They Are Billions (v1.1.4.10)

A single unnoticed infected can turn a thriving frontier settlement into a screaming ruin, and that constant pressure gives They Are Billions its brutal identity. Set in a post-collapse steampunk future, the game asks you to rebuild humanity behind walls, watchtowers, and carefully rationed resources while vast undead hordes press in from every direction. Its mood is tense rather than heroic: every expansion beyond your defenses feels like a calculated risk, and one broken gate can spread disaster through an entire colony.

Matches revolve around scouting a procedurally arranged map, claiming resource deposits, constructing houses for workers, and balancing food, energy, wood, stone, iron, and oil. You train Rangers, Soldiers, Snipers, and mechanical units to clear infected nests, but noise and aggressive expansion can wake up far more enemies than your army can handle. The real challenge lies in city layout and defense planning, using chokepoints, layered walls, towers, traps, and advanced military buildings before the final swarm arrives. Pausing lets you issue orders and study a growing crisis, but survival still demands efficient decisions, especially on higher difficulty settings where infected density and resource scarcity become punishing.

The New Empire campaign adds a more directed series of missions, colony-building objectives, and hero-focused excursions under the rule of Quintus Crane, while Survival mode remains the strongest test of repeatable strategic skill. Unlike more relaxed builders such as Banished or Anno, every economic choice here exists to support an impending war of attrition; it feels closer to a tower-defense-infused RTS where failure can come from one neglected corner of the map. Its painted Victorian-industrial visuals make packed undead crowds easy to read even when hundreds flood the screen, and the looming final assaults deliver an excellent payoff for careful preparation. They Are Billions suits strategy veterans who enjoy unforgiving learning curves, but patient newcomers can also thrive if they accept that early defeats are part of learning how to build a colony that lasts.