Stormgate Hands-On: Modern RTS Masterpiece in the Making

I have loved the RTS genre for almost as long as I have been playing PC games. I grew up on games like Warcraft , StarCraft , and Command & Conquer , so when I heard about a game that felt like the spiritual successor to these styles, I was eager to give it a look. Stormgate , the upcoming free-to-play real-time strategy game from Frost Giant Studios, is shaping up to be a love letter to the classic RTS games of yesteryear while pushing the genre forward in exciting new ways. I recently had the chance to go hands-on with Stormgate at Summer Game Fest 2024 and walked away thoroughly impressed by what the ex-Blizzard developers have cooked up.

Sitting at a PC on a rooftop patio in LA, I got walked through the basics of what you would expect when you jumped into a game of Stormgate. Let’s start with the gameplay. If you’ve played StarCraft or Warcraft III , you’ll feel right at home with Stormgate’s core mechanics. You gather resources, build your base, train an army, and battle it out with your opponent in fast-paced, tactical combat.

But Stormgate isn’t content with just repackaging what was done in the past. The game introduces a range of quality-of-life improvements and modern design sensibilities that make it more approachable for newcomers while still offering plenty of depth for hardcore RTS fans.

There is a lot to go over here, but the team at Frost Giant Studios clearly knows their stuff, with the core loop of the game feeling tight and with some major changes that I love. Perhaps most notable is the resource gathering and base building. This is an area where the person walking me through the preview detailed how improved it was compared to RTS experiences in the past. Each faction acts differently, but the core is true for everyone. Much of the tedium we all know from the genre has been ironed out in ways that just feel more fun.

This leads me to perhaps the most intriguing aspect of Stormgate’s gameplay, which is its asymmetric factions. The game features three distinct factions: the human Infernal Host, the demonic Vanguard, and the ancient Mech. Each faction plays completely differently, with unique units, structures, and strategies. I remember StarCraft , with each of the factions having different strategies, but the core concept remained mostly the same (yes, I know some people may disagree with this). In Stormgate , this is less true, with the core of how the factions work changing the strategy entirely.

The Vanguard faction is perhaps the easiest to understand if you have played an RTS in the past. It is all about building bases with workers, harvesting resources, and training up a mix of human-like units, along with mechanized tanks and vehicles to take down the enemies. This is a faction if you want to keep your units alive and about survivability, and it was the easiest to wrap my head around in a 30-minute session where I was trying to see as much as possible.

“Stormgate is shaping up to be a next-gen RTS that pushes the genre forward in bold new directions…”

Next up, we have the demonic Infernal faction, and this is where things get really interesting. Rather than being about survival, this is the faction you go with if you want speed and to overwhelm the opponent. You produce units quickly, and they are all expendable. You sacrifice your workers to build buildings, and you expand your area of corrupted land called shroud to push your power into new areas.

If you have played StarCraft, it felt reminiscent of the Zerg, with a few changes that made them interesting to play. This would definitely be a faction I would not suggest new players jump into just due to the learning curve, but it would be a very interesting one to see played at a professional level. It is also the one I would love more time with since it had some of the more interesting units.

Perhaps the most unique faction is the one I got the experience last, the Celestial. Again, if we are comparing them to something seen before, it would be the Protos from StarCraft , but this is doing them a disservice since there is much more to this faction than I have seen in many RTS games up to this point. This is a faction that is all about dropping units and buildings from orbit, with the buildings projecting a field around them that allows more buildings to be built. It is an interesting concept, and it means you don’t build out in the same way other factions do.

You won’t need to worry about supply systems, with your 300 supply being the maximum output you can do at any given time. Also, your buildings can move, making it a unique faction to play and one that will take time to truly maximize its potential. It was one I loved to see in action, and even in the limited time I had, it was a blast to try and take down the AI player in new ways, including using my base as a frontline assault and delivering my units right to an enemy encampment.

Moving on to the game’s look, Stormgate is a visual treat, which is to be expected as, unlike most RTS games, it is built in Unreal Engine. The game’s vibrant, stylized graphics are reminiscent of classic Blizzard RTS games yet feel fresh and modern. Each faction has a distinct visual identity, from the sleek sci-fi aesthetic of the Mech to the hellish, organic designs of the Infernal Host. The variety of maps and units is a testament to the team working on Gane, who have managed to create an experience that is not only fun to play but also beautiful to look at and see in motion.

But the beauty of Stormgate isn’t just skin deep. The game’s maps are filled with lush detail and dynamic elements that make them feel like real, living places. And the units themselves are bursting with personality, from the way they move and attack to the quips they shout in the heat of battle. I managed to see a few maps in my time with the game, and combined with the unique factions that all work in different ways, I loved what Stormgate brings to the table. It is a game that feels fresh even as it works to revive a rather old genre.

“As a huge RTS fan, I couldn’t be more excited for Stormgate.”

Of course, the most important thing in an RTS is the gameplay, and Stormgate delivers on that front, too. The game’s three factions each have unique units and strategies that make for very different playstyles. I played each faction for a short period, and it felt like a massive change between each one in the best possible way. It feels like there is a massive amount of strategy that can be worked out once a faction is mastered, and that is something that makes the RTS genre so exciting.

As a huge RTS fan, I couldn’t be more excited for Stormgate . The game feels like a love letter to the genre’s glory days, but it’s not content to just wallow in nostalgia. With its innovative co-op mode, asymmetric factions, and modern design sensibilities, Stormgate is shaping up to be a next-gen RTS that pushes the genre forward in bold new directions, one that I can’t wait to experience.

If you’re a lapsed RTS player looking to get back into the genre or a newcomer curious to see what all the fuss is about, Stormgate is definitely one to watch. With a pedigree that includes some of the most legendary RTS games of all time and a clear passion for the genre, the team at Frost Giant Studios seems poised to deliver something truly special with Stormgate .