We have received a few reports now of the game crashing on start up. We believe there may be a couple of causes for this however some people have had success fixing the issue for themselves and there. The Empire of the Undergrowth Species Guide talks about 'all' of the species of Ants, both Playable and Non currently available in the game, to help you learn about what each one does and strategize with.

A new strategy game revolving around ant colonies called Empires of the Undergrowth now has an early access date for the start of December.

The game is landing on Steam’s Early Access program soon where it’ll give players the chance to create and expand their very own ant colony. If controlling a bunch of ants sounds uneventful, you’ve likely never seen how intricate and dangerous an ant’s life can be. Building up your underground domain isn’t as easy as it looks when you have to get every ant to work together towards one unified effort when everyone has to divvy up responsibilities like gathering food and building tunnels, and that’s just what takes place beneath the surface. Above ground, life is even more precarious, as the trailer above indicates, with other insects posing threats to your hard-working colony’s existence.

Gameplay-wise, Slug Disco Studios expanded on day-to-day tasks that you’ll have to instruct your ant colony to perform.

“Taking clear inspiration from classics such as SimAnt and Dungeon Keeper, players will be able to dig through the earth, build tunnels and chambers, hunt for food and raise large colonies,” a press release stated. “Above ground, players need to send their ants on long missions, far from the nest to secure and defend lucrative resources. The mechanics are more accessible than your typical RTS; control of your ants is achieved by placing pheromone markers, and gives the colony a more realistic, natural feeling.”

But one of the best parts of the game is the narration that accompanies all of the six-legged adventurers. You won’t be hearing David Attenborough's voice during the ongoing events that unfold under and above the ground, but the famous narrator was a huge inspiration for the voice that narrates Empires of the Undergrowth.

“Playable missions are narrated from the perspective of a documentary film maker studying the ants, who offers intelligent insight into the goings-on of the colony and the undergrowth beyond,” the press release continued. “The primary game mode in early access is Formicarium, where you take ownership of a laboratory colony of unique DNA-harvesting ants as they work to assimilate the desirable traits of their foes. You can upgrade them by playing one-off missions, sometimes with your home colony and sometimes with other ant species.”

Ant Games For Free

Look for Empires of the Undergrowth on Steam early next week when it launches on Dec. 1.

Please note: this is not the release of the game, but the Steam keys in preparation for your Early Access this summer!

Is Empires Of The Undergrowth On Steam

Backers, rejoice! Steam keys for Empires of the Undergrowth have now been sent to your emails. This will be the email associated with your Kickstarter account, or with your PayPal account if you backed after the campaign – so please check that for your key (also check your junk mail folder just in case, sometimes your email provider can confuse things as spam).

There are a few things to be aware of here, so please read them:

• If you are a beta backer, your key will allow you to download the Backer’s Demo through Steam immediately! When the game goes into beta testing in a few months, your Backer’s Demo will update to be the beta Early Access version.
• If you are not a beta backer, your key will allow you to add Empires of the Undergrowth to your Steam library, but not download anything yet. When Early Access is released this summer, you will have immediate access to it through Steam.
• If you backed a tier that includes additional copies of the game, you will receive additional normal keys (not beta keys). You are free to share these with your family and friends, and once activated, they will also get Early Access in the summer.

The guys are now soaring ahead to the Early Access release this summer. Once things have settled down from the Steam key release, the three of them will be knuckling down hard to reach that goal, so there won’t be any more demo updates until early access, barring major bug fixes. The upside of this is – there’s only a few months to wait! Early Access will bring the surface, lots of new missions, new ant types, and new modes of play. Exciting times ahead!

Go ahead and redeem your Steam keys now! We’re really excited to finally get to this stage – it’s been a long time coming.