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Today’s Spotlight is for Attack of the Earthlings, a turn-based strategy game by Team Junkfish and Junkfish Limited that released earlier this year. The game’s main gimmick is that, for once, you get to play as the insectoid alien hive trying to turn humanity into a nutrient-rich paste.
The story revolves around Galactoil, a comically evil (and equally incompetent) intergalactic megacorporation that systematically strip-mines planets for their natural resources and energy reserves before moving on to the next operation in their unending quest for more money.
Unfortunately for the underpaid menial workers and security officers of Galactoil, their latest mining operation on Planet X13 has awakened a hive of insect-like aliens called the Swarmers, and they have an insatiable appetite for squishy humans.
Attack of the Earthlings is more or less an XCOM-like from the other side’s perspective, with a fairly large emphasis on stealth. Your highly evolved killing machines can make quick work of unarmed miners and basic security teams at close range.
You can sneak around the map via air vents and tunnels so you can set up ambushes and strike from the shadows. Harvest biomass from the mangled corpses of your prey to evolve your aliens into more powerful and specialized subspecies. You can find the game’s original launch trailer above.
Attack of the Earthlings is available on Windows PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam, Humble Store, and GOG for $24.99.
Here’s a rundown of the game:
Attack of the Earthlings combines turn-based combat and stealth in a dark comedic single player campaign, where you the player, take control of the native alien race to defend your home world from the invading humans.
Galactoil, a comically dysfunctional energy corporation, are hell-bent on harvesting the known universe for energy and will drill anything in its incessant quest to line its pockets with profit. However, their latest foray into energy exploration on Planet X13, has placed them into a bit of a pickle. The Swarmers, the native insectoid species, have another idea – to eat all the workers!
You take control of the Swarmers, a highly aggressive insectoid species, who must convert human flesh into alien muscle, upgrade their units and even find the time to gatecrash a birthday party.
To put a stop to the invasion, the Swarmers must plan attacks carefully. Take control of unsuspecting workers, set traps, emerge from vents and hiding spots to take your human prey by surprise, and assault in groups to kill multiple enemies at once.
The more earthlings killed, the more corpses can be consumed and transformed into new units with specialized roles and unique abilities. The flesh of their own workers is the key ingredient to developing a successful alien insurgency against Galactoil.
Voice actor and Vine extraordinaire, SungWon Cho A.K.A ProZD (A Hat in Time, Paradigm), lends his brilliant voice to X13 mining operation Regional Manager Dennis Dickinham; a man both massively unqualified and massively overpaid. A gregarious fellow who finds joy in everything, be it catching a few rounds of golf with the boys or rerouting power from sickbay to the massage chairs in the boardroom, Dickinham’s a delight to be around! Just never, NEVER utter the phrase “bad idea” in his presence.
The game also features an original soundtrack by composer Mikolai Stroinski (Vanishing of Ethan Carter, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Blood & Wine).
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