Empires of the Undergrowth

Got this game cause I noticed an old acquaintance of mine who was into similar RTS like me had almost 1000 hours in it.
First it didnt look like much.
But then, advancing throug the campaign, I now absolutely see it.
We got
- a fast paced hunt for limited resources
- ever more challenging missions
- pick your fights, weighing invested resources(ants) against the plunder (anything that moves or grows)
- a fight over resource nodes, supply lines, 'cattle'
- entertaining narration and "story" bits
and much more

currently 17 hours in and completely hooked

I love this game, finished partially on extreme dif. I need multiplayer, devs. We all need multiplayer!

This game slaps, hard. After the full release, a lot of the little nitpicks I had disappeared. 100% recommended, at full price.

The game got me genuinely interested in ants and now I'm watching hours of youtube videos about them. Ant biology lends itself surprisingly well to RTS tactics. A lot of work went into the realism and balance of the game, its a real homage to nature. The story mode was also a wild ride, and the ending threw me for a loop. The soundtrack is like they asked the composers to make an album inspired by "The ants go marching one by one" and I love it. Shoutout to Mandalore's unhinged Direct Horse for pointing out this great game!

i really recomend this game 10/10. Also my favorite ant is weaver ants can you put it in the game please, even tho i know that is very difficult, can you still do it please in some future update? Thank also game is incredible.

Highly recommended. Many hours of entertainment. Well worth the money. One of the few games that I have bought that has got better with time. Pretty nice the developers are still updating and expanding the game.

Short Version: The worldbuilding and environment is nice and it's some leaned back fun. Strategical depth is missing for a RTS game in the 30euro league though, so get in on sale.

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I very much enjoy the idea of commanding ants and building the fate of a colony in a world of bugs and plants. The scenario and world building is nice - the gameplay as such is ok only: It lacks depth for a RTS and Base building is very rudimentary.

EDIT: A hint for people playing on mac: Its eats a lot of resources on the mac version, cause in the standard setting vsync is not active. Even though its supposed to be limited to 60FPS max it seems to generate a lot more FPS and thereffore neets a lot of resources. Activate vsync in the vido settings and it will run smooth like a cat..
Many Thanks @hexnet for the troubleshooting

I love this game so much. The gameplay is solid, the environments are stunning, voice acting and animations are great, and the music MY GOD THE MUSIC. Please, by the game, it's worth the money

took me a few hours to realize it's Real Time Strategy.

you don't need to realize its an RTS to complete it. the difficulty scales well with your aggression, so pacing generally is up to your control. most levels can be beaten multiple ways.

its a very fun game about ants. leafworker ant > gunner. ant theme is very good. very well done, complete affordable game and was an instant-buy for me.

Laid back RTS, with straightforward gameplay.

This is one of those games that only an indie company could make.  I didn't know I needed an RTS with ants in my life, but here I am.  If this was any large company the idea would have gotten squashed in committee by the efforts of some marketing gigolo referencing the falling sales of ant farms in domestic markets; and suggest they make an RTS based on tiktok influencer pranks.

Anyways, the gameplay is simple, with players more or less tasked with making 2 types of decisions: where to gather resources, and what unit composition to go with.  This simplicity in choice however remains fun through the story and challenge modes due to  the variety offered between scenarios.  On one level, you are playing as leafcutter ants and having to scavenge leave sources and beating back army ants; on another level you may play as termites seeking to outlast your sister colonies as you all are besieged by Matabelee ants with their specialized medic units. 

Music and sound effects are good; the voice acting, in this ANT GAME, is amazing!  The narrator will hype you up over the horrific Cthulian powers of toads and spiders, and manage to sneak "natural wonders" facts in about them as well.  Good stuff. Oh, the main ANTagonist in the storyline does a great job as well.

Replayability is medium.  Story is short, but can be re-played through with different difficulties, modifiers, and active challenges.  The extra scenarios and levels are fun too!

Pick it up if you like RTS games and the natural world!

Watching ants at work is truly fascinating. And this title could've been the best game in my steam library but it fell short. Why? The game RESETS your current play when you ALT-TAB through windows with dual display.. I mean come on.. REALLY?! WHY?! So many countless hours wasted doing the same missions OVER and OVER and OVER. WTF?! FIX THIS PROBLEM!

Other than that.. 10/10, would grind again.

Game has a lot of bugs but in a good way.

I love the game... shame that the main story came to an end

I bought it thinking it was a little expensive in offer and I have to say that if I would have known how the game is made I would have bought the game without offer lol... It's crazy good and funny!

Definitely recommend. Fun building & RTS combat, good looking units, clear gameplay, easy to understand. Good voice acting, doesn't overdo it on the lore ideas, lets you get straight to the fun parts.

The talent system isn't super deep so far, but I thought building colonies and beefing up ants was easy fun.

Honestly this is one of the more fun RTS games I've ever played.
I cannot imagine getting this hyped playing some other games.
Its a hidden gem of a game so to say.

I love my ants.

The only issues I had:
Sometimes ants are not responsive
Not enough control groups

Possible improvements:
Coop
Workshop/map editor

The soundtrack slaps so hard on this that I would still play it so I can hear more of that trombone even if the gameplay itself sucked. Good thing the gameplay is as good as the music! I would have been willing to pay full price for this, and so it's currently a huge steal at only $15 in the current sale.

Edit: I just beat the campaign and all I can say is LOL 10/10 best ending for a game in a while. Whoever story-boarded this campaign needs a raise!

This game takes it self only as seriously as ants do.... In other words it is TIME TO RULE THE WORLD AND DEFEAT EVERYTHING IN OUR PATH....!

It is fun!

This Delivered to me a modern day experience of what I played when I was a kid with SimAnt, it's a lovely RTS that has great challenges for those who like to play with difficulty and with ease.

Similar Games: Dungeon Keeper, Starcraft, War For the Overworld, Dungeons.

You get to form your colony with a fictional ant species that *adopts* other species to their ranks with a silly but educational story through the campaign missions. A lot of care went into this game and you can see it.

The smol and tiny perspective: The world is shown to you from the colony's perspective amassing scale for what these little insects experience in their day-to-day lives. The game has some seriously large scale bosses that only an empowered colony could conquer with a bullfrog, and a pseudoscorpion along with their highly organized cousins like the army ants. If anything the game gives a bit of insight into these magnificent bugs and their challenges. In the ant kingdom, just like the zerg in starcraft, numbers conquer all.

These little critters have been my favorite since i was a kid, and was happy to experience them again with a challenge much later.

This game is very fun and interesting to play and the only thing that would make it better would be a coop mode.

Addictive! Actually not easy at all, educational, great graphics and anatomically defensible insects. It's got humor, an interesting combat style, a good story. It handles very smoothly: rather than direct attacks, you can easily send your ants where you want them to go and they'll sort themselves out. I used to own Empire of the Ants a long time ago, which was unplayable due to bugs (pun intended) and this game is all that game tried to be and more. Finally a good RTS featuring ants.

for once we are the bugs , great game

I love this game I played this game back in 2020 before the full version and have been following it update by update if you love strategy and masses of body slamming into enemy's this is the game for you

Whatever brought you here, to look at an RTS about ants? That's enough to know you'll love it. Give it a try :)

I mean... look at my hours played XD

Bought in Early Access, followed all the way through. A great little company doing what they loved, with much feedback and community engagement. Bravo

just not a lot of game here, the variety is annoying, its like every faction gets 2 units, there's no real flexibility, the scale of the game doesn't match the general vibe. idk. underwhelming. worth max 5 dollars. which is whtas annoying. feels like a really good idea with very poor finalization/execution.

A very pleasant surprise:

The premise is pretty simple. Acquire food resources, spend the resources on spawning more ants or upgrading existing ants. Use those ants to acquire more resources.

The first two missions are pretty basic. I really thought to myself: "man, is this it? What a waste of money". But as you progress through the stages, the game introduces more complexity, very different types of colonies each having their own unique way of acquiring resources, and with different win conditions. The fire ant missions were my favorite.

If you like RTS games with a focus on the campaign/story with more of a focus on resource management and base building rather than micromanagement, then you'll like this game. I personally loved games like They Are Billions, Northgard and I'd place this game up there.

Kudos to the developers. Thank you for making an amazing game.
This game slowly introduces

It's like starcraft with a few levels, but not 'territory expansion' like a 'strategy' game.
I was hoping for infinite empire, I got deranged scientists wasting my time.

if you are reading this this means you either are thinking about buying the game or already have it for those who are looking to buy it heres some stuff you need to know
the games story is perfect and just not what you would expect its good i recomend doing story first then freeplay i think it helped me alot with learning on how to make better nest layout and such

story was pretty good aswell as many options in custom games. been wanting this game for years one of the first things i bought when i finally made the switch from console to Pc overall great and well made games

this game is awesome kinda like a city builder but you build up your colony and attack the other ants and other aniamals the ants fight everything and you get to learn somethings about others

its fun and interesting like age of empires it has diverse species and play styles that come with them. i've played a lot of it but it sadly doesnt have multiplayer it would be much better with multiplayer. if the devs see this plz add multiplayer it would make it so much more fun

Easily one of my all time favorite games in recent times, its got replay value and is a solid choice if anyone is looking for a master class RTS game. Its got many levels with unique ant species with a unique challenge facing each species. If you like ants you'll like this one. From the story mode to the extra levels to the free play mode the game has, hell if you wanna take your main story colony into free play then you can. The voice acting is phenomenal as well and allows you to keep tabs on places you aren't always looking.

The only con I can find is if you lack time then some missions may be a pain for some people.

I could keep going on and on about the positives of this game but i'll leave it at this, if you are REALLY unsure about it then check the demo out.

I really enjoyed this game but there seemed to be little depth to most of the scenarios if you're strategy game literate. I'd still recommend it if you want a unique bite sized RTS, quite fun.

Once of the best strategy games I've played. I highly recommend this game! WARNING! It's very addicting.

Exceptionally well made game. It's a fairly simple RTS, but tuned to be rather difficult so don't be afraid to set easy mode if you want a more casual experience. Expect quite a few losses if you play on normal difficulty, but it's not overly frustrating and very rewarding when you do finally win. It's fun from start to finish, but leaf-cutters vs army ants was the stage where I became a fan.

The developers put a LOT of polish into this, and it really shines.

A defining difficulty forces a different play style for each species. The game is very entertaining for a RTS about ant colonies, but be prepared to struggle on medium difficulty.

This is one one of the best games ever i played i have 499 hours on it for a reason and i just want to say this i want more chapters theres so much for this game.

There isn't really a tech tree as such and the gameplay is simple... But it's a great deal more than just that. Early missions introduce concepts, the use of different species widen the elements you need to grasp to complete a stage and the science lab sections between missions are pleasingly characterful.

I don't know that it completely holds together and there's definitely room for it to be more, but it was well worth the price for the amount of entertainment it provided and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I wish I could recommend this game.
I *adore* the concept. The lovingly-rendered tiny bug friends, the mad scientists narrating their lil' hoard, the attention to detail in ant species and castes and behavior, the fact all this reflects in the gameplay - it's all wonderful! There are velvet worms in this game!!!
But the difficulty is where this game really falters.
For some reason the devs decided this should be a "hardcore" RTS, so the levels get Hard.
That's the first problem. I'm not sure the average scuttler fan is also interested in a steep difficulty curve and meticulous planning and execution - I feel like a chiller, more exploration-based game would have capitalized on that better.
I'm that rare scuttler-appreciating strategy fan though so I guess that's ok.
Unfortunately, I still didn't enjoy it. The the lack of quality of life features like being able to pause to issue orders or save mid-level, combined with unpredictable spikes in enemies, makes higher difficulties a matter of just replaying the same level over and over and over again. I also find myself frustrated how often the optimal strat is just "make a bigger swarm" rather than creative use of upgrades or unit types, and abusing the AI is considered necessary.
Further, a dev's use of the phrase "you're going to have to sweatlord it" has put me off the game in general.

So unfortunately, I can only recommend this game if you're a "sweatlord".

A really excellent and original RTS. Gameplay wise it's quite reminiscent of Dungeon Keeper, in that you dig your colony out from the surrounding area but have to be careful about how quickly you spread, as you can break into chambers that contain dangerous creatures. Gameplay usually starts by cautiously building up your colony and not expanding too fast, then reaching a critical mass where you can overwhelm the bigger predators. There is an interesting meta-game too, where you play a longstanding game in a lab and slowly expand it in-between matches. The matches are each hand-crafted and unique challenges, and are fun (and tough) to beat, often requiring an initial playthrough to figure out the challenge.
Really the best thing about the game though is the unique theme, and the obvious passion the developers have for insects and meticulous research they've clearly done. This elevates the game and makes it a truly unique RTS base builder that I have found addictive and educational in equal measure!

Love it even when my own incompetance at the game drives me to madness hopefully though they have some dlc planned and some more ant species to add.. Epsecially like the inclusion of Termites not a fan of the lack of other options as far as none ant options and they didn't add Marauder ants as far ants yet.

This game is epic. You will start off with the story mode and progress through many levels with as many ant species. With a custom narrator helping explain what's going on with the broad perspective, you don't have to worry about missing any small details. Very good ant army simulator, highly recommend :)

Very fun, but i cant beat formicarium challenge 3/4 (forgot which one it is)

I'm not really an rts guy so I don't really know what this game does that's different or the same to other modern rts games. It's got a pretty simple real-time mechanic that can be applied to a variety of scenarios that gradually expand in complexity and demands on the player to strategise and think ahead. One highlight is "rising tide" where the player has the choice of protecting aphids outside the colony entrance from bigger bugs and farming their honey or leaving the aphids to be carried off and conserving their forces. There's a lot of freedom in how you want to level up, rarely do you not have a choice between which missions to play to get more food / territory / "jelly" for your home colony.

I dig it

:)

Empire of the undergrowth is a bit rough around the edges but an RTS where you play ants definitely scratches an itch.

I liked:
- The diversity of ants and insects. It shows that the developers really liked the theme of the game.
- The voice actors and the narration are very enjoyable.
- The soundtrack is amazing. A bit reminiscent of the soundtrack of Impossible Creatures.

I disliked:
- The micromanagement being tedious. The delay in the ants direction when moving the pheromones and the absence of waypoints lead to frustrating playtime in scenarios that are micromanagement heavy.
- The formicarium being changed three times during the main story. It adds nothing to the story and causes boring playtime where you watch your ants go get food for an hour. All of that to recreate exactly the same nest you had in the previous formicarium.
- The HUD/UI needs some more work. Some fonts are hard to read and the layering of information on screen is sometimes messy and important information for decision making become hidden behind other information or behind elements of the scenery.