Empires of the Undergrowth Review Summary

Diverse and realistic ant behaviors: The game offers a variety of ant species, each with unique behaviors and mechanics. Players appreciate the realistic and detailed portrayal of ants, enhancing the gameplay experience.

High praise for game quality: Players consistently describe the game as incredible, high-quality, and entertaining. The graphics, soundtrack, and level design are frequently highlighted as standout features.

Challenging and varied levels: The game features challenging levels that require careful management and strategy. The variety in levels and objectives keeps the gameplay engaging.

Unique RTS experience: The game is praised as a unique and well-made RTS experience. It is suitable for both RTS fans and beginners, offering a fun spin on the genre.

Educational and immersive: The game introduces players to the world of ants and insects, offering educational aspects and immersive gameplay. It is suitable for insect enthusiasts and those interested in learning about ant species.

No save or pause features: The game lacks essential quality-of-life features such as the ability to save progress, pause, or use shortcuts. This includes no auto-save feature and limited save options, which frustrates players, especially during long missions.

Difficult and frustrating achievements: Achievements in the game are perceived as too difficult, tedious, and sometimes even unbearable. Players find achievement hunting repetitive and annoying, with some achievements being too challenging and time-consuming.

Repetitive and long missions: Missions in the game are often repetitive and can be quite long, leading to a sense of tedium. This repetitiveness, combined with the length of missions, can make the gameplay feel grindy and less engaging.

Lack of multiplayer mode: The game is exclusively single-player, lacking any multiplayer functionality. This absence of a multiplayer mode is a significant drawback for players who enjoy cooperative or competitive gameplay.

AI needs improvement: The AI in the game is seen as very simple and in need of improvement. Occasional AI behavior bugs and inconsistencies can detract from the overall gaming experience.

Diverse ant species and strategies: The game offers a variety of ant species, each with unique abilities and behaviors. Players can manage and control different types of ants, adding complexity and strategic depth to the gameplay.

Ant colony management: Players can operate and expand their ant colonies, involving tasks such as building tunnels, collecting food, and coordinating worker ants. The game emphasizes realistic ant behaviors and colony survival.

RTS gameplay mechanics: The game incorporates real-time strategy elements, including resource management, colony battles, and strategic gameplay. Players can engage in various game modes and challenges.

Story-driven campaign: The game features a story-driven campaign with interesting missions and objectives. The campaign follows the development of an ant colony and offers diverse story levels.

Strategic mission design: Missions are designed around ant survival and strategic gameplay. Players must use different strategies and ant species to overcome challenges and objectives.

Performance and Optimization Issues: Many players report various performance issues, including FPS drops, game freezing, and crashing. These problems are particularly noticeable during large battles or when many units are on screen. Some players attribute these issues to the game being in early access.

Positive Optimization Feedback: Several players have praised the game's optimization, noting that it runs well even on weaker machines and does not excessively drain hardware resources. Some players report stable performance at high resolutions and settings.

Graphics Quality Feedback: Opinions on graphics quality vary, with some players reporting issues while others praise the game's visuals. Specific mentions include remastered scenes and updated textures, as well as optimized ant models and enemy details.

MacOS Specific Issues: Players on macOS have reported specific issues such as frequent crashing and pointer registration problems. These issues seem to be unique to macOS users.

Control and Hardware Issues: Some players have reported issues with mouse controls, making the game less enjoyable on PC. Additionally, there are mentions of hardware issues and save file corruption after crashes.

Recommended for strategy game fans: The game is highly recommended for fans of strategy games, including those who enjoy titles like Age of Empires and other RTS games.

Worth buying, especially on sale: The game is considered worth buying, particularly when it is on sale, offering good value for money.

Hope for more content and updates: Players express a desire for more content, updates, DLCs, and even a sequel, indicating a strong interest in the game's future development.

Suggestions for gameplay improvements: Suggestions include adding larger maps, better AI, more ant species, and additional interaction with the environment to enhance the gameplay experience.

Multiplayer and co-op modes: There is a demand for multiplayer and co-op modes, suggesting that players are interested in social and cooperative gameplay experiences.

Steam Deck: The game offers a unique and challenging experience with managing an ant colony, which is well-received by many players. However, there are significant issues with game stability, save functionality, and controller support that detract from the overall experience. Despite these issues, the game runs well on the Steam Deck and has been praised for its performance on low-end hardware. The user interface and controls, while initially confusing, become more intuitive with time.

Monetization: The reviews indicate a significant concern with the value and quality of the DLC content, with many users feeling that it should have been included in the base game or provided as a free update. However, there is also a strong desire among users for more DLC content, suggesting a willingness to pay for additional features and scenarios. The mixed feelings on the value of the DLC highlight the need for the developers to ensure that future DLCs are worth the price and provide substantial content.

External guides: The game suffers from a lack of in-game explanations and a high dependency on external resources. Players find it difficult to understand game mechanics and often need to refer to external guides or wikis, which disrupts the gaming experience.

Multiplayer mode requested: Several players have expressed a desire for a multiplayer mode to enhance the gaming experience.

Custom map creation desired: There is a desire among players for a feature that allows custom map creation.

Arachnophobe mode suggested: An option to change spiders to jellyfish or mushrooms for players with arachnophobia has been suggested.

Regular updates requested: Players have requested regular updates, specifically mentioning updates once or twice a month.

Survival campaign mode wanted: A survival campaign mode set in the wild has been suggested by players.