The real-time strategy (RTS) genre of video games has not had a compelling entry for the longest time now. But a new entry into the arena may well shake things up, even if it’s not coming anytime soon. The name of the game is Stormgate, made by Frost Giant Studios, which consists of many devs that were formerly with Blizzard and its Starcarft and Warcraft IPs.
Announced during the Summer Game Fest, Stormgate doesn’t have much in the way of gameplay yet. But it has a few features that make it unique, especially in the RTS space. One is that it features a co-op campaign for up to three players. And if you want to turn the story into a one-on-one PvP situation for whatever reason, you can too.
Stormgate also has some of the bells and whistles that that made Blizzard RTS titles of old so great. This ranges from custom missions and mini-games to a proper map editor. Tourney support looks to be built into the game too, as the devs say that you can set up your own tournaments, or join a pro esports match, all from within the game.
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All that being said, one aspect of Stormgate that can be a little worrying is that it’s a free-to-play title. These usually carry the pay-to-win connotations. For what it’s worth, the devs have said that it won’t be the case. As it reads on the Stormgate Steam page, you can “support the development of additional optional content that you enjoy, without ever paying to remove nuisances or gain an advantage”. Diablo Immortal is just the latest in a long list of proof that talk is cheap, especially on this matter, so we’ll have to wait and see if this is the truth or the usual industry lip service.
That being said, it will be a long wait before we see anything at all, since there’s no word on a full release. But never mind that, since Stormgate will only enter beta in 2023.
(Source: Summer Game Fest / YouTube, Steam)
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