Empires of the Undergrowth

Empires of the Undergrowth is a PC real-time strategy and colony-management game about building ant nests, directing insect armies, and keeping a queen alive against predators, rival colonies, and hostile underground creatures. The current Steam, GOG, and Epic storefront listings continue to use the same name, with no verified rebrand or replacement edition. Developed by Slug Disco and published by Hooded Horse, it combines hex-based nest construction, resource management, tactical swarming, and a documentary-style campaign.

Build the nest, feed the queen, control the swarm

The central loop begins underground. You excavate soil around the queen, place brood chambers, storage areas, and connecting passages, then send workers above ground to collect food. Food is more than a construction resource: it also fuels the production of new workers and soldiers, so every expansion competes with the need to reinforce the colony.

The game uses an angled top-down perspective designed for observing large groups rather than controlling individual ants. Units from the same chamber form control groups, while pheromone markers direct those groups toward food, threats, entrances, or attack routes. You can adjust whether a group gathers, attacks, or mounts creatures, which makes positioning and task priorities more important than simply selecting an army and clicking an enemy.

Colony survival depends on logistics as much as combat. Workers must excavate and build in the correct order, carry food back through the nest, and keep enough resources available for eggs to develop. Soldiers cannot perform nest jobs, so a colony with too many fighters may defend itself well but fail to produce the food needed for continued growth.

Ant species and tactical systems

Different colonies are built around different biological strengths. The story introduces the gene-thief ant Formica ereptor, while other scenarios and modes feature species such as wood ants, fire ants, leafcutter ants, and termites. Each type changes how you gather resources, organize chambers, handle threats, and approach battles.

Upgrading is tied to nest layout. Similar tiles form chambers, and adjacent structures contribute upgrade points to nearby tiles. Higher-level tiles improve capacity and unit performance, while highway tiles increase movement speed through the nest. This creates a practical design puzzle: a compact chamber may be efficient to upgrade, but a badly placed nest can slow reinforcements and make emergency defense harder.

Combat is automatic once units engage, but it is not passive. You decide which groups respond, where they rally, whether they retreat, and how much risk the colony can afford. Enemies range from rival ants to beetles, spiders, amphibians, and other creatures that can overwhelm poorly prepared colonies. The best approach often involves controlling access routes, timing sorties, and protecting workers instead of chasing every target.

Players who enjoy colony systems where construction and survival are inseparable may also appreciate systems-heavy colony simulations like Oxygen Not Included, although Empires of the Undergrowth focuses much more strongly on real-time combat and swarm control.

Story, Arcade, and custom play

The narrative campaign combines laboratory scenes about the gene-thief ants with nature-documentary segments focused on real ant species and their environments. Missions use different objectives rather than one continuous city-building map. Depending on the scenario, you may need to gather a resource, survive enemy waves, eliminate a target, clear an area, or protect the queen while the colony expands.

Mission difficulty can be adjusted, and replay value comes from improving colony layouts, completing optional objectives, and attempting stronger challenge settings. The campaign is therefore closer to a sequence of focused RTS scenarios than to an open-ended city builder.

Arcade mode provides repeatable battles and seasonal challenges against AI forces, while custom games let you adjust the colony and scenario setup. These modes are useful when you want to test a species, experiment with nest geometry, or practice a particular defensive approach without progressing through the narrative structure.

There is no traditional character-leveling party or conventional technology tree covering a human civilization. Progress comes from learning species roles, improving nest architecture, managing food routes, and understanding how each mission changes the value of workers, soldiers, and terrain.

Base game and paid content

Empires of the Undergrowth is a paid single-player game rather than a free-to-play title. The base game contains the main story, arcade challenges, custom games, multiple ant and termite colonies, and the core nest-building systems.

The current paid add-on lineup is compact. Exploding Ants adds two playable species and two extra missions: one centered on an exploding ant colony and another built around an exploding termite colony. The added species are also usable in arcade and custom modes, while some related units become available through story progression.

The Supporter Pack is primarily bonus content rather than a major campaign expansion. It includes an alternate gene-thief ant skin, an in-game sound widget, music, wallpapers, creature portraits, and emoji assets. Players who want the full gameplay experience do not need it to access the main colony systems.

For a broader settlement-management comparison with automated workers and production networks, colony-building strategy games such as The Colonists share the planning side of Empires of the Undergrowth, but they do not offer the same swarm combat or queen-defense pressure.

Who should play it?

This is a strong fit for PC players who enjoy single-player RTS campaigns, unusual colony simulations, resource pressure, and battles where positioning matters more than direct unit micromanagement. The theme is distinctive, but the underlying challenge is serious: a poor food route, weak chamber design, or badly timed attack can destabilize the entire colony.

It is less suitable for players looking for competitive multiplayer, co-op, split-screen, or a relaxed decorative builder. The game is built around repeated mastery of missions and systems. You will often restart, redesign a nest, change a pheromone assignment, and try the same scenario with a better understanding of its threats.

Players who prefer direct character control may also find the command model unusual. You do not normally select individual ants and issue conventional movement orders. Instead, you manage chambers, pheromone groups, rules of engagement, and colony priorities while the insects execute those instructions.

PC features, input, and storefront differences

The PC interface is designed primarily for keyboard and mouse, especially for excavation, tile placement, upgrades, chamber organization, and pheromone commands. Gamepad support is available, including support for controllers with a trackpad documented in later updates, but mouse precision remains the more natural choice for detailed nest management.

The game is single-player and current storefront listings do not advertise online multiplayer, local co-op, split-screen, or competitive matchmaking. No multiplayer anti-cheat system is presented as part of the PC offering. Steam provides platform features such as achievements, cloud support, trading cards, and family sharing, while the GOG edition is offered DRM-free and can be played without the GOG Galaxy client.

Localization is broader than English-only strategy releases. The storefront listings identify English audio and interface support alongside text localization for languages including German, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Russian, French, Czech, Dutch, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Italian, Hungarian, Traditional Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Brazilian Portuguese. Latin American Spanish is listed as text-only on the current language data.

Players who want a more conventional survival settlement with exploration and specialist teams may prefer real-time colony survival games such as Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation. Empires of the Undergrowth is more specialized, trading character management for biological roles, swarm tactics, and nest geometry.

Empires of the Undergrowth FAQ

Is Empires of the Undergrowth still sold under the same name?

Yes. The current PC storefront listings continue to use Empires of the Undergrowth. No verified renamed edition, rebrand, or replacement title needs to be used when searching for the game.

Is Empires of the Undergrowth multiplayer or co-op?

No. The current listings identify it as a single-player strategy game and do not advertise online multiplayer, local co-op, or split-screen modes.

What is the main gameplay objective?

You build and expand a nest, gather food, hatch workers and soldiers, direct them with pheromone groups, complete mission objectives, and protect the queen. Losing the queen ends the mission.

Does the base game include the main story and custom modes?

Yes. The paid base game includes the narrative campaign, arcade challenges, custom games, and the core ant and termite colony systems. The Exploding Ants add-on supplies additional species and missions, while the Supporter Pack is mainly cosmetic and audio content.

Can you control individual ants?

Normally, no. Units are organized through chambers and control groups. You assign groups to pheromone categories, place markers, and adjust rules such as gathering and attacking rather than issuing every ant a separate order.

Is a controller supported on PC?

Gamepad support is available, but keyboard and mouse are the more practical input choice for excavation, nest construction, upgrades, and pheromone management.

What languages are supported?

The PC versions support English audio and interface features, with additional interface and subtitle localization across several European and Asian languages. Latin American Spanish is listed as text-only in the current language information.