They Are Billions (2019)

"They Are Billions" surprised me with its unique blend of gameplay mechanics. While I initially expected a tower-defense experience, it's more of a standard real-time strategy (RTS) game with some intriguing twists. In this zombie-infested world, you face relentless hordes that spawn more zombies upon destroying your fragile buildings. The absence of mid-mission saves adds tension, as retries impact your final score.

One mechanic that caught me off guard was the ability to place hunter cabins for food production anywhere, not necessarily near forests. Some missions deviate from traditional RTS gameplay and involve dungeon crawling with your hero. These missions, though rewarding, can become monotonous.

A standout feature is the "roam" command for units, allowing them to hunt zombies without constant micromanagement. However, the lack of game speed control can be frustrating, especially during long missions with extended waits for the final wave.

Watching waves of zombies crash against your defenses is a thrilling experience reminiscent of Starcraft 2. Unfortunately, most missions start similarly, with only your HQ, resulting in repetitive early gameplay.

The global upgrades system offers strategic depth, but not all upgrades are equally exciting. Some disappointingly offer minor benefits, like +5 HQ sight range. However, the diversity in mission scenarios keeps the game engaging, from canyons limiting zombie approaches to resource-rich maps with no natural defenses.

While I rushed to unlock the powerful Mutant unit, it proved prohibitively expensive. Some tech tree upgrades that sound promising, like earning gold for each zombie kill, disappoint in practice. Conversely, mundane upgrades, like gaining resources from passing trains, can be incredibly useful.

Despite my hopes, Mutants didn't excel against other mutants or giant zombies. It's often more efficient to engage them from a distance. "They Are Billions" is undeniably lengthy, with missions that can be time-consuming. The absence of mid-mission saves means you must restart from scratch if things go awry.

The final mission offers both excitement and frustration, with numerous choke points but unpredictable waves. Unfortunately, the game occasionally crashes, robbing players of the final cutscene. Nevertheless, "They Are Billions" offers a fresh take on the RTS genre, blending elements of strategy, survival, and tower defense into a challenging and memorable experience.

Disclaimer: I am way behind on RTS genre, but have played classics. Trying to catch up :)

This game is cool. i did manage to beat the first map. I will come back to it later maybe if the game gets its needed (and deserved) updates.

TaB is neat because on the surface it feels like a tradional RTS, but you have smart pause, however pretty much everything is a crazy rework of what Ive seen in all previous RTS games. Note: this is not a RTT type game like DoW or CoH, in fact it almost plays more along the lines of a sim or construction type game, due to the dire need for raw efficiency. to win or improve in this game it requires patience and stamina (I won the first map by staying up all night in a single 16 hour session, knowing i would not be able to reorient myself the next day if i put it down. a run lasts loong. ) this combined with ironman, and the unique quirks of TaB make it really feel like a hardcore game for RTS veterans.

however there are balance issues. both units and costs. i also dont know about the math. these are all really import for a game that goes heavy handed with efficiency, and it doesnt really deliver. For a while this is probably going to be a game good players exploit until they balance and fix things.

I liked the difficulty and "one more time" approach, all the gotchas are forgivable even as disheartening it is after putting hours into your town to see it razed in seconds... I found it strangely satisfying to improve each time. however i STILL would have been failing forever were it not for a handy guide i read after a bit that steered me straight, the game allows a player to learn some, but ton of stuff will take a long time to learn. and once you do the game loses luster. I found it gets boring. i could not really see much novelty in the second map, and figure its just mostly visual, although there are land and resource differences.

I rarely give early access a go (Brigador was last one i think) but this looked interesting. In the end in its current state it feels slightly on the higher end of middle of the road. this game feels like its potential is held back. a campaign would be great to help and teach things, but what really is needed is calibration and maybe some more variation beyond difficulty and more maps. This is unfortunately NOT like many RTS where you can gloss over stuff and have mere stylish presentation fill in the nitty gritty gaps, in most of them you dont even need careful calibration and balancing but in this one it is astonishing of the games own demand. Curious to see where this goes it could really go far.

TaB is fun but also pretty mean. I ragequit this last night after several tries finally made progress and I got raided by harpies I wandered upon, right outside base then bulldozed/blocked them off, then got side swiped by a raid that just 'happened' to get started at same time while other map stragglers/doom dwellers joined in to see what all the noise was about. After about six hours, clearing more than half of the map that is a very discouraging way to lose a game. But there is something about this game that makes me want to win at least the first map (and try the others) I wound up playing it again. It's a very unique game and has some really cool engine features (like noise) i'd say it's 'halfway there' in terms of development. It runs fine but when your guys trumble about on each other, hitch around or can't get a shot off as a steady streaming horde has no issue flowing in like fluid it goes on a two point sliding scale of 'kind of annoying control bug" to "**** this game" in moments! Even without any kind of hitching or anything though the way the game will turn against you in moments to dash your hopes is pretty nuts, there's a lot you can do but it feels like there's a lot you also just can't do too!

When I gave this a spin I wasn't expecting a kind of smart pause RTS Nuclear Throne that doles out frustration and self loathing in longer >4 hour sessions but thats close to what this is. Play it!