Empires of the Undergrowth Review Summary

A classic RTS with diverse ant species and excellent music, but plagued by no mid-mission saves, frequent crashes, and excessively long missions.

Diverse ant species roster: The game features a vast variety of ant species with distinct abilities, plus termites, making the roster feel detailed and diverse. Players appreciate the educational aspect and the coolness of seeing different ants in action.

Magnificent and fun overall: The game receives high overall praise for being magnificent, very fun, and a work of art with top-tier, smooth gameplay. General sentiment is extremely positive across the board.

Classic yet unique RTS: It is consistently praised as a classic-style RTS with a wonderfully unique setting, with many calling it a must-play favorite in the genre. The fresh perspective and charming execution stand out to fans.

Excellent ant-colony RTS: Players love the game for being a highly enjoyable and unique ant-colony RTS with a fun campaign and captivating strategic gameplay. It is often praised as one of the best games in this niche genre.

Lots of levels and extra content: There are tons of levels including creative extra content and a harder post-campaign, ensuring plenty of variety and extended playtime. Players appreciate the lack of repetition.

No mid-mission saves: Multiple clusters highlight the frustration of being unable to save progress during missions, which is compounded by long mission durations and challenges like food scarcity. This design flaw forces players to complete lengthy segments in one sitting.

Lack of game content: Players consistently express a desire for more content, citing a short campaign and repetitive missions. New expansions with additional ant species, biomes, or other enhancements are requested.

Excessively long missions: Missions and levels are consistently described as taking a very long time, ranging from 40–50 minutes to 3–4 hours. This time commitment makes the game unsuitable for quick play sessions and can be a barrier to enjoyment.

No multiplayer options: Players consistently report that the game lacks any multiplayer, cooperative, or online modes. This absence is a notable omission for those seeking shared gameplay experiences.

Unbalanced high difficulty: The game's difficulty is criticized as being overly high and unevenly balanced, with some reports of it becoming nearly unplayable even on the normal setting. This inconsistency harms the gameplay experience.

Ant colony RTS core: Players describe the game as a real-time strategy title centered on managing an ant colony, gathering food, expanding the nest, and fighting other insects. The core loop of building and controlling an ant colony is the most frequently mentioned feature.

Multiple ant species playable: The game features different ant species such as leafcutters, wood ants, fire ants, and matabele ants, each with unique abilities and playstyles. This variety adds strategic depth.

Simple yet strategic RTS: The game is described as a real-time strategy experience with a campaign, skirmish mode, and map editor, but with simpler mechanics and less micromanagement than traditional RTS games. This makes it accessible.

Educational about natural ants: The game is noted for educating players about real ant species and insect behaviors while being a strategy game. This educational aspect is appreciated.

Story campaign and extra levels: A story campaign with narrated scenarios is provided, along with extra levels and post-game content. This gives structure and narrative context.

Frequent crashes and freezes: Several reports indicate the game crashes or freezes frequently, often during specific scenarios like level 3.2, loading custom saves, or when many ants are on screen. These crashes range from random freezes to entire OS lockups requiring a restart.

Lag with large armies: Performance drops significantly with large armies, big maps, or many colonies, even on high-end systems. Users report lag from termite queens, environmental enemies, or reaching certain colony sizes, with GPU/CPU not fully utilized.

Low GPU/CPU utilization: General optimization complaints include low GPU/CPU usage (3-6%), low temperatures (53-58C), and only 60 fps on RTX 3050. Users feel the game is not well-optimized despite moderate hardware.

Good performance on mid-range: Multiple users report smooth performance on low settings or mid-range GPUs like GTX 1660, with stable 57-60 fps. Some mention occasional frame drops but overall good optimization.

Poor performance on old hardware: On low-end laptops or older hardware, frame rates drop to 10-20 fps, while minimum requirement laptops achieve 60 fps. This suggests inconsistent optimization across different low-spec hardware.

Strongly recommended for RTS fans: The game is particularly praised by fans of real-time strategy, base building, and resource management, who find it deeply engaging.

Highly recommended for ant lovers: The game is highly recommended for ant enthusiasts, myrmecologists, and fans of nature, with multiple specific endorsements.

Great for insect and nature fans: Players suggest the game is perfect for those who enjoy insect documentaries combined with RTS gameplay, especially ant colony management.

Recommend buying on sale: Some players recommend waiting for a sale to get the best value, particularly if not fully committed at full price.

Highly recommend the base game: The base game itself is highly recommended, with players suggesting it's a great overall experience.

Community fair range: $8.00 - $20.00.

Story completion: 22.0h.

Empire of the Undergrowth receives mixed reactions regarding its time-to-fun profile: some players find it immediately addictive and fun, while others report significant early frustration due to a steep learning curve, high difficulty after the tutorial, and repetitive initial gameplay. Many who persist report that the game becomes highly engaging after learning mechanics and unlocking more ant species.

Friction: high difficulty spike after tutorial; unclear mission hints; steep learning curve; clunky UI; no mid-mission save; initial repetitive gameplay.

Unlock drivers: learning game mechanics; unlocking additional ant species; understanding mission objectives; practicing first level.

RTS Strategy Veteran: Methodical, planning-oriented, focusing on base building and tactical unit control. Motivation: Strategic challenge and satisfying RTS mechanics with colony management. Stance: buy.

Ant Enthusiast Nature Lover: Immersive and exploratory, enjoying the documentary-style story and realistic ant behavior at a relaxed pace. Motivation: Love for ants and insects, desire to learn about them in an engaging game format. Stance: buy.

Grind-Aware Completionist: Goal-oriented, seeking to complete achievements and maximize upgrade efficiency, often frustrated by grind. Motivation: Achievement hunting and efficient progression despite repetitive grind. Stance: sale.

Performance is generally positive for lower VRAM Windows systems, but higher VRAM configurations show mixed results due to severe late-game stutter and occasional system crashes.

Windows <8GB VRAM: positive. Most users report smooth gameplay, though some experience crashes when loading saves.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: mixed. The game runs well initially but suffers from severe stutter in late-game with multiple extreme AI, despite low GPU/CPU usage.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: positive. Runs smoothly without performance complaints.

Steam Deck: Recent updates have introduced severe control issues on Steam Deck, with users unable to navigate menus and encountering button conflicts. While earlier reviews praised the game's performance and fun factor, the latest patch has broken compatibility for many. Occasional crashes and save problems further diminish the experience. Overall, the game currently requires significant workarounds or keyboard input, resulting in high friction.

Linux and Proton: The game runs well on Linux via Proton and on Steam Deck, with most reviews reporting great performance and no major compatibility blockers. The only negative signal is a single crash after 3 hours and consistent frame rate drops on one specific level (Termites), which appears to be an isolated or minor issue rather than a systemic Linux failure.

Monetization: User feedback focuses on the value and quality of a $5 DLC (Exploding Ants). While some players feel the content should have been a free update or lacks polish, the overall monetization model is traditional DLC with no microtransactions, pay-to-win elements, or predatory design. Most players report a positive willingness to buy more DLC to support the developers.

External guides: The game lacks clear in-game explanations, causing players to rely on external guides for high-difficulty content and achievements. Users report the interface as incomprehensible and unhelpful.

Desire story continuation: Players hope the story continues in future updates or sequels, showing investment in the game's narrative.

Need influencer promotion: A player wants the game to be promoted by influential content creators to reach a larger audience.

Developer UK joke: A player made a joke about the developer's location in the UK, indicating a lighthearted comment about geography.

Gifted copy received: A player mentioned receiving a gifted copy of the game, which may affect their review perspective.