How does this game compare to...

[Al]

I have this game and 'Dawn of Man' on my Wishlist and DoM is currently on sale. When I went to look at it to see if I was still interested, I saw I also had this game,' Ancestors' on my WL, which while not on sale, looks pretty nice.... but how much is looking nice visually in the store page demo videos... and how much is actually good immersive game play?

I'd really like to hear from those that have played both games, what are the main differences between them? What are the main Pros & Cons for Ancestors?

FWIW, I just got a $50 gift card so its one or the other... For now that is; I'll likely keep the other on my wishlist and wait for it to go on sale (or go on sale again....)

[Cougarific]

They're totally different games - you're a proto-hominid just beginning to use tools. Look at the Reviews tab or watch some vids.

[Al]

Yeah I did; the videos on the store page are basically adverts. Reviews are useful to an extent- but I'd like specific input from those that have played both games, what the similarities / differences are, which usually isnt given.

I like the idea of a pre-history setting in general, be it pre-hominid or not, so other than that detail....?

[RCMidas]

Dawn of Man is more akin to an 'Age of Empire' RTS-style game. You are quite removed from the hominins and there is a fair amount of intuitive gameplay involved.

Ancestors is basically a third-person "play as as animal" survival simulator. Almost no information is given to you. It takes time and effort and pain to improve yourself.

[Dinoman]

Dawn of Man is more akin to Banished or Rimworld than to this.

This game is...in a way entirely unique, as the only other game I can think of that even comes close to matching in genre is Wolfquest: Anniversary Edition, but that's a game about learning to hunt and provide for offspring rather than make tools and find news ways of obtaining food.

But that doesn't mean that unique means it's an amazing game. On the contrary, it's...an alright game, but I can't promise you'd get your money's worth as it has next to no replayability. With Dawn of Man there's at least some semblance of randomness in each game, either in where animals spawn, if/when they attack, or when raiders attack and how powerful they are.

On your first run of Ancestors you're going to have to just innovate and use trial and error to work some things out (even though some logical and even very important advancements are missing entirely from the game.)

But once you find those combinations out...that's it. You don't have some insane hurdle to jump through anymore to learn these techniques. You know them, you don't have to relearn them, you just have to regain the neurons to get to that point if you start a new game far enough back. Furthermore, besides one specific Machairodus with each generation change, animals all spawn in almost the exact same place, as do resources, so there's no real variability on what you'll encounter at any given place.

There's nothing to make the game fresh on subsequent playthroughs, at least not without doing something to actively handicap yourself, so while the first playthrough could probably last you a good 10-20 hours...that's all you'll get unless you can find some way to make subsequent ones fun.