2026-09-06 21:49 UTC · Community Announcements · Mike
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.
2026-08-22 19:00 UTC · Community Announcements · Patrick (HoodedHorse)
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
2026-07-20 19:41 UTC · Community Announcements · Mike
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 cha
2026-07-09 18:30 UTC · Community Announcements · Patrick (HoodedHorse)
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
2026-06-25 21:00 UTC · Community Announcements · Patrick (HoodedHorse)
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
2026-06-02 14:31 UTC · Community Announcements · Mike
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.
2026-06-01 17:00 UTC · Community Announcements · Patrick (HoodedHorse)
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 o
2026-05-26 18:00 UTC · Community Announcements · Patrick (HoodedHorse)
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
2026-05-04 20:38 UTC · Community Announcements · Mike
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
2026-04-24 20:47 UTC · Community Announcements · Mike
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
2026-04-12 17:30 UTC · Community Announcements · Patrick (HoodedHorse)
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
2026-04-03 13:29 UTC · Community Announcements · Mike
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 lo
2026-03-29 11:41 UTC · Community Announcements · Mike
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 DL
2026-03-28 11:30 UTC · Community Announcements · Mike
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
2026-03-22 15:21 UTC · Community Announcements · Mike
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
Full appinfo as delivered by Steam PICS, changenumber 37435436. Also at /api/app/463530/raw.
{
"appid": "463530",
"common": {
"name": "Empires of the Undergrowth",
"type": "Game",
"oslist": "windows,macos",
"osarch": "64",
"clienticon": "a5e04175aaf071b644e394e2a068cc783f042452",
"clienttga": "526e303fe2db316ab7e4b292fa2dab7505d3feac",
"icon": "ba6ae8dac9333776689f4603da09346e41c5cef6",
"logo": "0fe973baa6b26f7de4ef16cda0284b8d9aba92ac",
"logo_small": "0fe973baa6b26f7de4ef16cda0284b8d9aba92ac_thumb",
"releasestate": "released",
"osextended": "macos64",
"name_localized": {
"schinese": "地下蚁国 Empires of the Undergrowth",
"tchinese": "地下蟻國 Empires of the Undergrowth",
"japanese": "Empires of the Undergrowth エンパイア・オブ・ジ・アンダーグロウス",
"koreana": "Empires of the Undergrowth 엠파이어 오브 더 언더그로스"
},
"languages": {
"english": "1",
"german": "1",
"french": "1",
"italian": "1",
"koreana": "1",
"spanish": "1",
"schinese": "1",
"tchinese": "1",
"russian": "1",
"japanese": "1",
"polish": "1",
"dutch": "1",
"hungarian": "1",
"czech": "1",
"turkish": "1",
"brazilian": "1",
"ukrainian": "1",
"latam": "1"
},
"steam_deck_compatibility": {
"category": "2",
"steamos_compatibility": "2",
"steam_machine_compatibility": "3",
"test_timestamp": "1664582400",
"tested_build_id": "9194475",
"tests": {
"0": {
"display": "3",
"token": "#SteamDeckVerified_TestResult_InterfaceTextIsNotLegible"
},
"1": {
"display": "4",
"token": "#SteamDeckVerified_TestResult_DefaultControllerConfigFullyFunctional"
},
"2": {
"display": "4",
"token": "#SteamDeckVerified_TestResult_ControllerGlyphsMatchDeckDevice"
},
"3": {
"display": "4",
"token": "#SteamDeckVerified_TestResult_DefaultConfigurationIsPerformant"
}
},
"steam_machine_tests": {
"0": {
"display": "4",
"token": "#SteamMachine_TestResult_DefaultControllerConfigFullyFunctional"
},
"1": {
"display": "4",
"token": "#SteamMachine_TestResult_ControllerGlyphsMatchDevice"
},
"2": {
"display": "4",
"token": "#SteamMachine_TestResult_DefaultConfigurationIsPerformant"
}
},
"steamos_tests": {
"0": {
"display": "3",
"token": "#SteamOS_TestResult_GameStartupFunctional"
}
},
"configuration": {
"supported_input": "gamepad",
"requires_manual_keyboard_invoke": "0",
"requires_non_controller_launcher_nav": "0",
"primary_player_is_controller_slot_0": "0",
"non_deck_display_glyphs": "0",
"small_text": "1",
"requires_internet_for_setup": "0",
"requires_internet_for_singleplayer": "0",
"recommended_runtime": "proton-stable",
"requires_h264": "0",
"requires_voice_files": "0",
"gamescope_frame_limiter_not_supported": "0",
"hdr_support": "0",
"requires_proton_soundfonts": "0"
}
},
"controller_support": "full",
"small_capsule": {
"english": "f8c76fdca0bdd4d135895b686bd26e50e3bd98bd/capsule_231x87.jpg",
"schinese": "3320ce629e49bfb9e3b03af9d2ec6f986d62161d/capsule_231x87_schinese.jpg",
"tchinese": "f3f9f35eb3ba61534437e5ba414ca1e50034c032/capsule_231x87_tchinese.jpg",
"japanese": "0bce741a8f6afbf80ad0357917ae05222f11624c/capsule_231x87_japanese.jpg",
"koreana": "39ddc0c0a3d704e65fb32f9d68573061d6617907/capsule_231x87_koreana.jpg"
},
"header_image": {
"english": "header.jpg",
"schinese": "header_schinese.jpg",
"tchinese": "header_tchinese.jpg",
"japanese": "header_japanese.jpg",
"koreana": "header_koreana.jpg"
},
"library_assets": {
"library_capsule": "en,zh-tw,zh-cn,ja,ko",
"library_hero": "en",
"library_logo": "en",
"library_header": "zh-cn,zh-tw,en,ja,ko",
"logo_position": {
"pinned_position": "BottomLeft",
"width_pct": "36.34772462077012",
"height_pct": "79.10334443421783"
}
},
"library_assets_full": {
"library_capsule": {
"image": {
"english": "library_600x900.jpg",
"tchinese": "library_600x900_tchinese.jpg",
"schinese": "library_600x900_schinese.jpg",
"japanese": "library_600x900_japanese.jpg",
"koreana": "library_600x900_koreana.jpg"
},
"image2x": {
"english": "library_600x900_2x.jpg",
"tchinese": "library_600x900_tchinese_2x.jpg",
"schinese": "library_600x900_schinese_2x.jpg",
"japanese": "library_600x900_japanese_2x.jpg",
"koreana": "library_600x900_koreana_2x.jpg"
}
},
"library_hero": {
"image": {
"english": "library_hero.jpg"
},
"image2x": {
"english": "library_hero_2x.jpg"
}
},
"library_logo": {
"logo_position": {
"pinned_position": "BottomLeft",
"width_pct": "36.34772462077012",
"height_pct": "79.10334443421783"
},
"image": {
"english": "logo.png"
},
"image2x": {
"english": "logo_2x.png"
}
},
"library_header": {
"image": {
"schinese": "library_header_schinese.jpg",
"tchinese": "library_header_tchinese.jpg",
"english": "library_header.jpg",
"japanese": "library_header_japanese.jpg",
"koreana": "library_header_koreana.jpg"
}
}
},
"store_asset_mtime": "1782472090",
"associations": {
"0": {
"type": "developer",
"name": "Slug Disco"
},
"1": {
"type": "publisher",
"name": "Hooded Horse"
},
"2": {
"type": "publisher",
"name": "Slug Disco"
},
"3": {
"type": "franchise",
"name": "Hooded Horse"
}
},
"primary_genre": "2",
"genres": {
"0": "28",
"1": "2"
},
"category": {
"category_2": "1",
"category_22": "1",
"category_23": "1",
"category_28": "1",
"category_45": "1",
"category_46": "1",
"category_29": "1",
"category_62": "1"
},
"supported_languages": {
"english": {
"supported": "true",
"full_audio": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"german": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"schinese": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"spanish": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"russian": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"french": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"czech": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"dutch": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"japanese": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"koreana": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"polish": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"italian": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"hungarian": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"tchinese": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"turkish": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"ukrainian": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
},
"brazilian": {
"supported": "true",
"subtitles": "true"
}
},
"steam_release_date": "1717776732",
"community_visible_stats": "1",
"community_hub_visible": "1",
"gameid": "463530",
"store_tags": {
"0": "9",
"1": "599",
"2": "7332",
"3": "4328",
"4": "4364",
"5": "12472",
"6": "220585",
"7": "3810",
"8": "1643",
"9": "3987",
"10": "4695",
"11": "8945",
"12": "1662",
"13": "1695",
"14": "4182",
"15": "1669",
"16": "1670",
"17": "4711",
"18": "4598",
"19": "6310"
},
"review_score": "8",
"review_percentage": "94"
},
"extended": {
"developer": "Slug Disco",
"publisher": "Hooded Horse",
"homepage": "http://www.eotugame.com",
"listofdlc": "3402420,3402630",
"dlcavailableonstore": "1"
},
"config": {
"contenttype": "3",
"installdir": "Empires of the Undergrowth",
"launch": {
"0": {
"executable": "EotU.exe",
"arguments": "-DX11",
"type": "option1",
"config": {
"oslist": "windows"
},
"description_loc": {
"english": "Empires of the Undergrowth with DirectX 11"
},
"description": "Empires of the Undergrowth with DirectX 11"
},
"1": {
"executable": "EotU.app",
"type": "default",
"config": {
"oslist": "macos"
}
},
"2": {
"executable": "EotU.sh",
"arguments": "-vulkan",
"type": "option1",
"config": {
"oslist": "linux"
},
"description_loc": {
"english": "Empires of the Undergrowth with Vulkan (experimental)"
},
"description": "Empires of the Undergrowth with Vulkan (experimental)"
},
"4": {
"executable": "EotU.sh",
"arguments": "-opengl3",
"type": "option2",
"config": {
"oslist": "linux"
},
"description_loc": {
"english": "Empires of the Undergrowth with OpenGL 3"
},
"description": "Empires of the Undergrowth with OpenGL 3"
},
"5": {
"executable": "EotU.sh",
"arguments": "-opengl4",
"type": "option3",
"config": {
"oslist": "linux"
},
"description_loc": {
"english": "Empires of the Undergrowth with OpenGL 4"
},
"description": "Empires of the Undergrowth with OpenGL 4"
}
},
"steamcontrollertemplateindex": "1",
"steamcontrollerconfigdetails": {
"2865494147": {
"controller_type": "controller_neptune",
"enabled_branches": "default,alpha,beta,expandedalpha,openbeta,presspreview,translationtest",
"use_action_block": "false"
}
},
"steamdecktouchscreen": "1"
},
"depots": {
"228988": {
"config": {
"oslist": "windows"
},
"depotfromapp": "228980",
"sharedinstall": "1"
},
"228990": {
"config": {
"oslist": "windows"
},
"depotfromapp": "228980",
"sharedinstall": "1"
},
"463531": {
"config": {
"oslist": "windows",
"osarch": "64"
},
"manifests": {
"public": {
"gid": "7607265908213533438",
"size": "5264522201",
"download": "5059639872"
}
}
},
"463532": {
"config": {
"oslist": "windows",
"osarch": "32"
},
"manifests": {
"public": {
"gid": "8740411461507035877",
"size": "5930473396",
"download": "5783634528"
}
}
},
"463533": {
"config": {
"oslist": "macos",
"osarch": "64"
},
"manifests": {
"public": {
"gid": "5168334823267069661",
"size": "10752423846",
"download": "5994480112"
}
}
},
"463534": {
"config": {
"oslist": "linux",
"osarch": "64"
},
"manifests": {
"public": {
"gid": "4928343751148336280",
"size": "3553255409",
"download": "3368202000"
}
}
},
"3402420": {
"dlcappid": "3402420",
"config": {
"oslist": "windows",
"osarch": "64"
},
"manifests": {
"public": {
"gid": "4497732885158900609",
"size": "130198349",
"download": "128407872"
}
}
},
"3402421": {
"dlcappid": "3402420",
"config": {
"oslist": "macos",
"osarch": "64"
},
"manifests": {
"public": {
"gid": "6774842373039925003",
"size": "290346216",
"download": "256046096"
}
}
},
"3402630": {
"dlcappid": "3402630",
"config": {
"oslist": "windows",
"osarch": "64"
},
"manifests": {
"public": {
"gid": "5167536031889139784",
"size": "2326246319",
"download": "1845005024"
}
}
},
"3402631": {
"dlcappid": "3402630",
"config": {
"oslist": "macos",
"osarch": "64"
},
"manifests": {
"public": {
"gid": "3738389894317744682",
"size": "2326281112",
"download": "1845109648"
}
}
},
"baselanguages": "english,german,french,italian,koreana,spanish,schinese,tchinese,russian,japanese,polish,dutch,hungarian,czech,turkish,brazilian,ukrainian",
"branches": {
"public": {
"buildid": "23082051",
"timeupdated": "1777927064",
"timebuildupdated": "1777922199"
}
},
"privatebranches": "1"
},
"ufs": {
"quota": "1000000000",
"maxnumfiles": "2000",
"savefiles": {
"0": {
"root": "WinAppDataLocal",
"path": "EotU/Saved/SaveGames",
"pattern": "*.sav"
}
},
"rootoverrides": {
"0": {
"root": "WinAppDataLocal",
"os": "MacOS",
"oscompare": "=",
"useinstead": "MacAppSupport",
"pathtransforms": {
"0": {
"find": "EotU/Saved/SaveGames",
"replace": "Epic/EotU/Saved/SaveGames"
}
}
},
"1": {
"root": "WinAppDataLocal",
"os": "Linux",
"oscompare": "=",
"useinstead": "LinuxHome",
"pathtransforms": {
"0": {
"find": "EotU/Saved/SaveGames",
"replace": ".config/Epic/EotU/Saved/SaveGames"
}
}
}
}
}
}
