Stormforge wants to be a different kind of survival game. If you’ve played Enshrouded, Palworld, Ark, Valheim, and Rust you know what to expect on the surface, but beyond the comic book-style appearance, Stormforge has some incredibly unique ideas. Speaking to PCGN at Gamescom, developer Roboto Games outlines what you can expect, while diving into the cool modding tools planned for the upcoming game.
Stormforge is similar to survival game stalwarts like Valheim where it matters. Either alone or with up to eight players you explore a procedurally generated open world, forage, craft, build bases, and battle all manner of beasts. Magical storms like giant flame tornadoes ravage the land, and while they might seem dangerous each is actually filled with key resources you need to gather for the best equipment. That’s not all though, as the world of Stormforge has a unique, graphic novel-inspired look to it.
“We say Mobius meets Miyazaki,” Roboto Games CEO Curt Bererton tells us at Gamescom. “It’s a lot of custom shader work to make it look like this, and we’re still working on it.” You can see those inspirations throughout the game, with bright, vibrant, and sprawling expanses defined by cel-shading. It reminds me a lot of Sable.
You’re still building bases, crafting, and trying to survive in Stormforge – like any game in the genre – but Roboto Games is making sure it works whether you play alone or with friends.
“We know that exploration is important to fans of this genre, so one of our answers to that is procedural generation, so no two worlds are ever the same,” CCO Mathilde Pignol says. “It’s well crafted for both single-player and multiplayer but then it’s up to you choose what to engage with.”
Stormforge is also leaping into user-generated content. You can download community-made equipment, enemies, points of interest, and game rules through a modding system, and Roboto wants it to be incredibly simple to use.
“You can upload 3D models from an asset pack and then it’ll convert into our art style. We think it’s cool, but it is a lot of extra work,” Bererton says. “But if it works, then we think people will really have a great time with it.
“[Stormforge] is first a fantasy RPG land, and maybe players will add vampire castles and a swamp? And that would be awesome. Then maybe they make a full-on zombie survival crafting game? Players will be able to do that. That’s the vision. We’re starting here. But let’s be clear, we don’t want to overpromise either.
“Conceivably, you could then make a new biome, and then eventually you could have a whole game,” Bererton adds.
It’s a massive idea, and Bererton says that Stormforge will get UGC tools related to points of interest and enemies first, with things like editable biomes, crafting recipes, and flora and fauna coming later. The team at Roboto Games is already using the modding platform during development, and says it’ll be shared to Steam Workshop so everyone can use it.
The Stormforge early access launch date is still to be announced, but you can check out the game and wishlist it on Steam right here.
If you can’t wait to play Stormforge, there are plenty more fantasy games and co-op games to play in the meantime.
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Additional reporting from Gamescom 2024 by Sam Comrie.