“Rising Storm” preview: an RTS that takes me back to the 90s
Blog Andrew Joseph 23 Jan , 2025 0
When I first booted up the Tempest Rising demo, I had a good feeling. I couldn't help but laugh while watching the opening cutscene, which sets the tone with cheesy dialogue between a hulking armored soldier and a reedy scientist. The music, UI design, and units seemed tailor-made for me, taking me back to high school when I would stay up late playing Command & Conquer with my friends and drinking Mountain Dew, taco-flavored Pringles and lack of sleep. It's great to relive that feeling with a new game in the modern era, and I'm excited to see what else the developers at Slipgate Ironworks come up with at launch and beyond. Whether I'm jumping into skirmishes against clever AI bots or playing ranked multiplayer, playing Tempest Rising feels as comfortable as putting on my well-worn baseball glove.
My initial reaction was no accident either. The developers told me they Set off Create a nostalgic real-time strategy (RTS) game that evokes classics from the '90s and 2000s while improving the quality of life for modern gaming. “Rising Storm” is set in 1997, as the Cuban Missile Crisis erupts into World War III. After widespread nuclear bombing, strange flowering vines begin to grow. These plants contain vast amounts of electrical energy, ushering in a new era of electricity for those prepared to withstand the effects of radiation and harvest them.
Since the build I played was entirely focused on multiplayer, I'll have to wait and see what the story mode will bring, but it will feature two replayable 11-mission campaigns, one for each of the majors in the preview Factions. The Storm Dynasty (TD) is an alliance of Eastern European and Asian countries that were hardest hit by World War III. The Global Defense Force (GDF), on the other hand, is an alliance between the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. There is a third faction, but we'll have to wait until the event launches to learn more as they won't be playable in preview, Steam RTS Fest demo, or at launch.
Of the two factions, the Storm Reign calls out to me, and not just because they can create an incredibly stupid “death ball” vehicle called the Storm Ball that crushes enemy infantry, knocking them out of the way. They are pressed into a paste. Dynasties also have access to something called “Plans,” which activate three specific types of faction-wide bonuses. Your construction yard is the main building everyone starts with, and one plan can be active at a time. All you need is a little extra power generation and a 30-second cooldown to switch plans, and you're good to go.
Logistics planning allows me to build new buildings faster and harvest resources faster. Mobile resource harvesters also move faster. The Military Plan increases the attack speed of my units, gives them resistance to rockets and other explosives, and gives the Mechanic unit the ability to spend its own health to gain 50% additional attack speed. Finally, the Security Plan reduces unit and building manufacturing costs, improves the repair capabilities of certain units, and expands radar vision. I found an interesting rhythm, alternating between economic boosting phases where I would gather more resources with logistics plans, then accelerating construction phases with security plans, and finally going on the offensive with military plans to enhance combat potential.
This flexibility extends to other aspects of the dynasty as well. Instead of building a base with a refinery to harvest nearby Tempest fields (like the GDF does), Storm Reign builds Tempest rigs, which are vehicles that can travel to resource-rich areas and harvest until the fields are depleted, and then they can Free to pack up and go somewhere else. Because of this, my favorite “quickly scale” RTS strategy is easier than ever, especially since it doesn't matter how far away these individual units are from my base. In fact, sending a few Storm Rigs to distant locations is a great way to have them harvest quietly, generating reliable cash for me without being detected by my opponents.
Dynasty also has an interesting unit called the Rescue Vehicle, which can repair nearby vehicles. However, it can also be converted into salvage mode, destroying nearby vehicles regardless of who they belong to, returning resources to the salvage player. I enjoyed sneaking up on unwary opponents, parking a rescue truck next to their vehicles, and destroying them to deplete their armies and capture those resources for myself.
Finally, Dynasty-created power plants can switch from generating electricity to “distributed mode”, speeding up the construction and attack of nearby buildings (yes, some upgraded Storm Dynasty buildings have cannons. That's awesome), but at a cost Take damage while this mode is active. Thankfully, the mode will stop affecting buildings that are in critical health, so I don't have to worry about destroying my own base for a speed boost.
Although I prefer Reign of Storms, GDF certainly has its charms. They focus more on strengthening allies, weakening enemies, and controlling the battlefield. My favorite synergy between GDF units revolves around the marking mechanic. Certain vehicles and infantry can “mark” enemies they target. Marked enemies drop Intel (a currency used to create advanced units and structures) when defeated, but if you invest in certain doctrine upgrades (the “tech tree” version of Rising the Storm), marked enemies Will gain various debuffs including dealing less damage, taking more damage from damage, and even increasing the range of certain units that attack them.
Each faction has three tech trees to explore, where you'll decide which part of the faction you want to gravitate toward. Like GDF's “Marks and Intel” tree, Dynasty has a tree that increases the effectiveness of its “plans,” and that's just the beginning. In addition to the interesting tech tree, there are cooling abilities enabled by building specific advanced buildings. They cost money to activate, and each has its own cooldown, but these abilities are a powerful way to turn the tide of battle while adding flavor to the type of strategy each faction excels at. While both factions have the ability to cause damage in an area or spawn additional troops, the GDF can also craft spy drones, spawn beacons to allow construction at remote locations, and even block enemy vehicle attacks for 12 seconds.
Since Dynasty has fewer buildings and each basic building can be upgraded to a superior version, losing buildings to enemy engineers can be difficult. To solve this problem, Dynasty has a special ability called “Lock” that prevents enemies from taking over but also prevents the building from taking action. Field Infirmary is my most used ability, allowing me to place a fixed area of troop healing anywhere on the map. This ability is a great compliment to the Dynasty, which already has specialized infantry units and vehicles for repairing mechanized allies.
There's a lot more to dig out, and I can't wait to do it, especially since the launch version will let me enter custom lobbies with friends, letting us team up against incredibly smart AI bots (which use an impressive of hitting – running and harassing tactics against me in skirmishes). Until then, I'll have to fight alone, crushing my robotic enemies with hordes of death balls.
Brian Barnett writes reviews, features, and more for IGNGameSpot and Kotaku. follow him blue sky & backlog And enjoy his ridiculous video game talk show Platformers Youtube, twitch, Spotify& Apple Podcasts.
