The common-or-garden ant will take a starring function in 2024 in Empire of the Ants, a brand new real-time technique journey primarily based on the 32-year-old sci-fi novel series of the same name. And because of Epic Video games’ Unreal Engine 5, Empire of the Ants will look actually, actually good. I don’t suppose I’ve ever seen a online game ant look this good, not to mention tons of of them on display screen directly.
Empire of the Ants is ready on the ground of a French forest, the place gamers will take management of the ant often called 103 683rd because it searches for a extra affluent life for its colony. It seems that gamers will management hordes of ants, generally in battle towards foes like a praying mantis, and generally in cooperation with different bugs. “Technique planning, exploration, fight abilities, however most of all, organising native wildlife alliances will likely be essential to survive the numerous challenges awaiting,” the sport’s makers say.
Writer Microids and developer Tower 5 boast of Empire of the Ants’ photorealism in a brand new, first-look teaser trailer launched Friday. They’ve a proper to; filth, pebbles, branches, and forest ground detritus look impressively lifelike, doubtless resulting from using Unreal Engine’s Nanite know-how, which virtualizes micropolygon geometry from belongings primarily based on hundreds of thousands or billions of polygons. There’s some actually nice-looking wooden in right here.
Empire of the Ants is predicated on creator Bernard Werber’s Les Fourmis (The Ants), a 1991 sci-fi novel that tells a parallel story of people in Paris and an ant colony residing in a close-by park — each of which deal with their very own mysteries and challenges. Werber adopted Empire of the Ants with The Day of the Ants in 1992 and The Revolution of the Ants in 1996.
Microids beforehand launched a online game primarily based on Empire of the Ants. That model, a tackle the 3D technique style, was launched on PC platforms in 2000 to blended vital reception. Tower 5 beforehand labored on technique recreation Lornsword Winter Chronicle and the poorly obtained 2020 remake of XIII.
Empire of the Ants is coming to PC and consoles someday in 2024.