IndieSimulationStrategy
Ancient Cities
Give it 7 hours
Gets good by 7h then rated almost like by veterans
Fully opens up by 20h rated like by long-time players
Started playing 77% of owners
Steam reviews 63% positive of 2,176
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 2 reviews are negative (63%); after 20h it's 1 in 4 (24%).
- Fully opens up by hour 20.
- The opening is criticised more than in 92% of games we track.
- 77% of owners got the first achievement.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 2,194 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 298 reviews: 21.4h for positive, 7.4h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (76.9% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
Story milestones aren't labeled yet; all achievements are listed below.
All achievements (30)
- Spring start Starting at spring 100%
- Mesolithic start Starting at Mesolithic 94%
- Sufferer Survive 1 year of gameplay 60%
- Camp (5 houses) Build 5 houses 56%
- Humble tribe (10K of fame) Achieve 10000 points of fame 52%
- Band (25 population) Reach a population of 25 inhabitants 45%
- Known tribe (50K of fame) Achieve 50000 points of fame 42%
- Neolithic start Starting at Neolithic 41%
- Settlement (10 houses) Build 10 houses 39%
- Ice Age start Starting at Ice Age 34%
- Famous tribe (250K of fame) Achieve 250000 points of fame 30%
- Survivor (5 years) Survive 5 years of gameplay 28%
- Mesolithic to Neolithic Your tribe has reached the Neolithic 27%
- Clan (50 population) Reach a population of 50 inhabitants 25%
- Glorious tribe (500K of fame) Achieve 500000 points of fame 24%
- Legendary tribe (1000K of fame) Achieve 1000000 points of fame 17%
- Enduring (10 years) Survive 10 years of gameplay 16%
- Tribe (100 Population) Reach a population of 100 inhabitants 13%
- Architect (Build all buildings) Build all the building types in the game 12%
- Village (25 houses) Build 25 houses 10%
- Atlantis Your tribe has ended up under the sea 9.6%
- Summer start Starting at summer 6.6%
- Winter start Starting at winter 6.5%
- Tenacious (20 years) Survive 20 years of gameplay 5.6%
- Autumn start Starting at autumn 3.9%
- Town (50 houses) Build 50 houses 2.9%
- Tribe (200 Population) Reach a population of 200 inhabitants 2.9%
- Tribe (400 Population) Reach a population of 400 inhabitants 0.8%
- Immortal (50 years) Survive 50 years of gameplay 0.8%
- City (100 houses) Build 100 houses 0.5%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-19.