They Are Billions

 PC
Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. Wccftech
    Jul 15, 2019
    85
    They Are Billions offers an almost perfect gameplay loop, mixing tower-defence with city building and exploration, as you balance resource-management, defence and offense, all against your ever-impending doom at the hands of a world infested with the undead. The only downside to a game that looks and sounds great, offering a tense experience in a compelling setting, is a campaign that doesn't fully make-use of the gameplay loop perfected by Numantian Games, leaving the campaign feeling weak, compared to the survival mode, which is the real draw.
  2. Critical Hit
    Jul 1, 2019
    85
    They Are Billions is a game based on just a single trick that’s up its undead sleeve. But it’s a hell of a trick, one that’ll keep you ensnared in its tangled web of survival for dozens and dozens of hours as the undead march upon your best base-building efforts.
  3. Game Informer
    Jul 23, 2019
    80
    They Are Billions is an interesting mashup of classic RTS, tower defense, and survival that successfully conjures up that “one more game” feel, assuming you can persevere through countless defeats.
  5. GameSpot
    Jul 2, 2019
    80
    At its best, though, in both the original survival mode, across the bulk of the campaign and in the one-off challenge of the week maps, They Are Billions remains a tight and compelling strategy game. The knowledge that you're always just one misstep away from disaster creates a gripping, tense atmosphere that's unusual for the genre. And the cycle from defense to offense and back again as you progress from one wave to the next offers both well-paced urgency and the ability to set clear short-term goals. It's a smartly designed game at its core, despite the distractions. Just like a lone zombie can bring about your demise, sometimes one strong idea is enough.
  6. The Games Machine
    Jul 2, 2019
    78
    Sometimes less is more, but other times it's just plain less. The streamlined city-builder mechanics keep the player focused on the zombie menace, but the few military units and lack of strategic combat make They Are Billions repetitive. Ah, the game is also tough as nails.
  7. GameStar
    Jul 1, 2019
    76
    The Survival mode is a party for hardcore strategists.
  8. 3DJuegos
    Jul 9, 2019
    75
    They Are Billions is an atmospheric mix of strategy and Tower Defense game. It isn’t without some hiccups, especially in the story mode, but this is such a great and different experience for RTS fans that you should check it out.
  9. 4P.de
    Jul 3, 2019
    75
    The mixture of base building, expansion and defense works well - especially in survival mode. The campaign is a big disappointment, though.
  10. New Game Network
    Jul 3, 2019
    75
    Establishing and expanding a colony while defending against increasingly difficult hordes of infected makes for a very engrossing experience in They Are Billions, though some questionable design choices make shambling through the lengthy Singleplayer campaign a bit of a slog at times.
  11. Vandal
    Jul 4, 2019
    74
    They Are Billions is a very enjoyable strategy game, particularly thanks to its survival mode, since its campaign isn’t very inspired. It is, definitely, one of those titles that will give you a lot of hours of fun.
  12. Games.cz
    Aug 19, 2019
    70
    Solid, but unbalanced mix of strategy genres. It suffers from several suspect design choices that all but destroy the tempo of the game, further exacerbated by a lacklustre story campaign.
  13. PC Games
    Jun 25, 2019
    70
    After starting the game, we soon felt disillusioned. The structure of the missions nevery changes and there isn‘t really a story to the campaign. The are Billions shines the most when playing outside the boundaries of the campaign, especially when playing on high difficulty.
This publication does not provide a score for their reviews.
This publication has not posted a final review score yet.
These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation.

In Progress & Unscored

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  1. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Jun 24, 2019
    The music is fantastic. The art is striking and its got that timeless comic book thing going on that means it’s probably still going to look as good in five years as it does now. The campaign is a letdown, but that’s partly because the survival built such a high perch to be let down from. If you’re into strategy, I still think it’s essential, and I can’t really think of any better use than the sticky approval circle than that. [RPS Bestest Bests]

Awards & Rankings

68
#68 Most Discussed PC Game of 2019
53
#53 Most Shared PC Game of 2019

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 164 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 92 out of 164
  2. Mixed: 41 out of 164
  3. Negative: 31 out of 164
  1. Vasot
    Jun 19, 2019
    4
    The game is disappointing with a tedious and generic campaign that includes mission timers in almost all missions and spawning zombie hordesThe game is disappointing with a tedious and generic campaign that includes mission timers in almost all missions and spawning zombie hordes it feels like a lazy way to make the game more difficult. There are only three type missions (The "hero" missions, "kill the swarm" missions and "Build a colony" type of missions with a large number of colonists required) . The campaign is inferior from all other modes in the game there is no voice acting and neither a story except from an opening cutscene. Most animations are very poorly designed sometimes this reminds me some old games from the early 2000. Sorry but i can't recommend this game… Full Review »
  2. Sqirch
    Jun 25, 2019
    5
    They Are Billions is a game with a wonderful concept, beautiful sounds and music, the graphics have this cartoonish look and are a pleasure toThey Are Billions is a game with a wonderful concept, beautiful sounds and music, the graphics have this cartoonish look and are a pleasure to see, the gameplay is enjoyable. At this moment, there are three modes to play: Campaign, Survival and Custom games, the latter I didn’t explore it yet but from what’ve researched is actually the most interesting mode.
    Campaign was just released and is being improved after the initial backlash, both Campaign & Survival mode are Ironman, which means you can’t manually save/load while playing, you can lose extremely easily on this game, all you need is a lone zombie to go your tents and you’re finished, and after that you’ll have to start again from scratch. On Survival, the maps are also randomly generated so many times you’ll restart because the Starting Position is bad. You also have a number of different map types, only one is unlocked and you unlock map type by map type by finishing the earlier one with the necessary Score Factor (number zombies & days until the final wave), most of the content is gated.

    This game is good for those who love the challenge but also have the patience & time to invest, I never finished the 1st map type of Survival and I even read on forums people taking as much as 100 hours of game time to do it. It really depends on if you think this’ll be okay for you or not. The game can be extremely frustrating and feel like a waste of time.
    My last Survival map went like this – I was expanding well and having fun, then the announcer said “a wave is coming from the North”, so I prepared for that and sent my troops there but the wave came from the East instead, which is different from North on my book, and as soon they got in, it was a game over. While I had fun, it ended up feeling like a waste of my time, because my time is limited and I don’t have enough to invest on this game until the pay-off becomes good. When I invest time & money on a product, there has to be a pay-off to justify the investment.
    I believe tutorials and even Skirmish mode where you could play specific maps and all map types with the ability to Save/Load would help, and having two Campaign modes where one was Ironman and the other wasn’t would be good and more inclusive instead of being exclusive.

    In conclusion, this game is good for those who are hardcore and have time to invest, for the rest of the gamers demographic it might not be so good, at least at the moment. I’ll still keep an eye for it because I truly love the concept.

    5/10    … Full Review »
  3. MTR99
    Jun 20, 2019
    0
    No option or button to save/load.
    Do you need another reason to skip this game?
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