It all started a few months ago when the gang at Numantian Games announced the presales for their new game. It created a little bit of a stir, but most people didn’t notice. Over the next few weeks, the hype spread slowly. Then the streamers became infected, passing the bug to their followers. Unlike most games that quickly fade from the Twitch-verse, this one just wouldn’t go away. Now, a month into Early Access, They Are Billions is still spreading, infecting more and more players. This is our They Are Billions preview.
For those that haven’t heard about it, They Are Billions (TAB) is a post-apocalyptic Real Time Strategy game unlike any other I have ever played. In most RTS games you start in one corner (or center) of the map, quickly scout for the enemy’s location, then amass an army to go on the offensive. TAB takes this paradigm and throws it on its head by adding the ever so popular zombie survival theme to the mix.
You will start each randomly generated map with a command center and a handful of units. You quickly find that you are more or less surrounded by groups of undead, aimlessly wandering around until you attract their attention. With your space and resources limited, you will have to diligently prioritize your building queue, expanding your base while dealing with the local undead. After a while, you will be onset by your first horde, and if you survive, you can expect more hordes, each one bigger than the last.
Sounds simple enough, but don’t be fooled. Just like in the movies, if even one lone zombie slips through your defenses, expect catastrophic results. In the event you are able to contain the outbreak and start to rebuild, odds are you are just delaying the inevitable. On your first defeat, you realize there is only a single save, so you hit restart and try again. And again, and again.
The learning curve is steep but very rewarding. While you will have many fails, every few games you have a lightbulb moment that allows you to live a few days longer than before. At each step, you will learn just enough to keep you coming back for more. While the base building feels slower than in most RTS, the immediate threat of zombie infiltration will have you tensely sitting in your seat, constantly checking your minimap for activity. And when you finally survive the first map, you get to do it all over again on the next.
Survival mode currently has four maps available, each one presenting new challenges to overcome. You also have two difficulty options (zombie population and game length) to ease or increase the challenge ahead of you. There isn’t a new player tutorial yet (planned to be added by the official launch later this year), so don’t feel discouraged by the need to lower the difficulty level to learn the mechanics. As stated before, the survival element makes the gameplay unique, requiring you to unlearn some of the playstyles you bring with you from other RTS games.
The team at Numantian Games entered EA with only a small piece of the game available. Beyond the tutorial, they are also working on completing a full campaign mode. With the buzz surrounding the survival mode, I am eagerly awaiting to see what the campaign has to offer. It is rare that an Early Access game lives up to the hype being created around it, but it looks promising that They Are Billions will survive the gauntlet, unlike my ability to survive the horde.
Note: Our copy was previewed on PC with a code provided by PR.
