''Ancestors Legacy'' is a

real-time strategy Real-time strategy (RTS) is a Video game genre, subgenre of strategy video games that do not progress incrementally in turn-based game, turns, but allow all players to play simultaneously, in "real time". By contrast, in Turn-based strategy, turn ...

video game developed by Polish studio Destructive Creations and published by

1C Company 1C Company (russian: Фирма «1С», ) is a Russian software developer, distributor and publisher based in Moscow. It develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software, related services and video games. In Russia, 1C is c ...

. It was released on

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

on May 22, 2018,

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...

and

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...

on August 13, 2019, and

Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...

on June 11, 2020.

Gameplay

''Ancestor's Legacy'' offers two game modes: a single-player campaign scenario or a multiplayer game, in which the player can choose to play one of four civilizations:

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

Anglo-Saxons The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

Teutons The Teutons ( la, Teutones, , grc, Τεύτονες) were an ancient northern European tribe mentioned by Roman authors. The Teutons are best known for their participation, together with the Cimbri and other groups, in the Cimbrian War with th ...

, or

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

(the ''Saladin's Conquest'' DLC adds a fifth civilization, the

Saracen upright 1.5, Late 15th-century German woodcut depicting Saracens Saracen ( ) was a term used in the early centuries, both in Greek and Latin writings, to refer to the people who lived in and near what was designated by the Romans as Arabia Pe ...

s). The game features a day/night cycle which changes the way factions play.

Single-player

The game features one or two campaign scenarios for each civilization. The Anglo-Saxon campaign features the likes of

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ; la, Eduardus Confessor , ; ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was one of the last Anglo-Saxon English kings. Usually considered the last king of the House of Wessex, he ruled from 1042 to 1066. Edward was the son of Æth ...

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

and the

Earl of Huntingdon Earl of Huntingdon is a title which has been created several times in the Peerage of England. The medieval title (1065 creation) was associated with the ruling house of Scotland (David I of Scotland, David of Scotland). The seventh and most rec ...

. For the Vikings campaign the game is set in 793 and is divided into two parts. The first part is set during the raid of

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also called Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important ...

's monastery, an event which is sometimes considered the beginning of the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

and which serves as a

tutorial A tutorial, in education, is a method of transferring knowledge and may be used as a part of a learning process. More interactive and specific than a book or a lecture, a tutorial seeks to teach by example and supply the information to complete ...

. Once the tutorial is completed the other campaigns become available. The second part is set in 892 and is dedicated to

Rurik Rurik (also Ryurik; orv, Рюрикъ, Rjurikŭ, from Old Norse '' Hrøríkʀ''; russian: Рюрик; died 879); be, Рурык, Ruryk was a semi-legendary Varangian chieftain of the Rus' who in the year 862 was invited to reign in Novgoro ...

, a

Varangian The Varangians (; non, Væringjar; gkm, Βάραγγοι, ''Várangoi'';Varangian
" Online Etymo ...

chieftain during the Ladoga campaign. The

and

have one campaign each. During the campaigns, the AI is a better player as it is able to replace losses and send large armies to your base.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer aspect of the game provides ''Domination'' and ''Annihilation'' modes, during which a player can have as many as 10 squads. Multiplayer battles can take place on any of 15 maps, prepared for 2, 4 or 6 players (1v1, 2v2 or 3v3).

Development

''Ancestors Legacy'' was announced as being in development phase on May 10, 2017. Following the announcement, the company launched its first trailer of the game on July 31 which depicted over a 100 battles in a historically-accurate armaments. The game had entered into an open beta phase on February 5, 2018. The game's single player preview beta build was released during

Gamescom Gamescom (stylized as gamescom) is a trade fair for video games held annually at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Since 2018, it has been organised by ''game – Verband der deutschen Games-Branche'' (English: Associa ...

on September 3, 2017. Initially both version supposed to come out on the same day (May 22), but then on August 22, 2018, at

Gamescom 2018 Gamescom (stylized as gamescom) is a trade fair for video games held annually at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Since 2018, it has been organised by ''game – Verband der deutschen Games-Branche'' (English: Associa ...

, it was announced by the

that the Xbox One version is soon to come out.

Updates

In September 2018, Destructive Creations had added a second Slav campaign where the player can lead

Bolesław I the Brave Bolesław I the Brave ; cs, Boleslav Chrabrý; la, Boleslaus I rex Poloniae (17 June 1025), less often known as Bolesław the Great, was Duke of Poland from 992 to 1025, and the first King of Poland in 1025. He was also Duke of Bohemia betw ...

of Poland and his son

Mieszko II Mieszko II Lambert (; c. 990 – 10/11 May 1034) was King of Poland from 1025 to 1031, and Duke from 1032 until his death. He was the second son of Bolesław I the Brave, but the eldest born from his third wife Emnilda of Lusatia. He was proba ...

. In December 2018, Destructive Creations had announced the release of a free-to-download campaign called ''Ancestors Legacy: History of the Teutonic Order''. The campaign, which is made out of five story missions, is divided in two parts. The first part will tell the story of

Herkus Monte Herkus Monte (also Hercus; Old Prussian: ''Erks Mānts''; lt, Herkus Mantas; la, Henricus Montemin) was the most famous leader of the Great Prussian Uprising against the Teutonic Knights and Northern Crusaders. The uprising began in September ...

and his rebellion against the

Teutonic Order The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem, commonly known as the Teutonic Order, is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was formed to aid Christians on ...

during the

Great Prussian Uprising The Prussian uprisings were two major and three smaller uprisings by the Old Prussians, one of the Balts, Baltic tribes, against the Teutonic Knights that took place in the 13th century during the Prussian Crusade. The crusading Military order ( ...

. The second part of the campaign is dedicated to the Commander of the Teutonic Order Konrad von Thierberg and the siege of rebel bastion, the Lidzbark (Lautenburg) Castle. All of the new content is set in the 13th century. In May 2019, Destructive Creations have released a paid DLC titled ''Ancestors Legacy: Saladin's Conquest''. The DLC contains a new nation of

s and mainly a brand new campaign, but this time Ancestors Legacy leaves the European soil and tells a completely different story from the perspective of

Saladin Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سه‌لاحه‌دین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...

, the first sultan of Egypt and Syria. It contains five new missions, 3 new multiplayer maps and new achievements. On May 12, 2020, Polish studio Destructive Creations announced on May 12, 2020, that the game will be released for

on June 11, 2020.

Reception

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

'' had said that despite some historical inaccuracies and some tactical issues, the game was traditional in the RTS form. Lennart Bachmann of ''Big Boss Battle'' criticized its troop and terrain variety as well as mundane base construction, but recommended the game itself.

References

{{Portal bar, Video games 2018 video games 1C Company games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games Real-time strategy video games Unreal Engine games Video games developed in Poland Video games set in the 13th century Video games set in the Viking Age Windows games Xbox One games