They Are Billions
They Are Billions is a strategy game in a distant future about building and managing human colonies after a zombie apocalypse destroyed almost all of human kind. Now there are only a few thousand humans left alive that must struggle to survive under the threat of the infection. Billions of infected roam around the world in massive swarms seeking the last living human colonies. Campaign: The New Empire – Available now! Lead the campaign under the orders of Quintus Crane, ruler of the New Empire, and reconquer the lands devastated by the infected. 48 missions with more than 60 hours of gameplay. Build fortified colonies to survive in infected territories Destroy the swarms of infected with the Imperial Army. Make your colonies evolve with more than 90 available technologies. Explore the ancient human fortresses with your Hero. Discover the story behind the apocalypse… how did the pandemic start? Survival Mode In this mode, a random world is generated with its own events, weather, geography, and infected population. You must build a successful colony that must survive for a specific period of time against the swarms of infected. It is a fast and ultra addictive game mode. We plan to release a challenge of the week where all players must play the same random map. The best scores will be published in a leaderboard.
Game Discussion
Steam User 158
Wow. 1200 hours. At least that's over 6+ years. Still, yikes. Now, I'm someone who saves all of the time. I just saved three times in an AOE2 campaign today that I was certain to win. Just in case! However, in this game, there's no saving. I see some negative reviews saying that's a broken game mechanic. I think it's perfect. You have to embrace losing. One single zombie ambled in through the single hole in your defense and you lose after 2 hours? Yup! You lost. You can't load up 15 minutes ago and fix that hole. And then save and load up again when the next flaw is revealed. You need to watch them destroy your entire village, and then you need to try again. And again. This is a perfect game.
Steam User 268
It is a fine game, but there is no mid-level save. I'm a working adult and I have limited time and this is by far the worst decision. Just such a dumb decision. Bad decision. Bad dumb stupid decision. You can just manually copy and past the saves folder on your computer to perform your own manual saves, but I shouldn't have to. I decided to play through the campaign because I do like RTS games and zombie survival games and this is a pretty cool combo. I do love how easy it is to get swarmed by one missed zombie making it into your base. This does not work well with no mid-game saves.
pros:
- challenging zombie mechanics that make protecting your bases from all sides very important
- zombies
cons
I would like to reiterate that it is a very bad, dumb, poor, stupid decision by the devs to not have a mid-game save. Like, the worst thing you can do in a single player game. Just so stupid. I thought that 1 hour in and I still think that 100 hours in.
The unit path-finding isn't great, plenty of times units start walking into walls or buildings. It works out fine most of the time, but it can be greatly improved.
The required spacing between buildings is such a pain. Like, houses should be able to be stacked and your units should be able to just walk though them. Spacing quarries and sawmills is so tedious and difficult to get "right" and optimize placement.
There are Hero mission that only give you research points, you don't get to use a hero on the normal levels. I don't get it. It is an RTS, not a point and click adventure game. So there is a whole skill tree for your hero that doesn't affect anything in the main game. It'd be more acceptable to me if you actually used the hero on your missions, or if you could train a "hero-unit" that gets increased stats from your hero skill tree.
there is no way to speed up the game. Most level require you to last a certain amount of days and I'm prepared to win and hold off attacks by halfway through. If I could speed it up or even skip to the next day, that would be so much better.
Conclusion
Its just a fine game. I'm not going to play it again anytime soon and its hard to recommend to anyone who values their time. I kind of regret buying it, but overall is a well made game. Just a lot of decisions made that disrespect my time. I wouldn't have spent so much time on it if I didn't just want to give an honest effort.
and a last note:
It is such a bad choice to not have a mid game save. Such a bad, bad, bad decision.
Steam User 28
Play mission, lose, get reset back to the beginning. Play same mission, lose, get reset back to the beginning. Play same mission, lose to population goal, get reset back to the beginning. Close game, uninstall, never play again. Reinstall, open game, get reset back to the beginning.
Steam User 27
This game scratches a particular itch that is hard to find. It's a turtler's dream - Build your base, capture every resource you can and climb that tech tree, because the game knows who you are and it's going to throw everything it's got at you and you better be ready. And frankly you wont be ready and that makes it so much more rewarding when you succeed.
The killer feature of this game is (to my surprise) a pause button. If you're anything like me, trying to control hundreds of little units and navigating a mini map can get disorienting when the chaos hit. Being able to quickly pause to make some decisions and then unpause to see your plan spring into action is brilliant.
Steam User 26
They Are Billions is made for a specific kind of person, and that person is me: it's an RTS where turtling is not only encouraged but essential, where mistakes are severely punished and your base can be destroyed in the blink of an eye. And perhaps most importantly, this game lets you pause. There is no element of dexterity here, you can take as much time as you need to issue orders to your troops and micromanage every aspect of your play. If you lose despite this advantage, you have only yourself to blame... They Are Billions is not for the faint of heart. The title is accurate and you will be shocked by how many zombies that can spawn at once, and if even one of them gets into your residential district the infection will spread out of control. The stakes are higher than ever but that only makes victory all the more sweet when it is finally achieved. Two thumbs up from me, this is a game I will gladly revisit time and again.
Steam User 17
Closing in on 1,000 hours and still keep going. Something about how challenging this game is keeps me coming back for more. Would be nice if the devs added some new content but guess they are satisfied with what it is.
Steam User 28
I suppose after 2,000+ hours the Devs deserve a review.
The campaign is okay. As others mention, the single player missions are not a good time. The other levels are a fun way to learn the game.
The game truly shines when you dig into the community maps. There are some very talented folks out there making maps so the fun never ends. The ability of mapmakers to adjust game setting like upgrading units makes re-playability endless.
Just a warning you have seen in other reviews: This game is HARD. The hardcore-style of no saves is part of what makes the game so fun. I probably have a win percentage of well under 5% but I am always excited to begin again and fix what went wrong.