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Antmates: Idle Ant Colony
An idle ant colony with real numbers, behind glass on your desktop. Plan 25 kinds of rooms and level each one up two ways, feed your ants four kinds of crumbs, balance foragers, diggers and nurses, and chase milestones that multiply your income — cozy to watch, deep to plan.

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Features
Single-player
Family Sharing
Steam is learning about this game 
Languages:
Interface Full Audio Subtitles
English ✔
German ✔
Spanish - Spain ✔
Russian ✔

Coming Soon To Early Access

The developers of this game intend to release as a work in progress, developing with the feedback of players.

Note: Games in Early Access are not complete and may or may not change further. If you are not excited to play this game in its current state, then you should wait to see if the game progresses further in development. Learn more

What the developers have to say:

Why Early Access?

“Antmates is fully playable, and every feature described on this page is already in the game. What we still want to get right together with players is the balance — how fast a colony grows, what upgrades cost and how income adds up over long sessions.”

Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?

“About two to three months.”

How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?

“We plan to spend Early Access on balance and polish — the pace of colony growth, room upgrade costs, crumb income and trail milestones — based on how your colonies actually play out. The full version is planned to be the same game, tuned with your feedback.”

What is the current state of the Early Access version?

“Fully playable. Everything described on this page is in the game: rooms and both upgrade paths, the colony roles, crumbs, the shop and trail milestones. While we tune the balance, numbers such as costs and income may change between updates.”

Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?

“We're not planning on changing the price when we leave Early Access.”

How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?

“We read the reviews and discussions on our Steam page and plan to tune the balance around what players tell us. We plan to post patch notes so you can see what changed and why.”
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This game is not yet available on Steam

Planned Release Date: November 2026

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About This Game


Antmates is an idle colony sim in a glass formicarium that lives on your desktop. The ants inside live their own busy lives: they dig tunnels, carry crumbs, nurse the brood, rest in their dormitory and greet visitors at the glass. You decide where the next room goes and what to level up — they do the rest.




  • Income is counted step by step, and you see every step: foragers, worker strength, crowding, trails, the jam at the entrance, rooms and diet — each with its own multiplier, and the biggest loss marked.
  • Every room levels up two ways, and the game ranks the income upgrades by how fast they pay off.
  • Find the weakest link: beds, crowding, the entrance, the queen’s space — the colony grows as fast as its tightest spot allows.
  • Trail and population milestones multiply your income, and the entrance widens as the colony grows.


  • Plan your nest with 25 kinds of rooms — from the Royal Chamber and the Nursery to the Pantry, the Well, the Sunroom and even a Cinema.
  • Every room levels up on two ladders of 100 levels and furnishes itself as it grows — shelves fill up, beds and lamps move in. Finishes go from dug to decorated, and some spots the ants like better than others. One MAX click buys as many levels in a row as you can afford.
  • Watch diggers cut real tunnels and carry the dirt up to the surface.




Crumbs come in four kinds — sweet, protein, fatty and salty — and you choose what the feeder drops: each kind in stock boosts its own job, and all four at once make a feast. Keep the water flask topped up: it’s free, and a thirsty colony slows down.




  • The queen lays eggs, nurses raise larvae and cocoons, and workers grow up through 5 ages — from tots to adults.
  • Balance the work: foragers, diggers and nurses — or pick a preset and let the colony find its rhythm.
  • When the colony is ready, winged ants leave on a nuptial flight. Start a new colony and carry your legacy into it; the old queen sets in amber in the Queens’ Hall, with a plaque of her colony’s deeds.




  • 14 finds to dig up: a coat button, a 1978 penny, a tin soldier, a glass marble…
  • 8 visitors come to the glass — a ladybug, a snail, a woodlouse, a scarf moth and more. Keep them all in your album.
  • A magnifier for a close look at any room, and the journal tells you what happened while you were away.
  • The Antcyclopedia: a book about the real garden ant, from egg to home formicarium, with photos.


Decorate the surface with a Windmill, a Barn, Temple Ruins or a Smoking Volcano. Change the soil, paint marks on your ants, give them vitamins — all for Tockens: every second of play drops into your counter while the game runs.




  • Your colony never dies out while you are away.
  • Soft sounds you can turn down, a slow, calm pace.
  • The glass slowly gathers dust: wipe it now and then, or let Auto-care do it.
  • No ads, no microtransactions.
  • A window of any size, fullscreen, or always on top of your work.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

AI was a huge help in coding, drawing some assets, doing encyclopedic research and preparing texts for translations. The game does not use AI while you play.

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • OS: Windows 10 64-bit
    • Processor: Dual-core 2.0 GHz (Intel Core i3 or AMD equivalent)
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Integrated graphics with DirectX 11 support (Intel HD Graphics 4000 or better)
    • DirectX: Version 11
    • Storage: 500 MB available space
    • Additional Notes: No internet connection required to play.
    Recommended:
    • OS: Windows 10 / 11 64-bit
    • Processor: Quad-core 2.5 GHz (Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5)
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: Any DirectX 11 compatible GPU (Intel UHD Graphics 620 or better)
    • DirectX: Version 11
    • Storage: 500 MB available space
    • Additional Notes: No internet connection required to play.
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