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The RPS Verdict: Ancient EnemyBath time
Bath time
Nate:“Uno, but the Banner Saga”. That’s my take. It’s a game about knocking cards off a big pile, based on which ones have numbers one lower or higher than the one you’re holding. But you’re a depressed, tired wizard.
Matt:Can we talk about the wizard first? I want him out of the way. He’s a resurrected mage from olde times, now back to undo the apocalypse. The entire story is him just rolling up to places and saying something dreary about how alone and sad he is. It’s a shame, because I was interested in the idea of exploring British folklore, but wound up skimming past pretty much all of it. Once you’ve seen one fungal boar, you’ve seen them all.
Nate:I mean, it’s good melancholy! It’s probably not cool for me to praise it too highly, cos of the aforementioned thing about who wrote it, but it’s properly forlorn and really sets the mood. That’s why Banner Saga came to mind, to be honest. Though I do agree with you; the whole thing about corrupted fey creatures was really interesting, and I kept hoping it was going to plunge into full bizarro Arthurianism, but pretty much the whole story comprised scene-setting vignettes.
Matt:That wasn’t the only way it failed to blossom into something more, sadly. I did enjoy myself overall, but murder Mahjong gets awfully samey. The flow of useful new tools and ideas seemed to dry up, and I wound up going into every battle with the same loadout.
Matt:Nope!
Nate:Also, the potions and stuff… now, it might just be me, but I find that potions are useless in probably 75% of the games that include them. They always give the impression of being too rare to squander, but then go on to clog up your inventory because you’re hoarding them. And inAncient Enemy, they have the added downside of ending your turn when you use them - so I found it was almost always a better idea to honk up a big combo to get in a giant attack, than use one.
Nate:Yeah, it’s a tricky one. For my part, I would have liked to have seen the narrative woven in to the puzzles a bit more, maybe? Like, when a gate opened, old Misery Wizard could have found - I don’t know - the bum bones of his old favourite hound or something, and had a ghost dog to help him for the rest of the puzzle. And there we are: the puzzle stages were effective but a bit bland, and the fights were exciting but bogged down with unnecessary features. And yet… I really enjoyed it all?
Matt:Comparing games to baths feels a bit rote, nowadays, but I think that’s exactly the type of relaxation you’re describing. I got that too! It feels cosy, predictable, satisfying. But I think for me the water goes tepid too quickly.
Nate:It’s a recommend from me, but perhaps a situational one. I played through most of Ancient Enemy in one sitting, on a weird Easter Monday stuck inside during a pandemic, and it was just what I needed. This is a time when simple, satisfying, brain-consuming games are worth their weight in gold, and it’s neither here nor there that it fell short of being the next Slay The Spire. The basic card game is a good’un, it’s solidly moody, and that’s enough. My mum used to spend adevastatingamount of time playing FreeCell Solitaire on an iPad, and she would have properly rinsed this game. I think it’s a good game for mums.
Matt:It says a lot that you played it through in one sitting, while a chapter every evening was more than enough to leave me sated. But yes, I’m with you on the mum thing. If your mum is into Sudoku or fungal boars, please show her Ancient Anemone.
Disclosure: as mentioned above, Jim Rossignol, a founder of Rock Paper Shotgun, wrote story and dialogue material for Ancient Enemy.
