Exploring any world no matter how big or small is always exciting. Imagine though exploring it through the lens of an ant, getting a window into a bug’s life if you will. In AntVentor players get to explore the Macroworld and guide FlorANTin, an inventor ant, on his quest to chase his dreams beyond the confines of his anthill.
AntVentor is the first chapter in the planned Antrilogy from developer LoopyMood, a point and click adventure full of humour, crafting and clever puzzles to solve.
FlorANTin’s thoughts are visually displayed via thought bubbles that also cleverly provide hints about current objectives. AntVentor has a handful of small areas to explore and navigate and like most point and click titles, players can expect to backtrack a lot in order to solve puzzles when new key items have been found. As each area is so small it fails to feel tiresome, and the striking environmental design is so charming and rich with details that each pass I felt like I was noticing things I’d missed before.
There are only a handful of characters to interact with but every one of them is essential to progression, either by having a key item or an action to turn an existing item into something else. Each of these characters are doing something amusing or need to be interacted with in a comical way. The overall light hearted tone in which the Macroworld is presented for FlorANTin to explore is great and alleviates the frustration and tedium that may otherwise come with backtracking and searching for items.
Completing AntVentor shouldn’t take more than an hour for most players and with a useful hint system in place to help the more casual players the experience isn’t too challenging. The downside to the brevity of AntVentor is the world is so visually and characteristically interesting that it’s difficult to walk away without wanting more. As this is only chapter one of the intended Antrilogy hopefully the other instalments manage to satisfy the desire more. Based on the quality of this first entry it’s likely to only get better.
The photorealistic imagery for parts of the environment blends well with the cartoony art design of the characters and objects that can be interacted with. The Macroworld is so joyful and charming on all visual fronts and an appropriately light and upbeat score keeps the overall tone light and fun.
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DAYNE for One More Game
7 – Good – This is an all-round solid game that delivers some features really well. It’s a game that most gamers will likely enjoy. If you’re not a fan of the game or genre then you may want to wait for a deal before picking it up.
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AntVentor was reviewed on an Xbox Series X and is also available for purchase on Xbox One/Series S, Nintendo Switch and PC.
This review can also be found at Games of DAYNE at the link here.
A digital code was kindly provided by the Publisher for the purpose of this review. Our thoughts are ours and ours alone.