It's been a hot minute since the RTS resurgence officially began, with several studios working hard on crafting the next generation of real-time strategy games, but we finally have our first gameplay preview of, perhaps, the title with the most hype currently surrounding it: Stormgate!
Stormgate was officially announced during last year's Summer Game Fest with a crisp, Unreal Engine-powered cinematic that set the scene for the kind of game Frost Giant Studios is developing. If you've seen the trailer, you'll notice the premise is sci-fi humans vs. space demons! That's only the first clue that points to Stormgate possibly being the spiritual successor to both Warcraft and Starcraft.
Who are Frost Giant Studios?
Right out of the gate let me tell you the entire leading staff of the studio are ex-Blizzard employees. Virtually all the lead developers have worked on either Warcraft III or Starcraft II and if you've enjoyed either, it's probably a safe bet you'll enjoy Stormgate as well.
Frost Giant Studios was founded in 2020 and is based in Irvine, California, a short 15 min. walk alongside the San Diego Creek from Blizzard Entertainment's campus. Carbot Animations, who you may know if you've watched their various animated shorts related to Blizzard games, designed their logo!
So we've got a studio full of ex-Blizzard RTS developers creating a next-gen RTS where two of the [rumored!] three playable factions are "Terrans" and the "Burning Legion" but surely, there is something actually gameplay-related that connects all these games? Here's the gameplay preview we promised, with a closer analysis based on the video, and a few extra sources, in the section below:
Finally, Some Actual Details
Let's do a proper breakdown of everything we know so far:
Resources:
- Stormgate has two resources you can harvest: Luminite and Therium.
- Luminite is the game's 'gold' and is used to pay for almost everything. Up to 12 workers can mine it, more than Warcraft III's 5 and less that Starcraft II's estimated 845,115.
- Therium is the lumber, the vespene gas, the tiberium of Stormgate's world. It's primary use goes into upgrades as well as fancier units and structures.
- One cool thing to note about Therium is it can take on many forms!
- When unmined, it gradually spreads and enriches, meaning you may want to let it do it's thing and later exploit it to its full potential.
- Therium also appears in different forms such as exposed patches and underground veins, each working differently. No further details on what this means just yet.
- Therium's different properties are a stark departure from the usual RTS genre but it has the potential of becoming a staple mechanic. For a long time, the only differences between every RTS game's main two resources were scarcity (amount available on map, difficulty of harvesting) and investment opportunity (what the secondary resource can buy, which races need more etc.)
Units (we only know of the Human faction so far):
- B.O.B.: The peasants! Harvest, build, repair mechanical units and even fight if desperate enough, like the Militia of old.
- S.C.O.U.T.: Hopefully the last acronym name in the game, they're cybernetic dogs with laser eyes! S.C.O.U.T.S. are part of the Humans' starter kit, meaning you get one for free at the beginning of each match. Instead of sending a Wisp or a Probe to take a peek at your enemy, Stormgate solves this rather awkward game/strategy friction that's existed for so long by giving you a doggo for free. This oiled up pupper, however, isn't just some domestic mutt! If you were paying attention during the gameplay video, the S.C.O.U.T. can see enemy units in the nearby fog of war! It's only in the form of a ping so their identities aren't fully revealed, but knowing there's an army amassing just a short walk outside your viewing range is a great advantage. They also have the ability to temporarily increase their view distance, including through 'walls' such as forests.
- Lancer: The Footman of the future. The Lancer Shields upgrade gives them the ability to 'shrug off' damaging blows.
- Exo: The Rifleman of the future! Its Double Time upgrade increases movement speed for a while. Shooting during the buff fires two shots and consumes Double Time's remaining... time, reverting to normal speed.
- Medtech: A unit that can both heal organic friends and repair mechanical buds. If that wasn't enough, it can also enhance nearby forces, but we don't yet know in what way! Its Medtech Adept Training allows it to unleash a swarm of nanobots to attack enemies or heal allies.
- Atlas: Skillshot-dependent catapults that smack AOE damage on the ground. This is where things get a little more micro, with the Atlas' attack not being something you just point and click at an enemy. Its slow projectile speed means you'll need to put some work into where the projectile lands as most enemy units will likely have more than enough time to get out of the explosion's range due to how well it's telegraphed. Its Purification Ordnance upgrade, much like Warcraft III's Burning Oil upgrade for the Demolister, causes its projectiles to leave behind a bunch of flames, dangerous to both friend and foe alike! Much like Starcraft II's Siege Tank, the Atlas can be 'deployed' (made to sit still) for maximum ownage.
- Evac Transport: It's a Zeppelin! No, it's a Medivac! This is your typical transport unit, with the cool bonus that it can also pick up deployed Atlas units which should make for some fun fights.
- Vulcan: It's the big mechs from the video! These gatling gun-wielding behemoths fire piercing rounds that can tear through multiple units in a straight line, and its Jump Jets upgrade allows them to charge and reposition during combat, stunning any enemies they jump jet over as well as destroying any poor trees caught in their path.
An army of fleshy humans fighting a continent of mechs over what looks to be very shiny Therium.
Structures:
- Command Post: The ol' Town Hall, which produces the neo-Peasants. Upgradable to three tiers. Its Overcharge ability makes nearby B.O.B. workers gain attack speed and armor, turning them into neo-Militia.
- Habitat: It's a farm.
- Barracks: Produces the S.C.O.U.T., Lancer, Exo and Medtech units.
- Mech Bay: Produces the Vulcan, Atlas units as well as more unrevealed stuff!
- Therium Refinery: This is both a 'lumber mill' for dropping off Therium and a place to research various unannounced passive upgrades.
- Biokinetics Lab: Research upgrades for infantry (those Barracks folks).
- Machine Lab: Research upgrades for mechanical and air units (those Mech Bay folks). Has a conveyor belt, for what it's worth.
- Sentry Turret: It's a turret. Targets both ground and air.
Campaign:
- The campaign will feature characters Frost Giant Studios want you to care about (more in a WC3 way than SC2)
- They are aiming for the campaign to be playable with up to three players! Co-op campaigns here we go!
- The plan is to also have seasonal Campaigns (campaign content on a regular cadence!). It's worth mentioning Stormgate will be free-to-play, or at least the multiplayer will, so seasonal content will be a monetization strategy for them.
- IRL events may influence campaign content (ex: a competition winner being immortalized in a campaign mission either as a character or as an enemy to defeat).
- The main campaign will release similarly to Starcraft 2: At launch, only the Human campaign will be available to play.
- There will be no Hero units in 1v1 mode, but they will be present in Campaigns, 3vE co-op mode, and 3v3.
Other Stuff to Keep in Mind + Stray Thoughts:
- The placeholder Viking chicken killed in the gameplay video dropped Luminite, much like in WC3!
- These chickens and their fellow creeps can also 'drop' the following: A temporary structure like a health fountain or a visibility ward like the Xel'naga Towers on SC maps or those creepy, green eyes in WC3.
- The creeps respawn and it seems their loot is pre-determined, so there's another avenue for skillful players to shine in: creep farming for map control!
- Since lumber is not a resource, it seems the only way to dispose of pesky trees will be through creative means like the Vulcan's Jump Jet ability or, most likely, the Atlas' AOE projectile.
- It's not easy to put into words, but the gameplay video does a great job at conveying the speed/pacing of Stormgate. Just like the amount of workers you can send to the mines, Stormgate is faster than Warcraft III but slower than Starcraft II.
- The humans just 3D printing their buildings is a nice touch that sort of explains how the player can get a base up and running in 10 minutes.
- The visuals of the terrain and the units & buildings is distinct and a welcome contrast compared to WC3: Reforged's grayscale graphics, but the buildings do look a little similar.
- The Infernal Host, the second faction in Stormgate (the demons!), will be more similar to the Zerg of SC2 of the Undead of WC3.
- Stormgate will have a world editor, so if the game kicks off, expect years of awesome community-created maps and campaigns!
To me, this definitely looks like the midpoint game between Warcraft III and Starcraft II that was never made, but is now coming to us with who knows how many modern improvements. The faster combat and higher skill cap should be a welcome addition for fans of Warcraft III looking for a naturally harder challenge, while fans of Starcraft II who missed the more 'homely' feeling of the WC3 campaign in Wings of Liberty or its expansions should have all their needs satisfied.
We don't know much about the Infernal Host except they're Zerg-like, but they seem to have cute dogs too!
What's Next?
Stormgate is set to enter its first closed pre-alpha next month and you can sign up here for a chance to enter it (please god pick me). The initial testing phases will tackle the core gameplay, including the various modes as well as stress tests. Soon after, the game will enter closed beta, which will extend into 2024. More testers will be added in waves, with the largest ones coming in 2024. Testing will be exclusively on Windows through Steam and while the possibility of porting the game to other platforms exists, it'll be a PC-only title for now.
Personally, we're very excited to see what Stormgate shapes up to be. The RTS genre has been in dire need of a second coming and after a rather desolate offering of titles in the 2010s, games like Stormgate will decide the fate of the genre for the next ten years. If you're excited about Stormgate to, we hope to see you on the testing realms!
What did you think of Stormgate's gameplay preview? As an RTS fan, does it look exciting? As someone who hasn't dabbled in RTS games, would you try it out? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments
Perhaps it was a mistake to mix.
Why? Because the WC3 part makes sure the units stay alive while they sit there and shoot at each other.
Many RTSs have huge armies dying in seconds. Large explosions, big splats, and screaming. Spectacle.
This is a big gamble, and not because its an indie studio making their first move, but because the RTS genre is virtually dead and has been for quite some time
Put simply, the genre was good back in the day when we're not expecting over the top, full open world, where 3d characters dont look like a three year old's attempt at origami. Far as I know, the last good one is indeed starcraft 2, and even then I wouldn't call it anywhere near as engaging as the many games available nowadays.
C&C is dead, and held at ransom by EA. The age of empire series recently came back but to my knowledge not making much despite astoundingly good reviews, cant actually even remember the last indie RTS title. I think its literally grey goo, 8 years back in 2015, which flopped despite my great hopes.
Hopefully this game fares better, but to me RTS is something I simply cant get back into despite loving the living hell out of it back in the 90s. I think the last RTS I still think fondly of would be wings of liberty. Everything else after that is largely forgettable.
RTS has indeed been in a weird spot since Starcraft II finished its run. It was regarded as the unofficial national sport of South Korea and by now, all these years later, I'd have expected the country to pivot to a new RTS that is actually getting some support. Perhaps Stormgate could be that, although it's not as fast as SC and thus may feel like a downgrade for e-sports purposes.
The RTS community has dwindled the past two-ish decades, I think, mainly because of speed. Lots of former RTSers have moved to "unreal"-time strategy games, turn-based stuff like Civilization, and the current generation of young gamers prefer games with shorter matches that don't focus on micro as much as an RTS does. I hope the genre sees a rebirth but really, the main reason big studios haven't really put money into developing new RTS titles is because what our youngest demographic plays dictates which games are being made, and RTS is not on the list.
Still, I have hope that Stormgate's gameplay will be more accessible to a wider audience, much like Warcraft III, while also pleasing hardcore fans of the genre with a high skill ceiling - an almost impossible task!
While I enjoy SC2, I rarely play it anymore, mostly because of the skill floor: to be even slightly competitive, you need to do all the economy actions at the right time or you'll get supply blocked or forget your mule/larvae inject/chrono boost and are behind significantly. The fact that I can't just pick up the game but have to practice to get back to the level at which it is enjoyable to play makes me play something else instead.
In the demonstration match, I see that they still have supply in the game. I think that's a missed opportunity: supply doesn't add much to the game play experience (you rarely win by attacking your opponent's supply), but it does raise the skill floor considerably, because it is very punishing if you get supply blocked.
Another thing that made SC2 a chore to play is that you couldn't queue production effectively, because you had to pay the cost in advance. It would make things a lot easier on the player if you would pay resources only for the item at the front of the production queue.
In my opinion, the skill should be put in the cool things, like micro and multi-pronged attacks, not in keeping your economy from breaking down. I think you can have a high skill ceiling game without requiring those administrative actions.
There are a lot more people gaming now than 25 years ago, so even a niche genre could be successful enough to sustain itself. But I worry that if they stick too closely to the old formula, they won't pull in young gamers because the game play is too clunky and they won't pull in older gamers because they don't have the time and reflexes anymore to get good at the games they used to enjoy.
Its funny because all those which you pointed out are valid arguments on the problems with RTS and yet it is precisely what makes the genre compelling to its fans.
C&C4 tiberium twilight famously attempted to reduce or remove this problem by essentially removing much of the macro aspect of the game and it got riddled with negative reviews, citing amongst many other issues, the fact that it simply doesnt feel like playing an RTS game.
I think blizz actually had a mod that automated much of the macro for those interested. But ultimately I think RTS is simply no longer in the imaginations of most gamers nowadays. Its more exciting to be part of the battle than simply looking over it.
For me, the interesting macro is decisions like army composition, when to expand, when to get upgrades etc. "Decisions" being the key word here. The things I described that I don't enjoy aren't decisions: there is an optimal way to do them and you either execute that well or you suffer.
Reportedly the most popular mode in SC2 is the co-op missions, which is relatively relaxed compared to PvP. That suggests to me that players are still into base building and controlling armies, but just don't want to deal with the stress and multitasking requirements of competitive play.
Starcraft II is definitely a lot more work than WC3 in most aspects; I find it too fast for PvP as well, preferring to build a nice base, some towers, maybe a tulip garden - but I can't ever get to the tulip garden cause by minute 3 there's 20 terrans knocking on my fort!
I haven't mentioned it in the article, but one of the Stormgate devs did a recent interview and discussed the issue of supply. I'm paraphrasing here, but basically, they did consider having unlimited supply at first, but then opted for it due to the additional base-building shenenigans that interesting supply buildings give. Examples mentioned were stuff like the Night Elves' Moon Well, where its optimal positioning around your bases & expansion changes depending on which phase of the game you find yourself in.
Thus I'd expect supply to still have gimmicks for every faction - much like Starcraft 2's depots could be shoved into the ground, or Orc Burrows allowed up to 4 peons to both be 'safe' and deal some damage. I'll be more curious to see what the supply cap is though - Starcraft 2's felt needlessly high while WC3's felt rather low when Frostwyrms (a dead, stomach-less beast) ate 7 damn supply.
First campaign ends on 'good guy' victory while the expansion pack campaign ends with Infernal cliffhanger victory?
Can't say that'd surprise me!