Take control of space with your small army in Ancient Frontier. Players will choose from one of two campaigns and be tasked with controlling various ships in turn based combat. Each ship you command has different stats and abilities so players will need to be able to gauge the battlefield before battle to know what ships will be best suited for a mission. Ancient Frontier has over 35 different ships, several skill trees and various upgrades to give players a large grasp on how to best handle their army. Be prepared for a tough fight as you engage the enemy in Ancient Frontier.

Ancient Frontier is a turn based strategy game first and foremost. For the best results in a battle, players will need to maneuver their ships and think how each action will ultimately change the course of the battle. With two very different campaigns, tons of missions and side missions to take on and a slew of difficulty settings, Ancient Frontier aims to provide players with a large game set in an even larger universe. Each story mode also offers diverging paths in the form of choices that will lead to different routes for a battle. Lead your unit to victory or become scrap metal in space, the choice is yours, commander.

Ancient Frontier tells the story of two different factions, the Federation and the Alliance. Long ago, humanity faced utter destruction and possible extinction thanks to their own choices in life. However, during this horrible time a powerful order appeared that would dub themselves the Technocrats who used their mass amount of technological knowledge to help humanity rebuild on Mars. Eventually as time passed, new discoveries in space caused various advances for humanity but also presented a divide on how to use them and who should have access to these new discoveries. This would in turn lead to a civil war between the Federation and the Alliance with the latter losing and having to give into the demands of the Federation. Time has passed and all has seemed to calm down but as mankind has always shown, the past tends to repeat itself before too long…

Turn based strategy games aren’t what we would call new in the world of video games. There are literally thousands of titles that have players micromanaging armies and resources which usually means most of these titles can fall quite flat in the gameplay department. That’s why we here at Honey’s Anime were a bit skeptical when we read up initially what Ancient Frontier was all about. Though the main question here is did our opinions of Ancient Frontier change once we began to play it? Let us talk about that in our review of Ancient Frontier for the PC.

Upon starting up Ancient Frontier, you’ll first realize that there isn’t one campaign but two that players can choose from. On one side, players can choose the more militarized Federation or choose the working class/miners warriors in the form of the Alliance. Regardless which side you choose, the game relatively stays the same besides different endings and different paths. Though the choice of multiple paths is much appreciated and will give players a decent amount of extra game time.

Now combat is where Ancient Frontier really shines. Players will take various ships into hexagon shaped maps and are tasked with completing various objectives. Sometimes the objectives could be simple kill all enemies and or save lives within a certain turn limit. There’s a nice amount of variety in missions which means you won’t too often repeat the same type of mission unless you choose the same side quests mission types. Plus, with story missions changing based on your choices you sometimes will be utterly surprised with what mission you get next.

Combat wise, Ancient Frontier is a turn based strategy game. Each ship—of which there are 35—has different strengths and weaknesses in terms of movement, attack and defense. Before each mission you’re usually given some leeway on what ships to use and this is where smart players will really want to be careful. If you have a mission where eliminating all the enemies is the main goal, choosing a nice mix of speedy ships and defensive ships will be a good way to win, versus only choosing speed based ships. There’s a lot of wiggle room in Ancient Frontier in terms of how to approach a battle and we really found that one of the game’s biggest strengths.

If you’re wondering how combat works though, let us explain that a bit. As we said, Ancient Frontier is a turn based title meaning each ship makes its move and then the AI in turn also does the same. All the different ships have different stats such as HP, Defense, Attack, and SP—which acts as your special attack points—just to name a few. With your skill tree and the various customization options in Ancient Frontier, ships can have a wide range of attack types—such as missiles and lasers—and or movement perks. Ancient Frontier might be a simple turn based game at its core but expend a large array of things to micromanage in game. It’s also important to mention that this is an important concept as on difficulties higher than the beginner mode, ships that are destroyed during battle stay gone meaning you’re going to have to spend more in game currency if you’re not smart with your load out.

Graphically, Ancient Frontier is gorgeous. While the locations aren’t always amazing—many get reused—they still have a sharpness that looks impressive, though the ships steal the show with a nice variety and a great design overall. What’s even nicer is that you can zoom in—which sometimes happens when you attack a ship—to see the ships even closer and see that Ancient Frontier truly is a visual treat. Though the character models don’t always look as impressive as the ships but aren’t too important in the long run. Unfortunately, while graphically, Ancient Frontier is awesome, the same can’t be said of the lackluster voice acting. Some voice actors are okay but many feel borderline ridiculous and often it kills some of the story which already won’t impress everyone. The music also is more miss than hit leading to us using our own music during Ancient Frontier’s more action-packed battles and bosses.

Turn based games in space aren’t new to the PC world, but Ancient Frontier still is very impressive. While the story and map design fall a bit flat at times, the turn based mechanics and amount of missions you can do makes up for those issues. We loved taking on a slew of different missions and trying to find the best means of approaching a given situation, especially when the difficulty was ramped up and ships became even more important. The amount of customization in terms of available ships and skill trees also means that players will feel rewarded for putting time into the more minor missions which is always a good thing for any turn based focused game. Ancient Frontier should be a must buy for those who want a simple to play turn based title that offers robust elements within. Just be prepared to sink some time into Ancient Frontier if you’re someone who loves to complete every mission and story available in a game.

Ancient Frontier really took us by surprise here at Honey’s Anime. When we heard initially it was a turn based spaceship title we wondered how it would play and what could it possibly do to show us a different side of the turn based genre. In the end while Ancient Frontier doesn’t reinvent the genre, the great gameplay design and simple but robust turn based elements makes Ancient Frontier an easy game to recommend to those who love space based games and need a new strategy game to play. What are your thoughts on Ancient Frontier? Shout out your opinions in the comments below and if you loved this review then you’re going to want to keep returning to our hive here at Honey’s Anime for even more game reviews and articles!