As a seasoned RTS veteran with countless hours spent navigating the galaxies of StarCraft and Warcraft, I must admit that Stormgate has piqued my interest. The variety of modes, from the standard campaign to the co-op mode reminiscent of StarCraft II, is truly refreshing.
The game Stormgate, developed by Frost Giant (a team made up of former RTS developers from Blizzard Entertainment), is aiming to create a new legendary real-time strategy (RTS) game – essentially a spiritual successor to WarCraft III and StarCraft II. After spending several days with its Early Access, free-to-play version, it appears Frost Giant is heading in the right direction, but there’s still plenty of work left. By the end of my playtime, I found myself wanting to play StarCraft II instead, which means they are on the right path, yet have a long way to go.
Without a doubt, if you weren’t aware of its origin, Stormgate might appear to be a game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. It carries an identical aesthetic and gaming experience as their titles such as WarCraft III, StarCraft II, and even Diablo. Essentially, it’s a blend of these games. Similar to StarCraft, there are three factions in Stormgate: the Human Vanguard, Infernal Host, and Celestial Armada. If you squint your eyes, you can recognize the Terran, Zerg, and Protoss from StarCraft respectively.
To put it simply, Stormgate isn’t an exact replica of any other game in the Real-Time Strategy (RTS) genre. It uniquely blends science fiction and fantasy elements, which sets it apart. The three factions possess distinct characteristics. For example, Vanguard combines advanced sci-fi weaponry with traditional weapons like swords and hammers. Their units acquire a special ability to become more experienced as they defeat enemies, enhancing their health and offering unique upgrades. Additionally, they can utilize multiple worker units to construct structures, thereby speeding up the process.
The Infernal Host appears to be a fusion of the Zerg, Undead, and Burning Legion from WarCraft III, lending a striking visual appeal. Their workers, named Imps, merge with structures they create to bring these structures to life, and they possess the ability to sacrifice certain units to rejuvenate or enhance others.
Lastly, allow me to introduce the Celestial Armada, a fascinating fusion of organic and mechanical beings, bearing striking resemblance to the Protoss. Their units possess immense power, while their bases are mobile, enabling construction in areas where other factions cannot reach. Similarly to the Protoss, they boast an impressive array of unique units, each equipped with multiple abilities that offer exciting opportunities for micro-management.
In this game, you’ll find three distinct factions for you to control, while mining two different resources and strategically managing your population as you construct your military force. The gameplay is reminiscent of Blizzard RTS games, but Stormgate offers some unique features that make it stand out. One such feature is the presence of creep camps, similar to those found in WarCraft III. However, these camps aren’t just for gaining experience; instead, defeating them grants you access to towers that provide vision, resources, health boosts, speed increases, or energy. These towers can be contested by other players, making them valuable targets, and the camps themselves respawn over time with increasingly challenging monsters.
Keep in mind the energy I previously discussed? Each faction possesses a top bar featuring special abilities that require energy for activation and provide them with exclusive benefits like improved resource collection or combat advantages. Balancing this energy usage is essential during gameplay. Additionally, there’s an easy-access menu available where you can construct buildings, train units, and research upgrades without having to move between separate structures. This feature becomes particularly useful once your economy is established, allowing for quick resource allocation to production or swift training of workers.
Stormgate appears to have all the essential elements for an entertaining Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game, but it’s important to remember that it’s still in the very early stages of development, so there’s plenty of work left to do. While I appreciate Frost Giant’s bold choice of an exaggerated art style, I feel it might be a bit too over-the-top at times. For example, Maloc, one of the Infernal Host’s members and a main antagonist, seems a bit comical with his legs replaced by a jet of fire and oversized arms that don’t quite fit his body. I understand they’re aiming for a unique, intimidating demon design, but it comes off as goofy in my opinion. The same can be said about Amara, the Vanguard’s main protagonist, whose hairstyle is… well, unusual to say the least. However, not everything is negative. I quite enjoy the look of the Vulcan, a large mech suit from the Vanguard that carries a mini-gun, for instance.
Additionally, there’s sometimes confusion due to excessive visual elements that make it challenging to distinguish certain units and structures. For me, this was particularly a concern with the Infernals faction, but it can pose problems in genres where quick recognition of objects is crucial, as you need to be able to identify something at a glance.
I appreciate the diverse gameplay options in this title, particularly the variety beyond the initial campaign mode which is exclusive to Vanguard. This campaign offers four free missions for all players and additional ones you can purchase. Furthermore, there’s a cooperative mode similar to StarCraft II, where you select a hero and command their army, gaining skills and experience by completing tasks. Additionally, it includes matchmaking, basic custom games, and more features typically expected in a Real-Time Strategy (RTS) game at launch. However, it’s important to note that it’s still early days for this game, with much left to be developed. I found the missions I played enjoyable, although there are no save or load features within them, and the story hasn’t captured me as StarCraft or WarCraft’s stories have. There’s a common joke about Blizzard only being able to tell one story, and so far, Frost Giant isn’t disproving that claim just yet. But let’s hope they impress me with future updates!
Apart from the game’s campaign, I predominantly chose to align with the Vanguard due to my preference for playing Terran in StarCraft. The missions I had experienced provided me a clear understanding of their mechanics. For those opting for the Infernals or Celestials, self-teaching is necessary since the game only offers links to informative YouTube videos at this point.
The PVP mode is fun and very Classic RTS™, but my favorite part of Stormgate might be its co-op mode. It’s basically the same as StarCraft II, which makes sense, because it was designed by a lot of the same people. You’ll choose a hero with unique abilities and a take on their army, and get dropped into a mission where you’ll do something like blow up convoys before they reach their destination. It’s 3v3 compared to StarCraft II’s 2v2 co-op mode, but it is a lot of fun, and ultimately a decent way to learn the basics of each faction. Plus, who doesn’t like fooling around with hero units with cool powers? And you can play with a friend. It’s a good time.
Stormgate left me feeling… pretty mixed. On the one hand, I’m not super invested in its setting, story, lore, visual design, or factions, and it just never grabbed me the way other RTS games have. On the other hand, I like its co-op mode, and it’s got some cool new ideas that add unique wrinkles to the RTS. Stormgate is fun, and Frost Giant is making a point of listening to feedback. I will say this, though: the first thing I did after closing Stormgate was open StarCraft II. It got me in the mood, reminded me why I love this genre and why I’m sad it doesn’t really exist anymore. I don’t know if Stormgate will be the next great RTS — it has dump truck-sized shoes to fill — but it’s got potential, and I’m interested in booting it up in a couple months and seeing where it’s at. And sometimes, especially for an Early Access game, that’s enough.
This preview was based on an Early Access build that is publicly available on Steam.
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2024-08-22 02:57