Genre: Real Time Strategy (RTS), Simulator, Strategy, Indie
Empires of the Undergrowth
Optional Beta - Artwork Remaster, Fixes & Changes
An optional beta is now available for all Steam Windows users of Empires of the Undergrowth. We’ve had a very large graphical overhaul of several parts of the game - most notably the rainforest environment, leafcutter ants, ereptor ants, black ants, and others. Some creatures have had animation improvements. We’ve also fixed (we think!) a long-standing problem with the Pillage the Pillagers achievement and several others.
Remastered rainforest environment, level 3.2 Front Line
Any feedback you can provide on any errors or crashes, etc is much appreciated - please post on the Steam discussions for that.
Code: rainforestrefresh
If you would like to join the beta, the code is rainforestrefresh. If you don’t know how to join a beta and would like to, follow the instructions below:
Find Empires of the Undergrowth in your Steam library, right-click on it and choose "Properties"
Choose the "Betas" tab
In the box titled "Enter beta access code to unlock private betas", enter rainforestrefresh
After the "Access code correct" information appears, make sure you've chosen "Open beta" from the "Select the beta you would like to opt into" drop-down menu
Press close - the game will now update to the beta branch.
New Formica ereptor models
Headline Features
Rainforest environment remastered in the following levels:
The Harvest
Front Line
Embankment
Basin
Full remastering for several ant species, which are:
Leafcutter ants
Gene thief ants
Black ants (workers & soldiers)
New animations for several rainforest creatures:
Jumping spider
Leaf mimic praying mantis
Trapjaw ant
Changes
Added new custom game AI temperament - ‘hostile’
Added new custom game reaction speed - ‘quick’
Aim with both of these is to create a smaller gap between moderate & aggressive
AI hard preset changed to quick instead of fast & extreme set to hostile & quick
Increased check rate of custom game objectives
Battle Arena & Creature Spawner spider icons will change to question marks if arachnophobia mode is on
Colony creatures collected for treatment will now lose any food value (termites)
Colony creatures collected for food will no longer be able to be treated (termites)
Many localisation updates
UI icon updates in many places
Embankment & Basin custom game levels with the new artwork
Fixes
Pillage the Pillagers achievement can now be attained
Fixed Matabele medics getting stuck if their heal target is removed from play
Queens can no longer be picked up by larger creatures
Fixed a termite mound issue in Drive Them Back (Custom Game Version)
Fixed a texture chamber issue on old beach tile set
A voice line referencing ants will no longer play if the player is a termite colony
Prevented lignocellulose spawning in termite mound walls in custom games
Seasonal hats will now appear in the right place on Matabele & termite queens
Added a failsafe to a possible crash involving phorid flies
Fixed player’s army ants counting towards objectives in Adventure in remix mode
Some lighting corrections in Drive Them Back (Custom Game Version)
Fixed All The Heals achievement failing on hard difficulty due to starting soldier tiles
Fixed a crash relating to the American bullfrog
Fixed mulch landmarks always being on the map with pre-set landmarks even when no Matabele or termites are in play
Possible fix for Full House achievement issues
Some grammar / spelling fixes here and there
AI colonies in custom games will no longer harass colonies that are dead / missing their queen
KNOWN ISSUES
Game stays running after closing for some users - we’ve narrowed the cause of this down - it affects AMD users but fixing it involves some deep engine changes and we don’t think it’s wise to be making the change so close to a major release. Please continue to report if you have the issue, as other changes have been made which may impact this.
Built-in crash reporter does not seem to currently appear reliably after a crash - please let us know if you get a crash without a box popping up referring to sending in a report.
Empires of the Undergrowth at the Hooded Horse Spring Publisher Sale
Empires of the Undergrowth is part of the Steam Spring Sale at 50% off. Check it and other games out in the Hooded Horse Spring Sale.
Down below, we're sharing details on the recently announced Exploding Ants DLC, arriving March 24. It introduces Colobopsis explodens and Neocapritermes taracua, bringing new mechanics, additional formicarium options, and two extra levels based on campaign missions. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/463530/view/496063443495814523?l=english The team is hard at work on the Exploding Ants DLC, arriving March 24. This update introduces Colobopsis explodens and Neocapritermes taracua, bringing new mechanics and strategic choices to Empires of the Undergrowth.
Both species feature self-destructive abilities, but they function in different ways. Exploding ants unleash a concussive blast that sends enemies flying, while exploding termites cause damage over time and confuse attackers. Each has its own upgrade paths, offering a variety of tactical options.
Check out the trailer here!
Exploding Ants DLC - Coming March 24!
The exploding ants DLC is arriving on March 24! It comes with not only exploding ants (Colobopsis explodens), but also exploding termites (Neocapritermes taracua). Please enjoy the trailer!
Once you have the DLC they'll be available in your formicarium, in separate colonies for custom games, and in two extra levels that are twists on campaign levels (The Harvest - Firebreak, and Front Line - No Ant's Land).
The store page for the DLC is live now - add it to your wishlist to be informed when it releases. Exciting times ahead!
The exploding ant has an unusual defense mechanism - when the colony is threatened, some of the soldiers undergo a process called autothysis where they rupture their bodies, spraying a toxic goo over their usurpers. In the game, this is represented by a concussive blast that causes high damage to enemies, impedes their movement and sends them flying!
A queen with a healthy brood of Colobopsis explodens ants
When added to an ereptor colony, exploding ant soldiers will have a choice of upgrades. One choice is between Controlled Blast and Violent Blast - increasing the damage or radius of the explosion respectively, while Chain Reaction or Persistent Secretions will increase the damage of other exploding ants caught in the blast, or leave a pool of liquid on the ground that deals continual damage.
The major soldiers do not explode but take reduced damage from the front, and generate high threat (making enemies more likely to target it). It has an underground-only area of effect ability - it will become stationary, and increase the armour of nearby allies.
Exploding Termites - Neocapritermes taracua
Autothysis is not unique to ants! Some termites have also evolved this remarkable ability, and in the case of Neocapritermes taracua it is the workers that do the exploding rather than the larger soldiers. For a while after birth they are inert, but will soon mature into their volatile adult selves (indicated by a darkening of their colouration).
A growing Neocapritermes taracua colony. Over time the workers darken in colour, indicating they are ready to go boom
Exploding termite workers will confuse and cause damage over time to enemies caught in the blast. The longer the worker has lived before exploding, the more damage will be caused and the longer the confusion effect will be.
As part of a gene thief colony, exploding termite workers have a choice between Rapid Maturity (reduces the time until it is explosive) and Accelerated Gland Filling (speeds up the rate at which the damage and duration of the explosion increases). They can also choose between Extreme Toxins (increases the duration of the damage over time effect) or Extreme Confusion (increases the duration of the confusion effect).
The larger taracua soldiers do not explode, but they have a dual ability called asymmetric snapping with different effects depending on if they are on the surface or underground - underground, the ability causes high damage to an enemy, while on the surface it will stun and cause the termite itself to be flung back.
Boom!
We hope you enjoy the Exploding Ant DLC coming on March 24! It will also be launching in the wider context of a major artwork overhaul for the game - with a completely reworked rainforest environment and updates to creature models, textures and animations in many areas.
February 2025 Newsletter
In the past few weeks we’ve made a bunch of progress in the remastering of older art assets to the game, including some creatures - we’ll show you a little preview of some improved leafcutter animations - and the new rainforest environment. We’re also not a million miles away from our first DLC at this point; see the current roadmap below for a breakdown of what to expect in the near future.
The current roadmap - click to see the details
If you’d like to see an in-depth discussion of the full roadmap, then see our latest vlog - the timecode for it is 5:10. Some of the things noted on the roadmap might come sooner than advertised (remember: everything in our roadmaps is subject to change), particularly the improved creature artwork.
In this slightly shorter newsletter (there’s lots more upcoming stuff I could talk about, if I was allowed to!) we’ll mainly be going over what we’re doing in our continuing effort to bring more of Empires of the Undergrowth up to the visual fidelity of the more recent additions. Until the official announcement for what the first DLC will consist of is made I'm not at liberty to divulge any details about that, but we can certainly talk about what is coming in the base game.
Now is a good time, once again, to say a big thank you for all of the support you folks gave us during our release year of 2024 - if it wasn’t evident by now EotU is very much a passion project for us, and as well as producing more content for the game we also want it to be the very best it can be in its entirety. The support we received around the release period means we can dedicate the resources to improving older artwork and bringing it up to scratch - a luxury that wasn’t at all certain but is now secured.
Artwork Improvements Continue
Firstly, we’ll talk about recent improvements to the creature artwork - the models, textures, and animations. Everyone please say hello to Aron and Jack, our two new character artists who have been hard at work over the past couple of months to do just that. Whole species are in the process of getting remasters, and the first of these is the leafcutters. I don’t want to spoil their new look in its entirely just yet, but we would like to show some updated animations - I’ll show off their new texturing at a later time, perhaps as a Screenshot Saturday (see our social media to keep up-to-date with that).
A new leafcutter idle animation
Up until this point all of the creature art in the game has been made by a single artist (Matt, one of the devs / co-founders of Slug Disco, who is also a coder and engine specialist) but having dedicated character artists means that, over time, we’ll be able to add a bunch more fidelity and character to the models.
A new leafcutter melee attack animation
As you can see, the leafcutters will be one of the first to get this treatment to go along with the improved rainforest environment artwork. Others are of course on the list (more about that in just a moment) but another improvement is one that wasn’t ever released in the first place - the Myrmecia ereptor worker skin that is coming soon for Kickstarter backers.
An improved Myrmecia ereptor model performing an idle animation
Whilst the older model was nice, at this point it was comparatively old so we thought it’d be a good opportunity to improve it for release. It’s absolutely terrifying up close! Those bull ant mandibles and the cold eyes make for an intimidating look, but these are only workers so don’t be too quick to pick up the bug spray.
I have the fear
Some of the other creatures on the short-term list for improvement soon include the black ants and even one of the amphibians, but as mentioned, over time we’re likely to update quite a few of the creatures to newer standards.
3.2 Front Line in the newer art style
Finally, we’re very close to the completion of the updated rainforest assets for the 3.x levels, and of course the custom game levels based in the jungle as well. We’ve covered this fairly extensively in previous newsletters and vlogs so I’ll just quickly show off these couple of more recent screenshots here rather than retread ground too much. In short, environment artist DanC has poured the majority of his time over the past half year or so into this upgrade for the rainforest, making it the last of the older environment art style to be brought kicking and screaming into higher fidelity by a dedicated artist.
Custom game map Embankment in the new art style - note the newly-redesigned climbable plants
Remix Updated Fixes - WIP
We're currently working through a list of issues that evaded us during testing of the Remix update - most notably a couple of achievement issues, the most egregious of which is ‘Pillage the Pillagers’ which currently doesn’t trigger at all. Thanks for everyone who reported it - and we apologise for the frustration of trying to get that one and failing through no fault of your own.
Another issue that has been reported is the game not fully closing on exit for a small subset of players, and it needing to be Ctrl-Alt-Del’d or closed manually via Steam. We think we’ve narrowed this one down to an issue with the “Games by our Friends” widget on the main menu, but research into this area is ongoing and we may well run an optional beta fairly soon to see if we’ve worked out what the issue is. Thankfully one of our developers did experience it himself so that gave us a fairly reliable testbed for it.
There is also a semi-persistent crash again affecting only some players which appears to be due to the bullfrog, and probably to do with creatures climbing it - we’ve taken the time to remake its climbing rig for the next update and hopefully that clears the issue. Again, that is one for further testing the next time we run an optional beta.
Supporter's Pack
More precise details on this will come closer to time, but since I’ve been asked about it several times recently I thought I’d just give a few more details on an upcoming supporter’s pack that is mentioned in the roadmap. In short, it will be a separately purchasable item for those who’d like to support the project a bit further consisting of the official OST / soundtrack to the game that comes with a ‘music toy’ that will allow you to experiment with the music from a separate screen in the DLC menu, adjusting its intensity and suchlike. I suspect I’ll be using it to make the background music for my tabletop RPG games a little more interactive!
Supporter's Pack music toy - WIP
Also bundled will be extras such as emojis, profile pictures, wallpapers and the like for use however you like. There may well be one or two other bits that I’m not quite allowed to talk about yet - so keep your eyes peeled for those.
Our Industry-Leading Sound Effects Process
Here’s a video of developer Liam slapping himself in the forehead with a melon rind. It's worth watching the first time without any more context.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTKs3R5wFQ0
It may raise a giggle, but long-time followers will remember a video from quite a few years ago that might add some context as to what he’s doing here. We make a lot of use of sound effect resources such as Freesound, but when we can get away with growling into a microphone or slapping ourselves in the forehead with fruit we will.
Screenshot Central
I sometimes have to stop myself rushing to get to the end of a newsletter so I can do my favourite bit of it - some user-submitted screenies. The best way to take excellent screenshots is to hold down shift when you enter photo mode (check your button bindings for full controls - it's F9 by default) since this will uncouple the camera from the floor plain and allow for more creative shots.
To get the screenshots to me, the easiest way is to join our Discord and post on the screenshot channel. Otherwise, you can upload to the Steam Community tab and I'll occasionally peruse it for some gems.
A termite queen about to meet an unfortunate end from Serp
An ant inspects a greedy larva from berdidmose
A victorious big-headed ant colony from ArmyAntGaming
A whip spider surveys the scenery from EutU_fan666
Save 50% on Empires of the Undergrowth
Empires of the Undergrowth is now 50% off as part of the Hooded Horse January Publisher Sale.
Command an ant colony and wage strategic battles in the insect kingdom. This ant-based RTS challenges you to build, defend, and expand your colony, using unique pheromone-based strategies and powerful warrior ants to overcome formidable foes.
Empires of the Undergrowth at the Hooded Horse January Publisher Sale
We’re excited to share that Empires of the Undergrowth is participating in the January Sale at 50% off. Check it and other games out at the Hooded Horse January Sale.
Empires of the Undergrowth Update: New Features and Changes
The latest update for Empires of the Undergrowth introduces exciting additions to gameplay, balancing changes, and a plethora of fixes and optimizations.
Here's a breakdown of the most significant changes and additions:
Headline Features
New Game Mode: Remix
Play almost any level with nearly any combination of ants or termites. Custom colonies adapt to the feeding habits of the selected queen, providing a highly flexible and replayable experience.
Accessible from the Arcade section of the main menu.
Some combinations are unavailable due to technical constraints.
Custom Colonies
Create colonies with nearly any ant or termite species in the game. Custom colonies adopt traits and worker designs matching their queen.
New Custom Game Maps
Grasslands
Drive Them Back (customized for termites or regular ants depending on colony selection).
Tier 4 and Tier 5 Achievements
8 new achievements for Tier 4 challenge levels.
45 new achievements for Tier 5 challenge levels, now accessible in New Game Plus.
Story and General Gameplay Changes
Level Changes
Reduced the stun, confuse, and damage effects of sun spiders, centipedes, and emperor scorpions on Easy and Normal difficulties for fairer balance.
In 5.2, increased casualties required for victory on lower difficulties, making it more challenging to achieve victory early.
Challenge Mode Changements
Challenge scorpions now retain their health between days but regenerate 10% daily.
Scorpions' escape behavior now varies based on combat location (surface or underground).
New Game Plus
Enemy colonies now start with more workers and resources.
Increased food storage capacity for enemy colonies in higher settings.
Specific Tweaks
Matabele revival time reduced from 10 seconds to 7 seconds.
Fire ant "Last Laugh" ability range increased from 200 to 300.
Mounted creatures are displaced when large creatures move through nest exits.
Custom Games
Custom games see significant changes tailored to the mode's unique dynamics:
Black ant soldiers now cost less to hatch and take reduced damage from single attacks.
Big-headed ant majors gain an adrenaline ability for damage resistance and speed boosts.
Leafcutter media ants now cost less and harvest more efficiently, though their health and damage have been slightly reduced.
Termite landmarks regenerate resources over time and maintain persistent spawn nodes for longer gameplay viability.
Fire ant Vigorous ability buff reduced in custom games for better balance.
AI colonies now prioritize building soldiers, especially for black ants, fire ants, and little black ants.
Other Additions
Achievements can now be earned in New Game Plus.
Seasonal levels, like Festive Spider, have updated visuals, music, and weather effects (including snowfall).
Several extra levels now use custom game stats instead of story mode stats for a more consistent experience.
Fixes and Optimizations
Numerous AI improvements, including better handling of underground invaders and more balanced build strategies for AI colonies.
Fixed issues with Matabele ant medics, subtitles, map resources, and various level-specific bugs.
Reduced memory usage with on-demand asset loading and minor optimizations for queens and large creatures.
Read the full patch notes here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/463530/announcements/detail/547847869991747855
2025 Roadmap & VLOG
It's time for our twice-yearly update to the Empires of the Undergrowth development roadmap, including some early details of the timing for our first DLC. Click on the below picture to see it in all its glory!
We also have a vlog to go along with the updated roadmap. Community manager Mike takes us through this - with some timing details on what you can expect for the next few months.
NOTE: since this is a general Slug Disco vlog as well as an Empires of the Undergrowth one, towards the start of it it goes over other games published by us. To skip those and get to the EotU stuff, jump to timecode 3:10.
Save 50% on Empires of the Undergrowth
Empires of the Undergrowth is now 50% off as part of the Hooded Horse Winter Publisher Sale.
Command an ant colony and wage strategic battles in the insect kingdom. This ant-based RTS challenges you to build, defend, and expand your colony, using unique pheromone-based strategies and powerful warrior ants to overcome formidable foes.
OUT NOW! Remix Mode + Custom Colonies + 2 New Custom Game Maps + Achievements!
Just in time for the holidays! This major update introduces a brand new arcade mode - Remix. With it, you can play just about any level in the game with just about any combination of colony members (ants and termites)! Want to know how bullet ants fare at raking in The Harvest? Go for it! How about sending traitorous big-headed ants after their own kind in Cold Blood? The possibilities are practically endless.
You can also build custom colonies in custom games, using the same system. Just choose ‘custom’ from the species selection as you go through your game setup.
Speaking of custom games - there are also 2 new custom game maps to play, set in the heat of the savannah. Grasslands is specifically designed for Matabele vs termite scuffles, but of course any colonies can be played. Drive Them Back (custom game version) takes the same layout as the campaign level - this has been long-requested, and if the reception is good we might do more custom game versions of campaign levels in the future.
We have made some balance changes to creatures that will only affect custom games, since these generally have slightly different balance requirements to the campaign. All detailed below.
The final headline feature of this update is the long-awaited tier 5 achievements pack! We’ve added a whole bunch of new achievements, some easier and some more devious, for tier 5 and for tier 4 challenge modes. Achievements can now be attained in New Game Plus mode as well as the base story.
Full (and extensive) patch notes are at the bottom of this news post.
We hope you enjoy! As always, your support means everything to us. Thank you so much for playing Empires of the Undergrowth in our release year - we’ll see you next year for even more!
Headline Features
New game mode: Remix
Can play almost any level with almost any combination of ants or termites
Custom colonies will adopt the feeding habits of the selected queen
Accessed from the Arcade area of the main menu
Some combinations disallowed for technical reasons
New custom game feature: Custom Colonies
Allows colonies to contain virtually any ant or termite in the game
Can be selected in colony setup
Workers will match the queen
New custom game maps - Grasslands & Drive Them Back (custom game version)
If playing as termites, will spawn in mounds otherwise in regular nest entrances
Non-colony fodder termites will otherwise spawn from unoccupied mounds if Matabele ants are in play
Tier 5 & Tier 4 Challenge Mode Achievements
8 new achievement for tier 4 levels with challenge mode
45 new achievements for tier 5 levels
Can now be achieved and earned in New Game Plus
Changes - Story & General
5.1 nighttime invasion changes:
On easy and normal, the sun spider’s stun duration has been reduced to 2.5s (down from 5s) and damage reduced to 5 (down from 8)
On easy and normal, the sun spider’s confuse duration has been reduced to 2s (down from 4s) and damage reduced to 4 (down from 7)
On easy and normal, the giant African centipede’s venom pool damage per tick reduced to 4 (down from 8) and initial target damage reduced to 200 (down from 400)
On easy and normal, the giant African centipede’s body slam area of effect reduced to 200 (down from 300), damage reduced to 30 (down from 40)
On easy to extreme, the emperor scorpion’s attack damage reduced to 20 / 20 / 35 / 40 / 45 (down from 45 on all difficulties)
On easy and normal, the emperor scorpion’s stun has been reduced to 1s (down from 2) and confuse reduced to 2.5s (down from 5)
In 5.2, extra soldier tiles reduced on easier difficulties to 5 / 3 / 1 / 0 / 0 (down from 7 / 4 / 1 / 0 / 0)
In 5.2, casualties required for victory increased on easier difficulties to 120 / 135 / 150 / 150 / 150 (up from 100 / 125 / 150 / 150 / 150)
In 5.3 challenge mode:
The challenge scorpion now maintains its health between days but heals 10% life each day
The challenge scorpion no longer gets its abilities back when it respawns or moves underground (abilities that happen at 25%, 50% and 75% health)
The challenge scorpion will no longer attempt to walk away when it performs a ground thump
The challenge scorpion will only run away if engaged underground; if on the surface it will continue to fight so long as there are enemies to fight
The challenge scorpion now only escapes when termite sun damage is in progress
In 4.1 New Game Plus, enemy colonies now receive more food storage at the start of the game and more workers (based on how high NGP is set). The little black ant colony also gets more starting resources
Matabele anaesthetist revival time reduced to 7s (down from 10s)
Increased range of fire ant’s Last Laugh ability to 300 (up from 200)
Mounted creatures are thrown off when a large creature starts to move through a nest exit
Changed final objective in 1.2 Subjugation to say raid instead of wave
Added an extra harvesting slot on woodlice for faster food collection
Stink ants can no longer climb smaller climbable creatures
Changes - Custom Games ONLY
The following changes only apply to custom games. They are likely to be subject to further tweaking down the line, but the thought process here is that balance in custom games has different requirements to the campaign due to its increased variance.
Black ant soldier hatch cost reduced to 3 (down from 5)
Black ant soldiers take no more than 40 damage from a single attack
Black ants now have armour (0/1/2, up from 0/0/0)
Big-headed ant major soldiers have a new ability - adrenaline. This reduces damage taken by 60%, 20% increased movement speed and 80% increased attack speed for 20s (10m cooldown)
Big-headed ant major cost increased to 35 (up from 25) and egg hatch cost increased to 4 (up from 2)
Leafcutter media harvest quantities increased to 20 / 24 / 30 (up from 17 / 19 / 22)
Leafcutter media health reduced to 80 / 95 / 110 (down from 100 / 115 / 130)
Leafcutter media damage reduced to 4 / 5 / 6 (down from 4.5 / 6 / 7)
Leafcutter media build cost reduced to 65 (down from 80)
Leafcutter colonies will start with 200 fungus (up from 100)
Termite’s lignocellulose landmarks will now spawn 3 new nodes every 3m and will not despawn when empty
Limited lignocellulose nodes per landmark to 15
Increased time between termite spawns on the lignocellulose landmark (now every 6-30s, up from 4-20s)
If a lignocellulose landmark has no mulch, termites spawned to harvest from it will despawn
Fire ant Vigorous ability damage reduction buff is now 15% (down from 25%) in custom games
Large giant African mantis and large hermit crab will no longer invade nests
Earwig nymph should no longer invade nests
Earwig juvenile, earwig and alligatorback scorpion juvenile added as possible cavern creatures in custom games
AI colony queen workers are only sent out for the first 10m and return faster for smaller amounts of food. If harvesters are dead queen workers can go out again
Timid AI colonies are less likely to invade and will harass less frequently
Reduced AI colony food dropoff build priority (except for leafcutters and termites)
Increased chance that Matabele soldiers will be built in AI colonies
AI wood ant colonies make more melee tiles
AI ereptor colonies likely to make more balanced build choices, not always favouring larger ants
AI colonies receive damage reduction to patrols (differs based on cheat settings). This tapers off over time
AI little black ant, black ant and fire ant colonies will make more soldiers than they used to (unless they are docile)
Dead fish landmark replaced with map-appropriate large food sources
Large food source landmark will spawn opposing ants that are map-appropriate
Added Aloe Version of aphid plants for savannah custom games
Other Changes
Achievements can now be completed on New Game Plus!
Hovering over achievement in the achievements menu will show the highest difficulty it was achieved on
The Nian Beast and Festive Spider levels can now be accessed at the appropriate times of year
Festive Spider now uses the same music as Hibernation
Festive Spider now uses the updated rotten log textures
It will now snow in the Festive Spider level!
Extra levels The Culling, The Culling 2, Tug Of War (1, 2 and 3) and Cramped will now use custom game stats rather than story stats
Environmental textures will now be more detailed due to an extra ambient occlusion pass allowing for deeper apparent recessing
Tile hover window now displays a message when tiles have been locked out
Graphical updates to Tug of War 3
Game engine updated to Unreal Engine 4.27 - please keep an eye out for any weirdness here
DLC menu added to the main menu in preparation for future content such as the Kickstarter reward (Myrmecia ereptor worker skin)
Updated the Slug Disco logo on the main menu
Many, many localisation updates
Fixes & Optimisations
Fixed a bug where AI was sometimes unaware of underground invaders in freeplay
Bullet ant attack damage increases from minor improvements should now work against targets that are not executed by their attack
Fixed an issue that could cause Matabele ant medics to get stuck at the queen
Fixed an issue in The Culling 2 where floating seeds were not falling in a small section of the map
Fixed an issue that could cause resources to not count towards score in some levels
Fixed an issue with Imprisoned where termites sometimes could not path to where the water would be
Narrator in custom games should talk about termites more when they are fighting, rather than calling them ants
Fixed an issue where termite kings would be removed in custom games if landmarks are set to random
Fixed green lynx spiders being culled if they start climbing whilst in combat
Fixed a missing subtitle related to earwigs
Moved some unharvestable leaves in 3.2 to be reachable
The Other Foot progress bar will now only display its tooltip when visible
If the 5.3 challenge scorpion is killed on the surface its dialogue no longer plays on defeat (as it mentions being killed underground)
Can no longer click to enter an enemy nest if it is unopened
Down arrow will no longer show on enemy nests on hover if it is unopened
Assassin bugs will now despawn after 10s like other creatures in 5.1 and 5.2
Final objective in 1.2 Subjugation now marks as finished on victory
Wave spawn should now continue after play more is pressed in custom games
Prevented multiple versions of the hybrid fight sequence occurring
Fixed a crash related to creature climbing
Ants fighting titans when the titan dies are less likely to be automatically killed
Pheromone markers in enemy nests now respond to the smoke visual option
Prevented destructible barriers from being inspectable with the Inspect tool
Fixed an issue where two voice lines were showing as the wrong scientist
Fixes for UI scaling
Minor optimisations to large creatures and queens
Memory use reduction (more things should only load into memory as needed)
Loading screen corrected for several extra levels
Empires of the Undergrowth at the Hooded Horse Winter Publisher Sale
Happy Holidays, everyone!
We’re excited to share that Empires of the Undergrowth is participating in the Winter Sale at 50% off. Check it and other games out at the Hooded Horse Winter Sale.
Latest Update News: REMIX Mode, Freeplay Maps, and More.
We’re hard at work on the next major patch, and if you haven’t already, check out the optional beta. It introduces custom colonies for skirmish and freeplay modes, new freeplay maps like Grasslands and Drive Them Back, and REMIX Mode, which lets you play almost any level with different colony setups.
