Review PyramidHeadcrab 4/5 · Dec 24, 2025
Comrade Isopod Vs. The Fire Ant Oligarchy
So if you told me a year ago there was an overtly anti-capitalist games about bugs protecting their homeland from an invasive, colonialist conglomerate, I'd tell you you were pulling my fucking leg.
Nope.
This game is real, and oh my god, is it ever fun.
So, in writing this review, I know nothing about the devs, or the history, …
So if you told me a year ago there was an overtly anti-capitalist games about bugs protecting their homeland from an invasive, colonialist conglomerate, I'd tell you you were pulling my fucking leg.
Nope.
This game is real, and oh my god, is it ever fun.
So, in writing this review, I know nothing about the devs, or the history, or any of that. I know it's in the same universe as Webbed, a 2D platformer where you play a jumping spider. When I saw the trailer, I thought, "Woah, a game where you play as a potato bug? I love that." I DID NOT EXPECT TO HAVE RAZOR-SHARP POLITICAL THEMES. The game on its own is good, but the way this game gets political without being chickenshit like AAA studios are is amazing. It's not merely using the imagery of organized labour or revolution, it uses bugs to highlight the failures of capitalism and colonialism in brilliant ways. I am stunned.
You play as Winston, the elected leader of the Isopod Union, and the game starts with you travelling to meet the Fire Ant Conglomerate to negotiate a business arrangement. Their proposal consists of subjugating the local wildlife and destroying the Bushland to extract profit from its resources. This is a sour deal, of course, so the Isopod Union and Bull Ant Co-Operative team up to push the capitalist scum out of their homeland. Yes, I'm serious.
What follows is an adventure through the wilderness, where you'll topple giant machines, fly around with a magnet device, and eat dead leaves for health. The bosses and set piece moments in this game were some of the most genuine fun I've had in a long time, with the final stage and boss being a wonderful finale to cap the whole thing off. I was grinning ear to ear.
There's a bit of jank in the physics that holds the game back a little bit, but because the setting doesn't take itself deadly serious, it becomes a little more tolerable. Momentum in particular is really hard to parse, because between Winston flopping and rolling all over and the magnet flinging you around, it's a little hard to control where you're going and how fast. I also experienced an audio issue where the sound would cut for a split second when certain sounds or graphics loaded in. Hardly a deal-breaker, but noticed.
The game's gonna run you about $20 and 4ish hours of play time. It's absolutely a blast, and I can't think of anything else like it. Truly a winning game for me, and a highlight of 2025 for sure.
