Here Comes The Swarm

About Here Comes The Swarm

Here Comes The Swarm is a single player survival city builder game with fantasy, economy, medieval and historical themes. It was developed by CableHook Games and was released on March 5, 2026. It received positive reviews from players.

The hive is angry. They have claimed this planet. Today, today, today, they whisper to their brothers, to their sisters. The swarm shivers in anticipation. They click, they chitter, they burst. Today, today, today. They move as a river, a steady stream, towards the camp of the walking machines. In unison they chant: we kill, we kill, we kill. Will you stop them? RECLAIME ULORA Managing your settle…

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Reviews

86%Audience ScoreBased on 210 reviews

gameplay19 positive mentions

stability6 negative mentions

Engaging survival RTS gameplay with a satisfying blend of base building and swarm defense, appealing especially to fans of They Are Billions.
Strong unit control and tactical pause feature allow for thoughtful micromanagement and strategy at your own pace.
Robust meta-progression system (Deities, Arcanum talents) that offers customization and replayability, fostering diverse playstyles.

Limited unit and tower variety currently affects gameplay depth, making some strategies feel repetitive or dominant.
Difficulty balancing and pacing issues, notably rapid wave intervals and resource constraints, can create frustrating gameplay moments.
Technical problems including crashes, pathfinding bugs, and occasional clunky UI elements detract from the overall experience.

gameplay
50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38% positive mentions, 56% neutral mentions, 6% negative mentions
The gameplay offers a solid, engaging blend of strategy and roguelike progression with smooth mechanics reminiscent of titles like "They Are Billions" and "Age of Darkness," providing extensive hours of content and replayability. While some find it lacking in innovation and variety, especially in unique units and advanced building mechanics, the tactical depth, fluid pacing, and meta progression consistently deliver an enjoyable and rewarding experience. Overall, its gameplay loop is praised for being challenging yet accessible, though some note balance issues and potential grind in early stages.
- “The gameplay is the real highlight: challenging, strategic, and highly engaging, constantly pushing you to improve your tactics.”
- “Gameplay is horde defense with tactical pause RTS with a topping of meta progression, which puts this one a cut above the rest.”
- “The game has a strong and satisfying gameplay loop, with both a solid skirmish mode and a roguelike mode that adds extra replayability.”
- “Besides more varied roguelike upgrades, it doesn't seem to do anything games like Age of Darkness doesn't in terms of actual gameplay quality with new innovative mechanics or features.”
- “Could get more features in the future that make it worth playing over any other game of the same type, but it's just copy pasting the actual gameplay in a less advanced way, while only adding a potentially interesting upgrade tree, which unfortunately would have to grind through the very boring early game many times over and over again to advance through.”
- “It's not worth 20 bucks and is currently a slow, boring mess of gameplay.”
graphics
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
35% positive mentions, 47% neutral mentions, 18% negative mentions
The graphics receive mixed feedback, with some praising the clear, bright, and fantasy-inspired aesthetic reminiscent of Warcraft 3, while others find them outdated, rough, or lacking polish. Though not the most visually advanced, many users appreciate the distinguishable units and terrain, noting that improved refinement could enhance the overall experience.
- “Nice and clear graphics; units, buildings, terrain, and points of interest are quite distinguishable.”
- “Bright, clean, fantastic aesthetic.”
- “Graphics are on point, even when you are being swarmed.”
- “I couldn't get over how bad the graphics are.”
- “The graphics look like something from 2006 with blurry textures, washed out colors, and very generic buildings.”
- “Reskin of 'They Are Billions', graphic design seems a bit rough.”
story
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18% positive mentions, 64% neutral mentions, 18% negative mentions
The game currently lacks a traditional campaign, storyline, and characters, which diminishes the overall narrative experience. Instead, gameplay revolves around randomized mission chains with buffs and drawbacks, but these expeditions feel unbalanced and overly reliant on RNG. While missions are engaging and mechanics deep, the absence of a structured story and varied mission design leads to repetitive and somewhat shallow progression.
- “I don't know how exactly they should go about it, maybe have a story, maybe not; maybe have more predetermined maps; maybe not; etc... but I know I want there to be an experience like this whereby I can power up over a big run that would take me days to complete.”
- “Currently in early access (launched just recently on March 5, 2026), this game already packs a massive amount of mechanics, deep synergies, and highly entertaining missions.”
- “One of the great parts in the mission length isn't too bad, 45-60 minutes is very manageable.”
- “My only gripes with the game in its current state is the lack of a campaign/story, and some matches feel rushed, making it hard to progress due to resource pressure from repair costs during waves.”
- “Very similar to 'There Are Billions', except teching up is more troublesome, there's no campaign, storyline, or characters of any sort, upgrades are harder to manage, and every mission has a time limit that prevents exploring or teching up fully.”
- “Lack of campaign, storyline, and characters hurt the overall experience.”
replayability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30% positive mentions, 40% neutral mentions, 30% negative mentions
The game offers a solid foundation for replayability through varied buffs, difficulty settings, and multiple game modes, including a popular roguelike expedition mode. While the fast-paced matches and procedural generation add to its appeal, some users note a lack of variety in maps and modes after extended play, indicating room for future content and depth improvements. Overall, the replayability is decent but could be enhanced with additional updates and meta-progression features.
- “You select different buffs which allows you to tailor how you play to your preferred style. It's an easy system to use which gives a great deal of replayability.”
- “Lots of difficulty settings, procedurally generated maps, and game modes give this game some healthy replayability to support a strong gameplay loop.”
- “The game has a strong and satisfying gameplay loop, with both a solid skirmish mode and a roguelike mode that adds extra replayability.”
- “At about 40 hours, I've hit a bit of a wall in regards to replayability in its current state, mostly due to the maps, variety, and game modes; once you have a successful formula, it seems you essentially scale as needed. Looking forward to additional depth here.”
- “Most of these cons can be attributed to the game's early access condition, so hopefully future updates will add more replayability to the game.”
- “Would like to see more improvements and meta-progression in expeditions mode since I think it is the most replayable and suitable mode for this genre.”
stability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
The game suffers from numerous stability issues, including frequent bugs with wave timers, building placement, unit pathing, and AI behavior. Save file corruption and collision problems with map objects further hinder gameplay, reflecting overall poor development and a reliance on frustrating mechanics over solid design.
- “Wave timer bugs and glitches affect gameplay consistency.”
- “Building placement bugs cause issues like the butcher overlay remaining on screen.”
- “Save file bugs likely won't be fixed; unit pathing and AI are terrible and buggy, with map objects such as treasure chests causing your army to bug out and get destroyed.”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75% positive mentions, 25% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The game is well-optimized, running smoothly without performance issues, and units generally respond as expected. Overall, it offers solid performance alongside good visuals.
- “No performance issues thus far.”
- “Game runs smoothly, units interact as desired.”
- “Solid game, good performance and looks great, would recommend!”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The humor in the game enhances the gameplay experience through funny animations, contributing to an enjoyable flow. Players appreciate the lighthearted tone but hope for more varied, entertaining campaign content and faction interactions in future updates.
music
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions
The music is praised for creating a pleasant and immersive atmosphere, enhancing the overall ambiance. It contributes to the game's complexity and replayability, but players should not be misled by the soothing soundtrack, as the game itself is challenging.
- “Tab is much more complete in all aspects and more effort has been put into the graphics and ambiance/music, with more complexity and replayability.”
- “Don't let the pleasant atmosphere and great music fool you.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions
The atmosphere is noted for its pleasant mood and great music, but it falls short in visual impact, resulting in a less immersive experience that may struggle to fully engage players.
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions
Grinding in the game involves repetitive skirmishes and construction sequences to unlock upgrades that often can't be fully utilized in missions. However, the arcanum/talents system offers a refreshing customization mechanic, allowing players to tailor unique builds and make strategic choices each game, reducing the typical grind-focused experience.
- “Ultimately this means repeating tech 1 skirmishes, the same construction sequences over and over again, grinding toward unlocking upgrades that you don't have the time to deploy in each mission.”

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Play Times

906h Median play time

612h Average play time

23-1200h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs

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