Age of Apes

Humanity had a good run, and now the monkeys want the planet and the launchpad. Age of Apes is TAP4FUN's free MMO strategy game from September 2020, in which five rival monkey Hordes build underground outposts, train armies, and race to launch rockets into space in search of the ultimate prize: bananas. It is a 4X city-builder wearing a very charming monkey suit, and the suit is most of the pitch.

What the loop feels like

You inherit an outpost, tap through its construction queues, and set the day's training: Fighters here, Shooters there, a barracks humming. Troops march out to gather iron and food on the shared world map while your Control Center grinds toward the next level gate. You log off with timers running and a convoy inbound. That's Age of Apes.

Then the Horde calls. Someone spots a resource convoy from a rival Horde, and your Alliance chat lights up with rally pings. Your march joins a dozen others, the convoy gets hijacked, and by the time the dust settles you have contributed to the Rocket fund and made an enemy for life. That's Age of Apes.

How it actually works

The skeleton is standard mobile 4X. Base building and resource management anchor the economy, with the Control Center level gating everything else: troop tiers, building caps and advanced research. You train specialized mini-ape units, Fighters, Shooters and Ralliers, into marching armies, and collect Ape Commanders as heroes, each with a combat role like Conqueror, Gatherer, Garrison, Hunter or Leader, plus active skills and talent trees that level through XP, gene potions for star tiers and medals for skill ranks. The overworld is a shared State where you gather, hunt White Mutants in PVE, explore ancient ruins and bosses, and attack or rally against rival player bases. Five legendary Hordes supply the guild structure, convoys supply the drama, and the rocket race supplies the scoreboard.

Where it stumbles

The store reviews say the quiet part loudly: competitive play is pay-to-win. High-tier hero medals and late-game PvP competitiveness lean heavily on spending, and veterans describe top players dictating server politics, with free-to-play players getting farmed if they do not fall in line with the dominant clan. The grind is rigid, with daily alarms and event schedules that behave like attendance requirements rather than suggestions. Casual and PVE players rate the experience far better: the aesthetic is genuinely charming, the hero collection is fun, and short daily check-ins work fine. The all-caps monkey cheerleading in the store copy is also an acquired taste.

Playing it today

Free with in-app purchases on both stores, and still strongly rated by its audience, with more than ten thousand App Store ratings skewing positive even as the competitive end draws fire. Get it on the App Store for iOS or on Google Play for Android. If the post-human strategy angle works for you, our Civilization Clicker entry compresses the same rise-of-a-species arc into a browser tab.

The verdict

A slick, funny-looking monkey 4X with real social machinery and a rocket-shaped endgame. Join a friendly Horde and check in casually, and it shines; try to compete at the top without a wallet, and it bites.