As a big StarCraft aficionado, Stormgate is a game I’ve had my eyes on for quite some time. The team behind the free-to-play RTS boasts several big names formerly known for their work at Blizzard on Warcraft 3 and StarCraft 2 in particular, and developer Frost Giant Studios has been very up-front about wearing its influences from those games, as well as other classics such as Command and Conquer. As it arrives via Steam Early Access, however, early opinion on Stormgate is divided.
There’s a lot of promise in Stormgate, especially if you, like me, are still hopelessly pining for the StarCraft 3 that might well never happen. Its three factions – the Human Resistance, the Infernal Host, and the Celestial Armada – can be fairly reasonably mapped to Blizzard’s Terran, Zerg, and Protoss forces. That reverence to the best RTS games of yore extends further, too, with the likes of Therium, a secondary resource that bears closest resemblance to the spreading fields of Command and Conquer’s Tiberium.
While it feels heavily inspired by the past, however, Stormgate also looks to push things forward in some smart new ways. During an early Stormgate preview for PCGamesN, assistant game director Brett Crawford told me that the team at Frost Giant wants to push the conversation away from players worrying that they might not be “good enough” to play an RTS. It’s worked hard to tackle that with a hotkey system designed to be much simpler to learn and use, and a focus on cooperative play in campaigns and skirmishes against AI.
The early access version of Stormgate launched on Steam yesterday, Tuesday July 30. Currently, you can only play if you have purchased one of its early access supporter packs, which begin at $24.99 / £21.99 and range up to $59.99 / £50.99 for the top-end ultimate edition. If you’d rather wait, you’ll be able to play Stormgate as a free Steam game once it opens up fully in just a few weeks on Tuesday August 13.
Early responses from those who have already jumped in, however, are mixed – with just 57% of user responses recommending the game at the time of writing. Among the negative reviews, many cite that it feels too early in development for the price tag. “They should have released the game next year instead of pushing this unpolished skeleton of a game now,” writes one user. “Early access will do more harm now.”
Others say they are disappointed in the art direction and animations compared to the big-budget polish offered by Blizzard’s games, the fact that additional co-op commanders must be bought for real money, and poor optimization. The early campaign mode, which features the first of three planned chapters, also seems to have fallen rather flat at this early stage, as has the fact that the latter two parts, which are yet to launch, are currently behind Stormgate’s most pricey ultimate edition.
On the other side of the coin, most of the positive reviews (and even some of the downvotes) commend the feel of the game and its evolution of StarCraft-style gameplay. “I played SC1 and SC2 for thousands of hours and so far this is exactly what I was looking for,” one writes, “similar gameplay but with less ‘oneshot’ situations like Banelings or Disruptors where you blink and lose your whole army – in this way it is closer to Brood War than SC2 (which is good), but with 2024 controls.”
Of course, as things stand you’ll be able to try the game for free in just a couple of weeks. So if you’re on the fence but are curious what Stormgate brings to the table, then you may wish to play the waiting game right now. If you’re still eager to leap in and try it for yourself right away, however, you can pick it up on Steam.
Alternatively, you can command and conquer your way across the stars with the best space games on PC. Or dive into the best strategy games you need to play in 2024.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or grab our PCGN deals tracker to net yourself some bargains.