I’m a genius’ moment in

Ancestors Legacy. Most units have

abilities like Frenzy – increase attack

at the expense of defence – and you

probably hit the button every time

they get into combat. There are no

game-changers here that upend the

rock, paper, scissors design, just

boosters that make units good at a

thing they’re already good at.

Units too, aren’t that different.

While each faction has strengths and

weakness they all have some

variation on archers, cavalry,

spearmen, shieldbearers and axemen.

The first two feel different, but the

three types of infantry don’t. In

theory, I should be using spearmen to

defend against cavalry while my

shieldbearers hold the line and my

glass cannon berserkers flank, but

most Ancestors battles happen at

chokepoints where this kind of

manoeuvring isn’t possible. The

result is that most fights become

amorphous messy melees.

The campaign deserves some

credit for shaking up the established

tactics with a variety of objectives.

There are currently six five-part

campaigns, and the menu promises

two more to come. In one I’m given a

timer counting down to an attack on

an allied camp and told to build up

reinforcements. In another I have to

destroy a series of catapults to protect

some longboats. Yet

over time the cracks

begin to show. Many of

these missions give the

enemy a barracks that

continuously spawns

soldiers, turning what

the story presents as a

climactic battle into a

war of attrition. Both

sides send waves of warriors at each

other until one finally wins. In the

end I found the multiplayer/skirmish

setup much more fun. At least there

the enemy is supposed to have

infinite reinforcements, and the maps

are designed symmetrically.

The story is unimpressive, too.

Ancestors Legacyis clearly trying to

go for an ‘unvarnished history’ tone,

particularly striking in early Viking

missions, when characters talk

cheerfully about burning down

villages. But most players will end up

viewing villages as mere resource

generators. It doesn’t help that they

can often be burned down and rebuilt

several times in a few minutes. When

I was playing, villagers frequently got

stuck in their arm-waving animation

even after the threat had passed,

making it hard to take any aspirations

of ‘dark and bloody history’ seriously.

HUNT GATHERERS

I want to take a moment to talk about

the villages, though, because they’re

the one real innovation that Ancestors

Legacy makes on the Relic-style-RTS

formula. They’re scattered around

the map, usually at key strategic

points, forcing you to go out and

capture them. Once you do, a click

recruits peasants who automatically

go out and gather wood, iron or food.

The peasants don’t require any

micromanagement, but they still exist

on the map and can be killed off,

which means that raiding an enemy

village can be useful even if you lack

the power to take it. It’s a clever

middle ground between base building

and territory claiming, and makes

these villages feel important in a way

that Company of Heroes’ ‘put a flag

here and get petrol’ system never did.

While Ancestors Legacy makes a

bold decision to eschew mass warfare

for squad tactics, it’s too wedded to

its historical setting to embrace what

madeCompany of Heroesgreat.

NEED TO KNOW

WHAT IS IT?

CompanyofHeroes,

but Vikings.

EXPECT TO PAY

£32

DEVELOPER

Destructive Creations

PUBLISHER

1C Company

REVIEWED ON

Core i5, 16GB RAM,

GTX 970

MULTIPLAYER

Yes

LINK

http://www.bit.ly/

ancestorslegacypc

55

A bold experiment, but

ultimately its smaller-

scale battles are not

nearly as tactical as they

need to be.

VERDICT

Villagers

frequently got

stuck in their

arm-waving

animation

I

’ve been yelling at people to copy the Company of Heroes approach

to real-time strategy since 2006. The combination of a low number

of units, heavy combat micromanagement and territory-based

resources resulted in my favourite RTS of all time. What I never

imagined was that someone would apply the formula to a

historical Middle Ages setting. So does the transition from guns to axes

work? Unfortunately not very well.

NO MORE HEROES

ANCESTORS LEGACY copies the Relic RTS formula,

but doesn’t understand what makes it great. By Tom Hatfield

TO SERF MAN

A peasant’s life is not easy

Farmer

Oh god, at least the Holy

RomanEmpirewillsaveme.

Farmer

I’m beginning to think I

should move somewhere less

strategically important.

HRE

Burn it to the ground!

Saxon

Leave nothing standin!

Farmer

Oh, I guess I work for you

now, maybe these fine Saxon

lads will...

Viking

Burn everything down!

Farmer

Oh look, a party of

Norsemen, shall we trade?

Ancestors Legacy

REVIEW