- The Grind: Developed over seven years as a side project by a team balancing full-time jobs.
- The Genre: A “Survival RTS” featuring massive alien swarms and tactical pause mechanics.
- Roguelike Roots: Features a “Deity” system that allows for unique build combinations in every run.
- Early Praise: The pre-launch demo maintained a 96% “Very Positive” rating on Steam.
What happens when a group of RTS veterans spends their nights and weekends for seven years chasing a dream? You get Here Comes The Swarm. Developed by the Breda-based indie studio CableHook Games, this “love letter to the RTS genre” has officially launched into Steam Early Access, proving that passion and persistence can rival AAA budgets.
Mankind’s Last Stand on Planet Ulora
In Here Comes The Swarm, players are thrust onto the hostile planet of Ulora, a world almost entirely consumed by a hive-mind alien force known as “The Swarm.” As the leader of the last human bastion, your goal is to expand, survive, and eventually strike back at the source of the infection.
- Massive Scale: You aren’t fighting small squads; you’re defending against thousands of enemies that visually and mechanically overwhelm your defenses.
- Tactical Pause: To keep the game accessible yet deep, players can pause at any time to plan constructions, reposition units, or rethink their entire strategy.
- The Deity System: Borrowing from roguelike traditions, players choose a “Deity” at the start of each run, combining Essences, Blessings, and Burdens to create a custom power-build.
“We don’t develop in a vacuum. Seeing the community stress-test our strategies and find tactics we never imagined is the best part of this journey.” — CableHook Games Team
Roadmap: The First 3 Months
CableHook Games has committed to a rapid update cycle for the first quarter of their Early Access journey:
| Month | Key Updates |
| Month 1 | Arcanum Loadout system, bug fixes, and initial balance tuning. |
| Month 2 | Introduction of New Player Units to diversify combat tactics. |
| Month 3 | Launch of a new Deity, ‘Yangwhu’, and an expansion of the Deity skill tree. |
| Beyond | Continued content expansions based on community feedback. |
The “They Are Billions” Successor?
Early testers have been quick to compare the game to survival-strategy classics like They Are Billions. With its clean isometric art style, intuitive resource management, and the high-stakes “Risk vs. Reward” loops (especially when dealing with the new ‘Tunneler’ enemies), Here Comes The Swarm is being hailed as the next evolution of the genre.
The developers expect the Early Access period to last roughly one year, during which they will fine-tune the difficulty and expand the lore of Ulora. Currently, the game features two starter Deities: Tiamman (focused on raw power) and Karkadann (an aggressive, high-risk/high-reward playstyle).
Steam Store Page: Here Comes The Swarm on Steam
