"Your queen has set up home beneath a rotting log. She is fat, and vulnerable. Her first brood will need to move quickly if the colony is to survive. Their priority now is to find food, and there is plenty around; but there are other hungry creatures in the undergrowth. The workers will need to be vigilant."
Empires of the Undergrowth is an ant colony management game, in a fast-paced real-time strategy style. The player excavates their nest underground, constructing tunnels and chambers to store food and raise brood. On the surface, the ants claim territory, gather resources, overwhelm fearsome arachnids and clash with other colonies. Nest design, army size, composition and attack timing are key to securing victory.
Missions are narrated from the perspective of a documentary film maker studying the ants, who offers intelligent insight into the goings-on of the colony and the undergrowth beyond. The primary game mode in early access is Formicarium, where you take ownership of a home colony of unique DNA-harvesting ants as they work to assimilate the desirable traits of their foes. You can upgrade them by playing one-off missions, sometimes with your home colony and sometimes with other ant species.
- Carve out and construct your underground nest to suit your strategy
- Engage in fast-paced colony versus colony combat above ground
- Play as different ant species and explore their unique traits and weaknesses
- Encounter and overpower dangerous beetles, arachnids and other awesome arthropods
- Grow your pet formicarium over time by completing missions
Enthoo Evolv ATX TG // Asus Prime x370 // Ryzen 1700 // Gainward GTX 1080 // 16GB DDR4-3200
I was longing for some single-player RTSing and remembered about this game, hoping to re-experience the classic rewarding loop of the good old SimAnt and Empire of the Ants (the 2000 one, not the recent shallow Unreal Engine tech demo) with a pinch of Dungeon Keeper for good measure. Against all odds and despite some warts due to the low budget, the mission was a success
The campaign is varied enough to dodge the feared stale factor thanks to different types of ants that require different playstyles (black, leafcutter, fireants, matabele etc), and helped by the specific themes in place with different enemies/obstacles to overcome. Angry nearby colonies, sturdy beetles, giant bullfrogs, greedy salamanders, surprise scorpions, and a mad scientist orchestrating everything. Although the visuals aren't technically advanced, they come with an authentic atmosphere (kind of) and great attention to detail, surrounded by a catchy OST always dictating the tempo in the background. The game suffers from some awkward artificial difficulty spikes even with all the abilities/tiles fully upgraded (the lack of saving during the long missions can be tiresome as well), however, its mechanics work as intended and for the most part, it's a bug-free huehue ride. 7 hermit crabs and half a sun spider /10
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