‘Stormgate’ – A Highly-Anticipated RTS Game By Former Blizzard Developers
Posted by June 16, 2022 in UpdatesWhat is Stormgate?
One of the more intriguing games shown off at Summer Game Fest 2022 was Stormgate, a real-time strategy game from Frost Giant Studios. Frost Giant was formed by former Blizzard developers who were partially responsible for games like StarCraft II. The trailer shown off at Summer Game Fest was intriguing, with a combination of fantasy and sci-fi elements. Or, more accurately, those elements were in combat as a character in a mech suit does battle with a gargoyle-like creature.
Production developer Tim Morten describes the titular Stormgate as “portals that open during massive solar storms that unleash the infernal host on future Earth.” He and his team previously worked on StarCraft II, deciding to move on from Blizzard when it seemed unlikely that StarCraft 3 would happen anytime soon.
Stormgate currently features two factions, humans and aliens. A third race is planned for the future. This would line up nicely with StarCraft’s trio of the human-like Terrans, cyber aliens the Protoss, and bug-like hive mind the Zerg.
Stormgate is a free-to-play game, and Morten quickly stated that the team was adamant about not including NFTs. He also mentioned players will never have to pay “to remove nuisances or gain an advantage.” Frost Giant also hopes to make RTS games more approachable to the general audience by lowering the skill floor without diminishing the potential skill ceiling of high-level play.
Future of Stormgate – Pricing, beta information, and more
Stormgate is a game set in the future, with characters attempting to survive a post-apocalyptic world. The game seems to fuse sci-fi elements with more magical and ancient fantasy, creating a unique universe. Stormgate will be free-to-play, according to Frost Giant, and it’s a game made for “the real-time strategy community, past, present, and future,” according to CEO Tim Morten. The game is banking heavily on the revival of the RTS genre. It comes with a PvE campaign that can be played solo or cooperatively with friends and will also include online PvP multiplayer modes, according to the game’s page on Steam. The developers also said that the game would include social elements, including an editor mode for players to create custom games they can share with other players.
The plot of the game takes place a few centuries into the future. The title “Stormgate” are portals from which an alien race known as the Infernal emerged and subsequently destroyed nearly all humanity. The game will feature the Infernal returning, seemingly to finish what they started. Players must use humanity’s resources, technology, and what looks like some alien artifacts to fight back against the Infernal.
While the game does not have a release date yet, the developer announced that beta testing will begin in 2023. Players can learn more about signing up for the beta on the game’s website. If players have trouble finding the website, it’s probably because Frost Giant’s sites were overrun by players seeking more information about the game soon after the announcement trailer.