Many RTS games are built around micromanagement. When you’re playing something like StarCraft 2, matches are won or lost depending on your decisions based on individual units. Other games like Empires of the Undergrowth take tiny to an altogether different level. In it you control swarms of minute creatures over a series of macro battles at a micro scale. Finally out of early access, the first patch has arrived for the game and it’s full of squashed bugs – in a good way.
If you’ve played a Command and Conquer title you’ll be familiar at least in part with how Empires of the Undergrowth plays. This RTS game sees you hatch your own army, going from a single queen to a colossal tide of soldier ants as you overcome anyone foolish enough to stand in your way. Enemies come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from scorpions to the most terrifying of all creatures – the hungry bullfrog.
Apart from the scale, one incredibly unique feature of Empires of the Undergrowth is how you control your units. You don’t simply click to tell them where to go; instead you must use pheromones to give specific orders to your colony. It’s clear that developer Slug Disco has paid a great deal of attention to how ants work in real life with them forming long supply chains to carry food and resources back to your home to feed your queen, to fuel the next generation of your forces.
Today’s patch for the game is the first update since reaching version 1.0 and it targets many of the complaints and issues raised by the community. Backup saves can be restored using a system instead of having to do it manually, arachnophobia mode has been enhanced providing further protection from the eight-legged creatures, lighting and some tile grids have been updated, and there’s plenty else that’s been hit by the change beam. There are also a ton of bug fixes, making sure that scavenged food now matches what it was looted from, shadows render at the correct resolution, performance is improved when rapidly moving around the map, and much, much more.
The first post-release patch for Empires of the Undergrowth is out now, you can read the full patch notes here. In addition, you can save 35% on the game until Thursday July 11, taking its price down to $19.49 / £16.24 down from $29.99 / £24.99. Head over to the game’s store page to learn more.
Why not also check out our guide to the best strategy games on PC as well as our recommendations for the best grand strategy games you can play.
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