Tempest Rising is a loving tribute to Command & Conquer, weirdness and all

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We’re currently experiencing a period of renaissance, and you’re likely familiar with the scenario: a highly acclaimed video game series or entire genre has vanished, leaving fans disheartened, as the franchise’s publisher sees no profit in its continuation. The series then lies dormant, occasionally resurfacing as a remastered version. However, the wait can be long, and eventually, another studio steps up, saying “We’ll take it on.” It appears that this is exactly what transpired with Tempest Rising.

As a devoted fan, I can’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia when I hear about Tempest Rising, developed by Slipgate Ironworks, as it’s said to be reminiscent of the legendary strategy games from the 90s and 2000s – in essence, it’s like stepping back into the world of Command & Conquer. For those of us who have been longing for a new C&C experience since the release of the Red Alert remaster and Command & Conquer: Red Alert back in 2015, Tempest Rising is a breath of fresh air. Since the launch of Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight in 2010, there hasn’t been much to celebrate from Electronic Arts for C&C enthusiasts, with only a few mobile games released since then. It’s been a challenging time for us die-hard fans. But if you’ve ever delved into the Command & Conquer universe, diving into Tempest Rising might just quench that longing for a familiar taste.

Tempest Rising

In an alternate 1997, this story unfolds in a universe where the Cuban Missile Crisis escalated into a global conflict known as World War III. The aftermath of this war brought about peculiar Tempest flora that spread worldwide. These vines store colossal energy, and predictably, humanity began to quarrel over them.

The full game will feature three factions, but during my demo experience, I encountered only two: the Tempest Dynasty, a coalition of Eastern European and Asian nations, most heavily affected by World War 3. Given that these vines naturally manifest in their lands, they perceive it as their rightful inheritance. On the opposite side stands the Global Defense Force, an alliance between the United States, Canada, and Western Europe – countries that have never been involved in oil-theft invasions of other nations.

At launch, both factions will offer 11 distinct campaign missions each, though I didn’t encounter these during my demo playthrough. Once you dive into the game, it functions similarly to Command & Conquer, even featuring a comprehensive menu on the right side of the screen for tasks like constructing buildings and recruiting troops. If you’re accustomed to Blizzard’s RTS style, this setup might feel unusual, but there are advantages to controlling everything from one centralized menu.

Another important aspect to note is that, much like Command & Conquer, the Tempest Dynasty and GDF resemble different iterations of the same dish rather than entirely new cuisines such as Terran, Protoss, and Zerg in StarCraft. They share numerous structures and possess units like tanks and infantry.

It’s not that the Tempest Dynasty doesn’t enjoy unique quirks; in fact, they construct their structures in the distance prior to placing them, and tend to have a smaller number of buildings and military units. They possess special abilities, referred to as Plans, which activate one of three benefits: Security, Logistics, and Martial. The Security Plan reduces your unit production costs, enhances your Repair capabilities, and amplifies your Radar vision. Logistics speeds up construction and resource gathering. Martial, however, offers numerous combat advantages. Additionally, they can transform their power plants into Distribution mode, which inflicts damage on buildings but increases unit production rates. Even their resource-gathering units are adaptable; instead of Harvesters, they utilize Tempest Rigs that can drive to Tempest fields, deploy miniature harvesters as wheels, and collect resources without the need for buildings.

To put it simply, the Global Defense Force (GDF) boasts more specialized units compared to your Harvesters, and operates along traditional lines. Your Tempest vehicles must be taken back to your bases for storage; this enables you to acquire tanks earlier in the game, and grants your units the power to Tag enemies. Tagged enemies yield valuable intelligence that you’ll require to develop advanced units. The GDF focuses heavily on teamwork during combat, employing sophisticated communication systems to orchestrate attacks and deploy special units to further enhance their coordination.

Distinctive features that make them stand out are the tech trees you can enhance. Each faction receives three, and investing resources into them significantly impacts gameplay. For the Dynasty, this signifies focusing on one of their strategic plans. On the other hand, for the GDF, it’s about choosing enhancements like superior Communications or Marking that boost your units and weaken your adversaries. This results in a wide range of possibilities, even with just two factions, and matches can unfold in numerous ways.

In the game I played, it didn’t offer multiplayer team-ups, but what caught my attention was the swiftness of the matches and the intelligence displayed by Tempest Rising’s AI. It’s relentless, attacking from various directions, targeting your economy to weaken you, exploiting any vulnerabilities you might have, building countermeasures to thwart your strategies, making it quite challenging until you master your faction.

Over the past ten years, the Real-Time Strategy (RTS) genre has found itself in an unusual position, but titles like Tempest Rising have rekindled my optimism that it could be making a comeback. Tempest Rising clearly knows its purpose and appears ready to fulfill it, which isn’t a bad spot to find oneself. I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed that it probably won’t feature someone like Tim Curry discussing space travel, although the opening scene maintains an appropriate level of campiness. As long as there’s optimism, we can always aspire for more.

The content shown here is derived from an advance copy supplied by the game’s publisher. At present, you can obtain a free multiplayer demo of Tempest Rising on Steam, and continue playing it until February 3rd, 2025. The full version of Tempest Rising for PC will become available on April 24th, 2025.

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2025-01-27 07:57