Set in the world of ants, Empires of the Undergrowth is a real-time strategy with extensive nest building and management features: Control armies of ants in battle against rival colonies, dangerous insects and other critters while autonomous workers respond to your high-level commands to maintain nest operations below ground.
Command your worker ants to excavate the earth to your exact specifications. Eggs and food need to flow freely throughout the nest, and soldiers should be able to reach the front lines quickly, so planning out highways and connecting corridors is key to overall colony efficiency.
Ants can be assigned to groups and controlled by placing pheromone markers: They head towards their marker gathering resources or fighting enemies they meet along the way.
You can also assign specific behaviours to your groups. For example, passive workers can collect food even when enemies are nearby, while specialised soldiers can be instructed to ignore food, running straight toward battle. Toggling behaviours efficiently can reduce losses, speed up victory and ultimately turn the tide of battle against a superior foe in your favour.
Lots of ant species from all over the world feature in the game with stats and abilities based upon their real-world counterparts. For example, wood ants can spray formic acid from their abdomens, making them the artillery of this miniature battlefield. Enemies need to be kept at bay with hordes of disposable melee soldiers to prevent the delicate sprayers being overwhelmed in close quarters combat.
Both the underground nest and the outworld are filled with food and enemies – you can see both at a glance with dual minimaps.
When invading enemy nests, minimap tabs give you access to view multiple underground zones so you can run several raids at the same time and keep track of everything. In the example above there are two enemy colonies nearby!