2024 has been quite the year for RTS games. Strategy as a genre will get sequels for some well-established titles and a host of new titles announced as early as 2022. This comes amidst a report by Quantic Foundry that gamers are now becoming less interested in games with deep strategy, which might be a sign of a revival of the industry (at least amongst its more hardcore fans). One of the most interesting games that I was looking forward to for the year would be Stormgate, a game made by developers who had previously worked on strategy games like Warcraft and Starcraft. This preview is based on our early access to the early access version of the game.
Stormgate is a real-time strategy game developed and published by Frost Giant Studios. The game was released on July 30, 2024, on Steam in a free-to-play model (AKA one can download and install the game for free).
A Clash of Titans
Stormgate is a real-time strategy game built along the lines of Warcraft or Starcraft. The game borrows heavily from Starcraft in terms of units and buildings. In the current version of the game, there are three playable factions – Vanguard, Infernals, and Celestials. These factions seem like paraphrased versions of the Terrans, the Zerg, and the Protoss from Starcraft and even play like the respective factions. The Infernals have a focus on aggression like the Zerg, while the Vanguard employs a mixed play pattern like the Terrans. I did not get to see the Celestials in the Early Access, but I do not expect them to be too different from the Protoss. This would have been fine if most of the game was “inspired” from other source material, but it’s difficult to figure out differences between the source of inspiration (AKA Starcraft) and the game being made (AKA Stormgate).
Of course, the unit and structure names are changed for “legal” reasons, even though some of the units retain their voice lines from Starcraft. One of the best examples might be the B.O.B (probably an inspiration from the B.O.B mech companion of Ashe from Overwatch) – which is the primary worker unit of the Vanguard. The B.O.B.s share voice lines with the Terran S.C.V.s (phrases like “in the rear, with the gear” can be heard, which are similar across both titles). Some of the units are unique, but they fit in the balancing equation in the same manner as the units in Starcraft.
I could only play the Vanguard campaign, where I was placed in charge of Commander Amara Nassar – a female version of James Raynor from Starcraft (except she is nothing like Raynor and gradually plays out more like Arthas Menethil from Warcraft). The missions are focused on the Infernal aggression of a few villages on a fringe colony where colonists were abducted and imprisoned with the help of human raiders. The game continues like Arthas’s campaign from Warcraft 3—to the point where I had to go back and re-play Warcraft 3 to properly differentiate between the two. Unlike the writing in Warcraft 3, the story is written in a very poor fashion in Stormgate. Characters are introduced all of a sudden, and their motivations change without rhyme or reason. By the end of the first chapter of the Vanguard campaign, the wasted potential of some of the characters starts bleeding through – there’s no saving that mess. If the writing continues in the same direction, I’m not very hopeful about the Infernal or Celestial campaigns.
The multiplayer currently has 1v1 matchmaking, where players fight each other to rank up the global ladder. Each faction has a separate rating to count the player’s dexterity in handling that faction. There’s custom matchmaking as well where it is possible to play 1v1 or 2v2 matches against other players or the AI. Somehow, this feature requires a Steam login, which often broke when I was trying to play against the AI in a Skirmish game – preventing me from queuing for a 1v1 or making a lobby for a custom game. 2v2 games were also added after the Early Access launch – I did not get to play any maps in the 2v2 format until very recently. There are only three difficulties for AI, and it is difficult to infer its difficulty from the wording used (what even is “PeacefulBot”,”BasicBot” or “PracticeBot”?). Most maps feature some creep camps as well, mostly like Warcraft, which need to be cleared out before structures can be constructed there to take control of the area. For some reason, I found neutral creeps to respawn in areas which have been cleared out and where a few structures have been constructed – which did not seem like an intended interaction at all (unless it is a “feature”).
Balancing is one of the aspects that Stormgate got right, probably because a majority of the budget had gone into building this aspect of the game. It is important to ensure fairness in what beats what, and the developers knew that. Even though heavy inspiration is drawn from Starcraft 2, the gameplay is somewhat toned down to make it easier to counteract certain strategies. Even then, the balancing equation is mostly derived from Starcraft and Warcraft 3 to make room for everyone playing the game.
A Familiar Storm
Stormgate works on an engine that supports both DX11 and DX12 renderers, yet somehow has textures that make it look akin to a mobile game. The design aesthetic makes it indistinguishable from a strategy game on mobile, especially in DX11 mode. The units and structures are designed well, but the environment around them looks very bland. Some of the unit portraits look somewhat AI-generated – something that screams a strict “No-No” for me. The game also crashes to the desktop randomly at times without any warning or even a crash message.
Stormgate has well-made background music for the most part – one of the more enjoyable sections of the game that deserves praise. Needless to say, the copied dialogues and sound effects leave a sour taste in the mouth.
The Stormy Conclusion
Stormgate looks, feels,, and plays like a modified version of Starcraft with some Warcraft mods thrown in to improve the gameplay experience. The game wants to become the “next big thing” in strategy games, yet falls flat in many areas that need improvement. Since the game is still in Early Access, I do have hope for the developers considering the titles they have worked on in the past – but “tweaking” the user experience to make Stormgate feel like a brand new strategy game and not a mere fanmade version of an already popular game feels like mammoth work. I would not recommend buying the campaigns of the game – but players can surely download and check out the Custom game options with friends if they are hardcore strategy fans and need the next big thing to get hooked into.