The year was 1995 and my gaming life attained a new achievement when I unlocked my first ever real-time strategy game, Command and Conquer. Since then, I wanted to level up this amazing genre and try out every RTS release. My RTS-roller coaster ride had its high points but many low points, and then I heard of a new chance rise. I heard several ex-Blizzard devs had gotten together to form Frost Giant Studios, and my anticipation for their first game together: Stormgate, was at an all-time high. These people created Warcraft and Starcraft, two great RTS breakthroughs. After spending many hours with the early access version, I walked away disappointed.
Stormgate is an RTS in which players can conquer the lands as one of three factions: Vanguard – the human military-themed faction, the Infernals which are a monstrous horde, and the Celestials which are technologically advanced. If those sound familiar, then you may have heard of them as being just replaced by the factions of Starcraft, but with a Diablo/Warcraft seasoning added in.
The gameplay itself isn’t bad so to say, it’s just very bland. For me, they just graphed the game over Starcraft 2 with tweaks for quality-of-life improvements, but not much. I found the characters feel a bit too tanky, however at the same time, the countering mechanics aren’t really good or balanced enough to make combat compelling.
It made me feel like I was playing the alpha of Starcraft 2 but worse. Don’t get me wrong this is the pre-release and I am sure these problems can be fixed later. But if I am being honest with the time I put in, there’s nothing that makes me feel like this could surpass its predecessors, or even really equal them.
Just like with most RTS there are your three typical gameplay modes: Versus, Co-Op, and Campaign. Versus is your standard RTS fare. You take on an opponent 1v1 and try and destroy their base. Co-Op sees you teaming up with people to destroy an enemy base or accomplish another type of objective. Neither mode felt particularly compelling, and I ended up getting bored of them quite quickly. Now when it came to the campaign mode, I was excited, until I played through it.
Having access to Chapter 0 and Chapter 1, in which you play as the Warhawks, which are a Vanguard militia. After an invasion by the Infernals, the Vanguard are essentially mounting a resistance. You specifically take on the role of Warhawks leader Amara, who aims to stop a powerful Infernal named Maloc. I was able to beat the campaign in just over 16 hours, and that included having played a few levels twice to make sure I was as thorough as possible. I played it on the hardest difficulty because I wanted a challenge. I regretted that choice after an hour, but I pressed on.
There are two flavors of level: Standard base/army building and levels where you only control Amara as she does something. To try and make the standard levels more interesting, Stormgate pushes a bunch of different themed areas that feel like they were taken right out of other RTSs. I truly could not find in this game one thing they can claim as their ideal. Defend an area for a certain amount of time. Check. Stop a super weapon from wiping me out? Check. Explore ancient ruins? Check. There are some bonus objectives in each level.
I wanted to enjoy this idealistic game and support the developers who helped me out when I needed a break from life. I can not count how many hours I put into Warcraft III. However, without trying to spoil the game I need to state the obvious, Amara’s arc is just that of Arthas from Warcraft III played at double the speed. I truly do not wish to sound like an asshole here, but I have to call it like I see it and how it plays. I haven’t played Warcraft 3 in more than a decade, but I still recognized its beats in Stormgate. By the end of my time, I just wasn’t invested in the campaign at all.
Overall, Stormgate and I were not connecting in any form, and in my gaming life, there was no achievement unlocked in playing this. I truly am heartbroken for this to have come to pass, I pray that when the game goes live it can correct itself and find its own identity. But right now, it is lost to its previous creators’ shadows and is unable to find its light. With that being said, if you are a fan of Blizzard and games like Warcraft III or Starcraft 2 then this could be a nostalgia route for you, and I hope it works out for Frost Giant Studios.
This review was written based on a PC review code for Stormgate by Frost Giant Studios.
