About the Game
Conquer enemy nests and lead your colony through the perils of the forest in this groundbreaking RTS. Empire of the Ants is a photorealistic, third-person real-time strategy game where you command your insect legions in epic battles.
A massive update for Empire of the Ants, focused on replayability, strategy, and co-op multiplayer!
GAME MODES
NEW UNITS & POWERS
Play as 103,683rd, an ant of the warrior caste with an inquisitive mind: explore the Federation and fight for it, conquering new territories.
Exploring, strategizing, and forging alliances with the local wildlife will be crucial to emerge victorious from the many challenges lying ahead.
Unconventional legions with which to wage war
Special abilities for victory
Conquer and upgrade outposts
Dominate the online cross-platform ranked multiplayer
An immersive solo campaign
Skirmish
Master AI player setting
SWARM TOGETHER UPDATE – AVAILABLE NOW!
A massive update for Empire of the Ants, focused on replayability, strategy, and co-op multiplayer!
GAME MODES
- Horde Mode (Solo or Co-op)
- Story Challenge Mode
- 2 Players vs 2 AIs Mode
NEW UNITS & POWERS
- New Support Unit: The Paussus
- New Power: Pheromone Storm
Knights in chitin armor: fight for your Queen, the Federation... our Empire
Experience an immersive journey and defend your lands through tactical and strategic battles in an epic, microscopic world.Play as 103,683rd, an ant of the warrior caste with an inquisitive mind: explore the Federation and fight for it, conquering new territories.
Exploring, strategizing, and forging alliances with the local wildlife will be crucial to emerge victorious from the many challenges lying ahead.
Unconventional legions with which to wage war
- Shape your strategy by choosing your roster wisely: starting, support, and super-predator legions.
- Upgrade your nest’s tier to access new and stronger legions. Will you opt for the defensive Snail or the mobility of the Rhino Beetles?
Special abilities for victory
- Scare the enemy away, reinforce your units, or spy on your opponents: your chosen pheromones forge your offensive—or defensive—strategy.
Conquer and upgrade outposts
- Adapt your strategy by building the right chambers: build your economy, manage your legions, gather Information on the battlefield, gain new Powers, or strengthen your Defense.
- Not enough space? Conquer other nests to expand your territory and get stronger.
Dominate the online cross-platform ranked multiplayer
- Challenge your friends in thrilling skirmishes or prove your strategy skills in player-versus-player mode: ranked 1-vs.-1 matchmaking and three free-for-all matches. Custom Private Lobby available to train your skills against a friend or AI.
An immersive solo campaign
- Play through a 20-hour-long campaign inspired by Bernard Werber’s bestselling saga, where the fate of your colony rests upon your antennae.
- Choose your way to play, whether you’re looking for strategic combat and challenges or you prefer exploring the environment and fast-paced tactical missions.
Skirmish
- Hone your strategic skills and practice against 1 or 2 AI in offline mode.
Master AI player setting
- Reacts swiftly and strategically, using pheromone powers. The advanced AI processes situations faster than usual, adapting seamlessly to real-time changes and employing powers for a challenging gameplay experience.
Screenshots
7 images
Version Information
Steam Patch Notes
Official update history
Build 19145019
Jul 16, 2025
Greetings fellow ants,
The time to unite has finally come!
This free content update brings a lot of new things to the game:
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{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43519985/eaa44e8a2266fd5f5495eaaacc517b79bb65909c.png
{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43519985/ce0611d01efc3a347c713b92a0c1d9d2579b67ab.jpg
We hope you’ll have as much fun playing with these new additions as we enjoyed crafting them!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2287330/Empire_of_the_Ants/
Empire of the Ants Discord Empire of the Ants Twitter Empire of the Ants Reddit Tower Five Studio
View on Steam
The time to unite has finally come!
The Swarm Together Update is Now Available in Empire of the Ants
This free content update brings a lot of new things to the game:
🎮 New Game Modes
- Co-Op Mode
- Available in Mutiplayer hub
- Play with a friend against 2 AIs
- Each player starts with 2 nests, and cooperation will be key to defeat the enemy team
- Available in Mutiplayer hub
- Horde Mode
- Available for 1 player in Skirmish hub and 2 players in Multiplayer hub
- Defend your nests against unending waves of enemies
- Waves grow stronger and stronger
- Waves are always composed differently
- Available for 1 player in Skirmish hub and 2 players in Multiplayer hub
- Story Challenge Mode
- Available in Skirmish hub
- Replay 6 missions from the main campaign in a more challenging format
- Some actions, from the attacks to the movements, will cost points
- Some other, such as defeating an enemy nest, will grant you additional points
- Finish the mission with the highest score possible
- Available in Skirmish hub
{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43519985/f401c1b97dfcea0ff8f1d9fef3801b1259ba9ae8.png
🐜 New In-Game Content
- New Map: The Riverside
- Designed specifically for large scale battles, this strip of land is the ideal place for 2 v 2 combats
- New Support Unit: The Paussus
- A stealthy unit which cannot be detected by units without a certain range, nor enemy nests
- Steals the economic and information upgrades of enemy nests
- Weak during fights, using the Paussus will require some strategy to be used at its full potential
- A stealthy unit which cannot be detected by units without a certain range, nor enemy nests
- New Power: Pheromone Storm
- Create a huge smoke-filled area where information is not displayed
- Upgrading it will extend its duration
- Some upgrades and power can counter its effect
- Create a huge smoke-filled area where information is not displayed
{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43519985/eaa44e8a2266fd5f5495eaaacc517b79bb65909c.png
🛠️ Misc. Changes
- Loadout Setup
- Dedicated loadouts for the Skirmish and Multiplayer hubs
- Set up to 5 loadouts which include units and powers
- When the map is set, choose which loadout you want to play with
- Dedicated loadouts for the Skirmish and Multiplayer hubs
- New AI Difficulties
- ”Imba”, “Unfair” and “Darwin”
- Balancing
- Information upgrades now cost less resources to build
- Aphids now grant a movement boost while moving
- Snails move 30% faster
- Dor Beetles now receive 5-10% less damage across the board
- Hornets now receive 10-15% more damage from gunners
- Flying units, such as the Rhino Beetle, can now be sent directly to a nest
- Information upgrades now cost less resources to build
{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/43519985/ce0611d01efc3a347c713b92a0c1d9d2579b67ab.jpg
We hope you’ll have as much fun playing with these new additions as we enjoyed crafting them!
For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜
🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2287330/Empire_of_the_Ants/
📬 Stay connected!
Empire of the Ants Discord Empire of the Ants Twitter Empire of the Ants Reddit Tower Five Studio
Build 16682075
Dec 9, 2024
Greetings, fellow ants! 🐜
Winter is almost upon us, and the team at Tower Five has been busy with a new update!
Here’s what’s new:
Thank you for your feedback, we’ll keep you updated for future updates!
View on Steam
Winter is almost upon us, and the team at Tower Five has been busy with a new update!
Here’s what’s new:
New Features
- Skirmish mode - Hone your strategic skills and practice against 1 or 2 AI in offline mode
- Master AI player setting - Reacts swiftly and strategically, using pheromone powers. The advanced AI processes situations faster than usual, adapting seamlessly to real-time changes and employing powers for a challenging gameplay experience
- Arabic localization
Main Updates
- In Ta-yu-kan, the exploration missions “Lost sisters” and “Second hunt” are now optional
- Changed the sonar (e.g. in the “Lost sisters” mission)
- Added 2 minutes to the allowed time in the mission “Stockpiling”
- Removed gunner enemies from some waves in the mission “A city under attack”
- Changed the color of the shield indicators for better visibility
Bug Fixes
- Fixed several crashes
- Fixed bugs corrupting saves
- Fixed screen tearing issue when DLSS is activated
- Optimized the main menu for ultra-widescreen (32:9)
- Reduced the blurry outline effect around moving objects (e.g. around 103,683rd) created by TSR in Performance mode at resolutions lower than 1440p
- Fixed third shield charge that was not applying properly
- Fixed several localization issues
Thank you for your feedback, we’ll keep you updated for future updates!
For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜
Build 16409465
Nov 14, 2024
Now available on PC and consoles, Empire of the Ants immerses you in massive insect battles. In this article, learn more about the numerous agents populating the game and the artificial intelligence that brings them to life.
As you develop your army in Empire of the Ants, you can accumulate up to 4,200 Units under your command. Adding to this are your various opponents and the neutral insects that populate the world, making the strategy game capable of accommodating up to 20,000 units in a single game!
"It was important to have a large number of characters," says Quentin Daveau, Game Engineer at Tower Five. "Firstly, for authenticity's sake, because insects are extremely numerous in real life. But also to offer players an impressive aspect, with swarming masses charging at each other. When a legion of gunners positions themselves on a mountain and it becomes entirely green, it's really something."
A major challenge for the Tower Five studio was displaying these thousands of insects without compromising performance. The developers found several tricks to achieve a result that is both spectacular and smooth.
"We decided not to use the usual method of skeletal animation, which involves creating a skeleton that dynamically moves the surface around it," explains Quentin. "We opted for the older method of vertex animation, which is similar to frame-by-frame animation. It was more work, but the result is less demanding on the machine."
The team also used other techniques to optimize the performance of Empire of the Ants, such as limiting the number of calculations for the agents. For example, an insect tasked with producing a resource will not think again until it has finished its task. Avoiding continuous updates to the AI reduces the load on the processor.
The second challenge for the designers of Empire of the Ants was making the artificial intelligence credible, especially in its movements. "What’s unique in our game is that you can walk vertically or upside down," Quentin recalls. "The classic navigation mesh method wasn't very suitable for this, so we had to innovate again. Nothing is pre-calculated: the units test the terrain around them on the fly, as if they were moving blindly."
Of course, Tower Five also worked hard on the AI's decision-making to achieve a satisfactory result. "It was quite difficult to balance; the AI must be convincing and provide resistance, without overwhelming us," says Quentin. To achieve this, the studio gave the player the same tools as the computer: it doesn't have more resources or stronger units. It doesn't see the entire map but only around itself and has a reaction time quite close to that of a human.
This allows for games that are just complex enough without feeling arbitrarily outpaced by the AI. But for fans of tough situations, rest assured - as Quentin tells us, "You can set the AI to its highest difficulty level in private game mode and find some optional missions in the campaign that will challenge players."
🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2287330/Empire_of_the_Ants/
📬 Stay connected!
Official Empire of the Ants Reddit - Official Empire of the Ants Twitter - Tower Five Studio - Official Empire of the Ants Discord
View on Steam
An Impressive Number of Characters on Screen
As you develop your army in Empire of the Ants, you can accumulate up to 4,200 Units under your command. Adding to this are your various opponents and the neutral insects that populate the world, making the strategy game capable of accommodating up to 20,000 units in a single game!
"It was important to have a large number of characters," says Quentin Daveau, Game Engineer at Tower Five. "Firstly, for authenticity's sake, because insects are extremely numerous in real life. But also to offer players an impressive aspect, with swarming masses charging at each other. When a legion of gunners positions themselves on a mountain and it becomes entirely green, it's really something."
The Challenge of Limiting the Impact of Units on Performance
A major challenge for the Tower Five studio was displaying these thousands of insects without compromising performance. The developers found several tricks to achieve a result that is both spectacular and smooth.
"We decided not to use the usual method of skeletal animation, which involves creating a skeleton that dynamically moves the surface around it," explains Quentin. "We opted for the older method of vertex animation, which is similar to frame-by-frame animation. It was more work, but the result is less demanding on the machine."
The team also used other techniques to optimize the performance of Empire of the Ants, such as limiting the number of calculations for the agents. For example, an insect tasked with producing a resource will not think again until it has finished its task. Avoiding continuous updates to the AI reduces the load on the processor.
Tough but Fair: The Behavior of Artificial Intelligence
The second challenge for the designers of Empire of the Ants was making the artificial intelligence credible, especially in its movements. "What’s unique in our game is that you can walk vertically or upside down," Quentin recalls. "The classic navigation mesh method wasn't very suitable for this, so we had to innovate again. Nothing is pre-calculated: the units test the terrain around them on the fly, as if they were moving blindly."
Of course, Tower Five also worked hard on the AI's decision-making to achieve a satisfactory result. "It was quite difficult to balance; the AI must be convincing and provide resistance, without overwhelming us," says Quentin. To achieve this, the studio gave the player the same tools as the computer: it doesn't have more resources or stronger units. It doesn't see the entire map but only around itself and has a reaction time quite close to that of a human.
This allows for games that are just complex enough without feeling arbitrarily outpaced by the AI. But for fans of tough situations, rest assured - as Quentin tells us, "You can set the AI to its highest difficulty level in private game mode and find some optional missions in the campaign that will challenge players."
For the glory of the colony 🌿🐜
🐜 Play Empire of the Ants now
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2287330/Empire_of_the_Ants/
📬 Stay connected!
Official Empire of the Ants Reddit - Official Empire of the Ants Twitter - Tower Five Studio - Official Empire of the Ants Discord
Build 16281268
Nov 15, 2024
Greetings, fellow ants! 🐜
We’ve deployed a new patch with several enhancements, fixes, and balance adjustments for Empire of the Ants. Here’s what’s new:
Thank you for your feedback, we’ll keep you updated for future updates!
View on Steam
We’ve deployed a new patch with several enhancements, fixes, and balance adjustments for Empire of the Ants. Here’s what’s new:
Additions and Improvements
- Added support for monitors with different aspect ratios (e.g. Steam Deck, widescreen
monitors) - Added a field-of-view slider in the Video Options
- Added a monitor selection option in the Video Options
- Improved the “Vertical sync” option to work with high refresh rate monitors
- Increased maximum frame rate to 144 FPS
Fixes
- Fix for rare hang when commanding Hornets
- Fix for ‘Space bar’ indicator to restart a mission not working
- Fixed a fatal error when starting the game on a PC that has DLSS Frame Generation
(i.e. Nvidia RTX 40 series card) - Fix for missing sounds in missions
Multiplayer balancing
Defense upgrade changes
- The “protective Barrier” upgrade provides 15% HP in shield instead of 20%
- Slightly increased Nest gunners Tier 1 damage to Hornets
- Slightly decreased Nest gunners Tier 3 damage to Hornets
Super predator changes
- Nerfed the Dor Beetles (blue beetles):
- They will take more damage than they used to (compared to Rose Chafers they
now take 70% of the damage instead of 50% - they have the same amount of
HP) - Reduced by 20% the damage they deal across the board
- They will take more damage than they used to (compared to Rose Chafers they
- Increased damage inflicted by Hornets to ant/termite legions
- Decreased damage inflicted by Hornets to creeps (Firebugs/Ladybygs/Spiders/etc.)
Support changes
- Increased aphid healing range from 300 (which was a bug) to 1500
- Decreased max shield value provided by snail from 40% to 30%,
- Decreased the time it takes to fill up Snail's shield from 20sec to 15sec
Power changes
- Powers start with their cooldown at 0% charged instead of 100% charged
- It however keeps the previous charges as they were
- So if you had a T1 Rage charge at 53% cooldown, and built the T2 Rage you
will have one charge at 53% and the second charge at 0%
- It however keeps the previous charges as they were
- Increased all but 2 power prices from 20/30/40 to 20/40/60.
- Burrow and Gnat Spies remain unchanged.
- Decreased build time for all powers from 20sec to 5sec
- The “Shielding spores” power has been changed as follows:
- Each charge now gives 15% HP instead of 30% HP in shield
- Shield cap used to be 90% for all tiers, now it depends on the Shield power
tier:- Tier 1 caps at 15% HP
- Tier 2 caps at 30% HP
- Tier 3 caps at 45% HP
- Tier 1 caps at 15% HP
- To be noted, they still stack with Snail and the protective Barrier up to 90%
HP, maximum.
- Each charge now gives 15% HP instead of 30% HP in shield
- Burrow and Gnat Spies remain unchanged.
Thank you for your feedback, we’ll keep you updated for future updates!
Current Release
Not available
System Requirements
OS
Windows 10 64 bit
CPU
Intel Core i5 9400 / AMD Ryzen 5 2600
RAM
8 GB RAM
GPU
6GB VRAM / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 580
How to Install
1
Download all files
2
Extract the .RAR file to a folder (use WinRAR or 7-Zip)
3
Mount the ISO file (double-click or right-click → Mount)
4
Run setup.exe
5
Important: Check "Copy Contents of ... Directory to Installdir"
6
Launch the game from desktop shortcut
Troubleshooting tips
• Run Redist/_CommonRedist installers if game won't start
• Add folder to Windows Defender exclusions
• Run as administrator
Download
Direct link available
Size
36.5 GB
Password: cracked-games.org or 123
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Download Empire of the Ants for PC with a direct link or via torrent. Get the full version of Empire of the Ants for free. Empire of the Ants is a Strategy released by Tower Five.