Before a 1v1 RTS match begins, there’s a moment that’s unlike anything else I’ve experienced in a game, and Stormgate delivers. I take a deep breath as I feel my heartbeat and watch the countdown timer begin to tick. It’s just me and a random stranger vying for fame or disaster as I’m staring at a vibrant command center and a group of employees. Although Stormgate’s journey to its current state during Early Access hasn’t always been positive, it is making some subtle and not-so-subtle design advancements to the basecraft formula.
Although Stormgate no longer uses the Early Access moniker, it has advanced significantly in the year since its inception, and it is no longer referred to as Version 1.0. Major graphics overhauls and faction reworks are still promised, and several important modes are now marked as “In Development” (whatever that even means these days). Although I still like the 1v1 competitive mode a lot overall, I’m not quite satisfied with all of the modifications that have been made. If you want to hear more about how things used to function, read my Early Access review from last year. I’ll be concentrating more on what’s different here than going over the fundamentals again.
Stormgate has the feel and general pace of a classic Blizzard RTS, which is not surprising given that it was created by a group of veteran Blizzard RTS developers. For someone who grew up on Warcraft 3 and Brood War, it’s like home cuisine at its best. As I race back to my base to click an upgrade at the perfect time, I order around my tenacious human Vanguard recruits and picture myself being transported back in time to my early years, much like the culinary critic in Ratatouille. Even after all these years, there’s something about the mental coordination and nearly melodic hotkey strokes in this kind of game that just works, and creator Frost Giant understands it.
It has also obviously given much consideration to how that experience might be enhanced. And that’s where I think the discussions I’ve had with those who glibly refer to it as “StarCraft 1.5” are missing the broader picture. From an underlying design perspective, it’s a deliberate step forward from StarCraft 2’s glitz and polish. It took some getting used to, but now I want quality-of-life elements in every RTS. These include automated control groups, rapid commands to access production queues and upgrade menus without having to identify the relevant building, and other features that smooth up the moment-to-moment experience.
All In the Craft
It should come as no surprise that the Human Vanguard was the side that most resonated with me in Stormgate, given that I was a Terran main in StarCraft and a Human main in Warcraft. Yes, I’m a lot of fun at gatherings. They are an excellent starting point because they play a lot like a typical RTS faction. However, as with much of everything in Stormgate, there are a few little details that significantly increase the skill ceiling.
For example, combat gives vanguard units veterancy, which significantly boosts their stats. This implies that to play them well, you should try to reduce the number of casualties in each encounter. Furthermore, you don’t want to lose your completely advertised products in particular. If you want to fully master their advantages, this may, surprisingly, make them one of the more micro-heavy factions. Additionally, it gives their opponents a chance to target and eliminate veteran units. I love seeing this kind of “Easy to learn, difficult to master” mentality throughout Stormgate.
The skill ceiling can be significantly raised by small actions.
Even though Celestials are the only ones without a visual makeover yet, making them appear the most clunky and uninteresting, I am generally pleased with the adjustments that have been made to them thus far. At first, they were incredibly difficult to understand because they deviated so drastically from what I expected from an RTS faction in non-intuitive ways. Without giving up too much of what made them special, they are now considerably simpler to pick up and play. Power generation is a lot less complex, Morph Cores have a much clearer and logical role, and I know when I’m required to put down a new Arcship.
However, I am unable to claim the same for every side. The Animus bar, which would fill up and enable you to cast spells when your units or your opponents’ units died, was eliminated in a recent major update to the Infernals. It seems like a step backward to me that all of the top bar command capabilities have been eliminated or shifted onto structures. You have pulled out a mechanic that was quite essential to the faction and had a great theme, particularly in the case of the Infernals. We must live without it for the time being, but Frost Giant informed me that they hope to revive it in a better version in the future. Even though it’s only temporary, this is the change that has disappointed me the most out of all the ones that have occurred between the first time I played Stormgate and its current state.
Although opinions on creep camps were very divided, I thought they were a good approach to provide more areas to the map for combat and places to control that weren’t expansion bases. The titular Stormgates, the replacement, are more like a horn switch that calls both players to battle for a choice of some cool, randomly generated goodies because they don’t have any hostile NPCs and don’t offer any incentives for holding onto them. Although I can’t say I adore them in their current form, that can be exciting. Instead of fostering large, entertaining field battles, they may, somewhat counterintuitively, promote the sort of “jousting with razor blades on a long stick” base trade situations that I dislike.
Take It From the Top
Stormgate’s 12-mission campaign, which was its most disappointing Early Access pillar, has experienced the largest transformation. In reality, very little is left over from that affair; all of the Vanguard units and characters have been given more realistic and grounded models, and the plot has been entirely rewritten except for the essentials. This is usually a significant improvement. However, there are also clear indications that it was produced in a hurry.
To give you an indication of the cost of what I would describe as the full Stormgate experience, all four episodes are available for $25, although the experimental and 1v1 modes are still free to play. As a seasoned RTS player, I spent around ten hours completing the entire thing, completing all the bonus objectives and engaging my crew in conversation for interesting lore pieces in between.
With the addition of unlocking unit upgrades and an item locker that allows you to personalize your hero and army over several missions, the recently released Raptor 1 deck significantly contributes to the overall unified experience. The actual campaign missions are difficult and ingenious. Additionally, some of the clichéd Blizzard clichés that I didn’t particularly enjoy in the Early Access rough copy are dropped in the revised plot.
Its obvious absence of at least one coat of polish is the primary factor holding it back. This is also noticeable in some hurried or incomplete cutscenes, especially at the end of some missions, where a clumsy line would allude to something significant that ostensibly occurred off-screen rather than revealing it to us. With the McGuffin, the villain got away with it! You missed him, darn it!
Furthermore, some of the new voice lines for some characters—such as the main character Amara—really seem as if the actor is reading them for the first time, and they were either given only one take or were not informed of the character’s emotions throughout a scene. The cadence is so strange that it almost sounds unreal.
Holy Tutoroli
The Celestials still lack any background, which makes it difficult for me to get enthused about them. In most previous RTSs, I’ve always learnt about each faction from their campaign missions first. Why are they here at all? What principles do they uphold? What is the purpose of their society? I am aware that chapters for the Infernal and Celestial campaigns are planned. However, I believe this significantly detracts from the onboarding experience when compared to even StarCraft 1, where we spent several hours with each faction.
Various missions can introduce you to various faction mechanics or units and let you consider how to employ them. Just throwing yourself into 1v1 and hoping to survive might be daunting. As of right now, Stormgate does not offer any practical guidance for new players on how to use Celestial Arcships or how to think about Infernal Shroud. The “Learn to Play” link on the main menu only directs you to a website with a few brief YouTube videos, many of which are already out of date. I’m not sure. Is that even relevant?
In non-ranked matches, novice players can activate a function called BuddyBot that assists them with busywork like base management, but in my opinion, this is the worst type of aid. In reality, it doesn’t teach you how to play. It simply takes care of everything for you. I would much rather have a “buddy” who can spot my mistakes, such as using excessive resources, and give me advice on how to do better. So call it StormClippy.
I’m happy that Stormgate now has an editor and custom games, even though it’s still in the experimental stage. Devoted community members have already produced some incredibly amazing and wild maps and game modes that I never would have imagined were possible with the present tools, although some essential features, like triggers, are still missing. As someone who learned how to create custom scenarios for Warcraft 3 and Brood War, I found them to be quite flexible and straightforward to use for what they are right now.
Although the 3vAI Co-op mode and the map editor have been moved from the main stage to the experimental “Sigma Labs” section, it’s still entertaining to play around with as they work to perfect it. RTSs with hero units and intriguing abilities appeal to me, and this one has both. Furthermore, I’m more motivated to keep going than just bragging rights because of account progression and some unlockable cosmetics that have been added since the Early Access debut.
Verdict
Stormgate is the next big thing in RTS competition. I hope it is, however. With a seasoned eye for what works and what doesn’t, it advances the traditional basecraft formula and, in a way I haven’t experienced since the early days of Wings of Liberty, it makes me excited to line up again as soon as I finish a match, win or loss. Although it still has some rough spots, the campaign has made significant progress since its first Early Access debut. I sincerely hope it has the opportunity to become what it aspires to be someday, but the path ahead still seems lengthy. However, the game is already unique because it blends the well-known.
