- Save 70% on Empires of the Undergrowth - 1 October 2026
Empires of the Undergrowth is now 70% off during the Hooded Horse Autumn 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. Hooded Horse AutumnPublisher Sale
- VLOG 20 - Freeplay Setup Saves, Modding (?!), Beta News - 6 September 2026
For the landmark 20th episode of the Empires of the Undergrowth vlog, we go over the changes that are coming to freeplay setup saving - including fun ways that saves can be edited for a bunch of different effects! We also discuss the burgeoning modding scene that is starting to appear for the game, much to our surprise! Finally, we go over what is coming in the soon-to-arrive beta, and also a little news on the progress of the upcoming major DLC.
- Save 70% on Empires of the Undergrowth - 22 August 2026
Empires of the Undergrowth is now 70% off during the Hooded Horse August 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. Hooded Horse August Publisher Sale
- July 2026 Newsletter- Freeplay Setup Saves & Editing, New Artwork, Optional Beta - 20 July 2026
Ah, summer. A time for growth, frivolity…. and oppressive heat. It’s also a time for optional betas in Empires of the Undergrowth, so that’ll be the main topic of this July newsletter. I’d better finish writing it before my office gets unbearably warm. A bullet ant ambushes a jumping spider from Destiny_Bound on Discord We’ll be going over a perhaps unexpected feature that is coming along with the ability to save your freeplay game setups, which we think should allow for some really creative and fun games. Spreadsheet based freeplay setup editing will be discussed later on, but first let’s chat about the upcoming beta that it will (hopefully) be a part of!Upcoming Beta In the very near future (just a few days, with any luck) we’ll be releasing an optional beta for the game. If you’ve not participated in one of these before, they’re a way of testing out fixes and sometimes new features t…
- Save 70% on Empires of the Undergrowth - 9 July 2026
Empires of the Undergrowth is now 70% off during the Hooded Horse July 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. Hooded Horse July Publisher Sale
- Save 70% on Empires of the Undergrowth - 25 June 2026
Empires of the Undergrowth is now 70% off during the Hooded Horse Summer 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. Hooded Horse Summer Sale
- VLOG 19 - The Beach Brawl, Roadmap Review - 2 June 2026
It's been a little while, but it's time for a vlog! In it, community manager Mike goes over the recent Beach Brawl Update and also reviews the roadmap that was published in the previous newsletter. Note that this vlog also includes a section about a newly-announced upcoming game by Slug Disco Studios - Ants Times Infinity. If you're not interested in that section, then the time codes you will want to watch between are 1:23 and 7:00.
- Empires of the Undergrowth News Roundup at the Hooded Horse May Publisher Sale - 1 June 2026
While you were perfecting your terrariums and running experiments in Empires of the Undergrowth, the dev team was working tirelessly to release the major Beach Brawl Update. Thanks to lots of help from players who tested and gave feedback on the beta version of this patch, the Beach Brawl Update is now available on the main branch. This free patch adds new creatures, an extra level, a new custom game map, and more! If you missed the news about this one, here's a recap. Empires of the Undergrowth is also part of the Hooded Horse May Publisher Sale at 70% off. Check it out, and the other games on sale during the Hooded Horse May Publisher sale. Hooded Horse May Publisher Sale Empires of the Undergrowth News Roundup The Beach Brawl update brought a new beach-themed custom map, named Causeway, which supports skirmish and freeplay with up to 6 colonies! It also added new extra level based on…
- Save 70% on Empires of the Undergrowth - 26 May 2026
Empires of the Undergrowth is now 70% off during the Hooded Horse May 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. Hooded Horse May Publisher Sale
- The Beach Brawl Update is OUT NOW! - 4 May 2026
The Beach Brawl Update is here! Free to all owners of the game, this update brings the fearsome shore crab and sand lizard - two huge creatures for the beach environments. Thank you so much to everyone who has helped us test out this update in the last few weeks - you're all legends.It also includes Causeway, a new custom game map, and Chowder - an extra level based on it. As well as a multitude of fixes and optimisations, this update also brings a completely overhauled user interface and greatly improved controller support for those who like to use a gamepad or handheld device. Check out the trailer, then see below for the full patch notes. Headline Features - Beach Brawl UpdateCauseway: a new beach-themed custom game map for skirmish & freeplay supporting up to 6 colonies!Two new critters to inhabit it, plus variations!European shore crab (Carcinus maenas)Sand lizard (Lacerta agilis)N…
- Optional Beta Update - Lots of Fixes - 24 April 2026
The latest round of fixes and changes bring us ever closer to getting this update out for everyone. This update includes some minor changes to save games - please let us know in the discussions or on the Discord if this causes any issues. Note that the beta is currently only available on Windows. The beta is available to all Windows users - If you would like to join the beta, the code is beachbrawlbeta. 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 "Game Versions & Betas" tabIn the box titled "Private versions", enter beachbrawlbetaAfter the "Access code correct" information appears, make sure you've chosen "optionalbeta" from the "Select the beta you would like to opt into" drop-down menuPress close - the game will now update to the beta bra…
- Save 70% on Empires of the Undergrowth - 12 April 2026
Empires of the Undergrowth is now 70% off as part of the Hooded Horse April 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. Hooded Horse April Sale
- Optional Beta Update - Team Colour Toggle, Fixes & Changes - 3 April 2026
Time for another update to the currently-running optional beta! We've been following your feedback both here on Steam and on our Discord - which has been super active recently with the new content. Come and join us! For any Windows users who haven't joined this beta yet and would like to, the instructions on how to do so are near the top of the previous post. The beta is not available on Mac.ChangesTeam colours for colony creatures can now be toggled on or off from the menuFind it in Menu > Settings > OtherWhen not playing as leafcutters in Chowder, leafcutter plants will disappear on level loadWhen playing Chowder as leafcutters, enemy corpses will now disappear quicklyLeafcutters now get starting food matching other species in ChowderAdded a confirmation to make sure you actually want to restart a levelReduced the free camera rotation speed when in keyboard & mouse modeMinor improveme…
- March 2026 Newsletter - Beach Brawl Beta, New Roadmap - 29 March 2026
We have (finally!) released our optional beta for the Beach Brawl update for everyone. Thank you so much to everyone who has been testing this out! We’ve been gathering mountains of feedback and working through the list of issues that have cropped up. Ants swarming a shore crab in this shot from AntBZK on our DiscordThe beta will be around for a little while yet, so now seems a good time to pause for just a moment to look over our plans for the rest of 2026 and update our roadmap - which we do every six months or so. We’ll then talk about the implications that the Beach Brawl update has for DLC plans.Beach BrawlIt’s been great to see such an enthusiastic uptake for the Beach Brawl Update’s beta. The vast majority of the feedback has been posted on our Discord and our Bilibili channel - thank you for that; it keeps things neat and makes sure I don’t have to juggle too many sources! If yo…
- Changes & Fixes for the Beach Brawl Beta - 28 March 2026
Thank you for all the excellent feedback over the last few days for the Beach Brawl beta! Our Discord has been a hive of activity over the last few days, and I've been working late into the night to log all the reports and reply to all you lovely people. For any Windows users who haven't joined this beta yet and would like to, the instructions on how to do so are near the top of the previous post.Here's the first round of changes & fixes for it. Thank you as well to everyone who immediately noticed our, ahem, tiny little mistake in the Battle Arena. Thank you to Nurgles rot on the Discord for the screenshot used on the cover of this post!ChangesHuge shore crab in Chowder given more health on all difficulties, and a lot more health on ImpossibleHuge shore crab in custom games given nearly double the health (15,000 up from 8,000) Sand lizard in Chowder given more health on all difficultie…
- Optional Beta - The Beach Brawl Update, New Creatures, Maps & UI - 22 March 2026
It's been a long time coming, but it's time to test out the Beach Brawl update! The beta is available on Windows (not Mac at this time), and we'd love to hear your feedback on the changes made. The largest and most obvious change is to the game's user interface, which has been completely reworked in almost all aspects to update it, make it more logically functional and make it friendlier for gamepad / controller play. Speaking of which - playing the game with controllers is now better than it ever has been, with new UI elements designed with them in mind. A new radial menu will be in play when using a gamepad. If you're playing on a Steam Deck or with any sort of gamepad, we'd love to hear about your experience using it. Also, we have two new maps! Custom game enjoyers should get stuck into Causeway as soon as possible - it's a brand new map that can support 5 computer-controlled coloni…
- Save 70% on Empires of the Undergrowth - 19 March 2026
Empires of the Undergrowth is now 70% off as part of the Hooded Horse Spring 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. Hooded Horse Spring Sale
- Save 70% on Empires of the Undergrowth - 28 February 2026
Empires of the Undergrowth is now 70% off as part of the Hooded Horse 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. Hooded Horse Publisher Sale
- Vlog 18 - Upcoming Beta News, New Creatures & Maps - 24 February 2026
Time for some info about the next maps and monsters to come to Empires of the Undergrowth! Community manager Mike goes over the changes to the user interface, controller support, and the additions of two new maps and two new critters that will be available to preview in an optional beta for the game, very soon.
- New Year's Feast! January 2026 Newsletter - 28 January 2026
It’s time for the first newsletter of 2026. We’d like to offer a warm welcome to everyone who’s joined us recently in the Steam and Hooded Horse sales over the holiday period, and introduce you to how we do our newsletters and vlogs! These newsletters come out roughly bi-monthly, with a vlog in the intervening months. The idea here is to cover everyone’s personal preference for how they get their EotU news delivered - everything that is covered in one will be covered in the other, with some overlap for new things. Me when I realised I've still been writing 5 at the end of my dates a month into 2026 The team is now at the end of a long process to complete a large overhaul for the game’s user interface, as well as for improvements and optimisations to much of the game’s artwork. There’s a very strong possibility of an optional beta being run in the near future to allow wider testing of th…
