EDIT In the end we were approved and did release on steam, you can get it here:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/463530/Empires_of_the_Undergrowth/

TLDR: We cannot launch on Steam today however we are launching on itch.io RIGHT NOW and you can buy and download the early access version of the game from here RIGHT NOW:
https://slugdisco.itch.io/empires-of-the-undergrowth

This includes a Steam key that when it does release on Steam next week will allow you to download it from there!

As you’ll no doubt have gathered by the multitude of YouTubers playing the game, Empires of the Undergrowth is ready to go into early access on Steam. Outside of some small intermittent issues, this has been the case for a few days now. We were hoping for a smooth release to Steam and were looking forward to sitting back a little and watching you all play, like proud parents watching their toddlers seeing the snow for the first time. Sadly it didn’t work out quite as idyllically as that (what does?) this time around. And we’re somewhat to blame.

Steam has very rigorous standards for the curated set of games that live there. In our haste to prepare EotU for release to the platform, we’ve forgot to set up a few things in our Windows and Mac builds (with some noted irony given the headaches it’s been causing us lately, the Linux build is the only one that passed!) and have therefore run afoul of some rules owing to the UE4 engine we use. Being entirely new to it, we hold our hands up and take the blame - it’s our fault. Unfortunately the way that the review process works, we are unlikely to be able to launch on Steam until next week.

So, the question is, what do we do now? The game is ready for early access as far as we’re concerned and we’d love you all to play it as soon as you can. So - we’re going to make the game available through itch.io! This will include a Steam key so when it does finally come out on Steam next week you will also be able to download it from there!

We are really sorry about this, this is our first game on Steam and we will learn from this.
In the meantime the game is now available on itch.io!