Deal | 94% positive: Bustling ant RTS drops below $9 on Steam

In Empires of the Undergrowth, players take command of an ant colony and handle everything necessary for survival: They gather food, expand the underground nest, raise new ants and build a formidable army. The campaign wraps the already unusual setting in a story about scientists conducting experiments on the tiny critters in a laboratory. The individual missions take players to different natural biomes, where they have to establish new nests and overcome numerous threats.

There is plenty of variety among the ants themselves. Trap-jaw ants, for example, charge into melee combat and retreat to regenerate when necessary, while wood ants spray their enemies with formic acid from a safe distance. In addition to rival colonies, players face spiders, beetles, frogs, crabs, scorpions and other much larger creatures. Some battles see hundreds of ants swarming across the screen at once.

Instead of directly controlling individual units as in traditional strategy games, entire groups are commanded using pheromone markers. Strategically, the key is finding the right balance between workers and soldiers: Too few gatherers put the colony's food supply at risk, while an army that is too small leaves the nest defenseless. Those who still haven't had enough after completing the story campaign can also dive into Freeplay matches, additional missions or the Battle Arena.

Gaming website Hooked Gamers praised Empires of the Undergrowth primarily for its enormous strategic depth, unusual approach to colony building and wide variety of ants and enemies. The diverse missions and the interplay between building an underground nest and operating on the surface were also well received. Criticism, however, was directed at occasional graphical glitches and pathfinding issues. Large battles can also quickly become difficult to follow due to the sheer number of overlapping units. In the end, the publication awarded the game an impressive 9.5 out of 10.

The Steam community is similarly enthusiastic: 94% of more than 18,700 user reviews are positive. On the Steam Deck, the ant RTS is rated “Playable.”

70% off on Steam

Empires of the Undergrowth normally costs $29.99 on Steam. However, a 70% discount brings the price down to $8.99 until September 5. According to SteamDB, the deal matches the game's lowest price to date, last seen during the Summer Sale.

Disclaimer: Notebookcheck is not responsible for price changes carried out by retailers. The discounted price or deal mentioned in this item was available at the time of writing and may be subject to time restrictions and/or limited unit availability.