Les Fourmis: our test of the game inspired by Bernard Werber's bestseller

Les Fourmis, a video game inspired by Bernard Werber's novel, developed by Microids and Tower Five, awaits you on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series from November 7, 2024. We've tested it, and we'll tell you all about it!

Have you always wanted to be an ant? Now you can with Les Fourmis, published by Microids and adapted from the work of Bernard Werber, available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series from November 7, 2024. The game is developed by Tower Five, a studio based in La Rochelle, and is built on the Unreal Engine 5 platform.

Les Fourmis (The Ants) is an adventure set in a microscopic world, where players must help a colony of ants to thrive. The objective: to emerge victorious from a number of challenges requiring exploration, tactics and alliances with the local fauna. Werber's novel, La Diagonale des Reines, is brought to life from a new angle through this video game.

In The Ants, players take on the role of a"brave ant", exploring the environment from a third-person view. The game is a combination of action and adventure, allowing players to learn unique abilities that will come in handy in combat and exploration. With increasing difficulty and tutorials for newcomers, the game offers an intuitive experience while offering new game mechanics, strategies and combat techniques for veteran players.

Thanks to the Unreal Engine 5, the game features a certain photorealistic realism, bringing to life the Ile-de-France forest and its local wildlife. The game's maps change with the time of day (day, night, dawn and dusk) and the rhythm of the seasons, offering an ever-renewed gaming experience.

Our review of Les Fourmis :

Playtime: 18h

After several great trailers, we were eagerly awaiting Les Fourmis to see what all the fuss was about... And we weren't disappointed! Graphically speaking, the game is beautiful, very beautiful even, almost photorealistic. A technical feat thanks to the Unreal Engine 5 (and to the talent of the developers, of course) that immerses you without any great difficulty in the little microcosm of ants, from the anthill to the various terrains to be conquered.

A game that could be summed up as a campaign to conquer territories and defend nests from cherche-midi (the gendarmes), termites and other beetles. But no: when it comes to gameplay, the missions offer so many different modes of play that it's almost impossible to get bored. From short missions in search of fireflies to long campaigns against termites... There's something for everyone.

As for the ant you control, it's very easy to handle: 103 683e (as it's called) moves around on the floor, walls and ceilings, and it's particularly fun because it's outside the classic framework of playable characters. And you'll have to think like an ant to get around and avoid various obstacles, including water. You'll also have fun identifying various types of garbage (fruit, soccer balls, plastic cans, etc.) by collecting little white dots, enabling you to complete a collection of "scans" with very amusing references.

The main missions, i.e. conquering territories and defending nests, are also relatively straightforward. Basically, you control various factions of ants or allies (warriors, gunners, workers, aphids and beetles) and have to juggle them all to defeat the termites and take over their nests. Be careful, though: you'll also need to manage your nest by protecting it, creating factions, harvesting wood and food, expanding your larder or even granting yourself "abilities" (faster movement, fury, more effective defense, etc.).

In addition, there are a number of little extras (scout ants to show you the map, traitor termites that give you the location of nests) that are very nice and make everything even more dynamic. In short, a nice game that stands out from the crowd and is well worth a look, for fans of strategy games and other entomologists... A must for the curious.