What is Stormgate? Exploring upcoming RTS by former StarCraft developers

Stormgate is Frost Giant Studios' first real-time strategy title, newly announced at the Summer Game Fest 2022. Strategy games are a unique genre where, instead of upfront assault, players are encouraged to plan and think over their moves before engaging in battles.

The genre is divided predominantly into two sub-categories: turn-based and real-time.

Turn-based strategy titles let users take turns when playing, giving each time to think and assess their opponents. Real-time strategy games encourage them to make decisions in real-time in the heat of the battle.

While there have been numerous real-time strategy titles, few have impacted mainstream audiences. Warcraft, Age of Empires, and Command and Conquer are a few notable names.

---

Everything about Frost Giant Studios and Stormgate's announcement

Inception of Frost Giant Studios and announcing Stormgate

In 2020, former Starcraft 2 director Tim Morten left Blizzard Entertainment to start his own development studio, Frost Giant Studios. Although it was known that Tim and his team were working on a real-time strategy game, nothing was officially announced by Frost Giant Studios.

Fortunately, Tim and his team at Frost Giant Studios finally revealed their new real-time strategy title, Stormgate, at the Summer Game Fest 2022. It was shown with a cinematic trailer that gave fans a feel of what the narrative might be for the game with a brief glimpse at gameplay.

---

Glimpse at Stormgate's narrative

As for the story, the official marketing material suggests the game being set amidst a war between humanity and an onslaught of alien invaders. This feels like the perfect marriage between the concepts of Diablo and Starcraft, and that's truly exciting.

Although not much is revealed beyond that, Morten did disclose the first two factions: the Human Resistance and Infernal Hosts.

While there isn't any concrete information regarding members of these factions or what players can expect when choosing between them, fans can speculate that the female archeologist in the cinematic trailer must be a member of the Human Resistance.

Meanwhile, the Demons that attacked her seem to be a perfect fit as the Infernal Hosts.

---

Gameplay and technical details on Stormgate

The game is made using Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5 harnessing the power of modern consoles and computer hardware to give users one of the best RTS gameplay experiences. It also seems visually stunning with support for high-resolution HD visuals in 4K and large-scale epic wars with hundreds of units across various maps and tilesets.

According to Tim Morten, the title will feature various gameplay modes, including solo campaign mode, full co-operative play for the campaign, 3v3 competitive multiplayer mode, and a 1v1 competitive multiplayer mode.

The game will also feature a three-player open-ended co-operative mode and a built-in tournament system for 1v1 competitive gamers. It will also have an advanced matchmaking system for players of all skill levels.

Based on Stormgate's description on its dedicated Steam page, it will give competitive users all the tools needed, as they will be able to set up their own tournaments or participate in grassroots events. Otherwise, they can even try to compete and qualify for professional esports matches, all from within the game.

The user interface has been designed and tweaked to make real-time strategies more approachable for new players by streamlining the inputs and commands. The skill floor will also be reasonably low, so users do not get overwhelmed upon stepping into the game for the first time.

---

Game structure and monetization model for Stormgate

The new title will follow a free-to-play model to reduce the entry barrier for gamers, according to Tim Morten. It will not feature any NFTs or pay-to-win mechanics.

Players can voluntarily opt to support the developers in the development of optional content without ever needing to pay anything to remove inconvenient features or gain an unfair advantage in the game.

Stormgate will host its beta sometime in 2023 before it is fully released. However, a confirmed release date is yet to be revealed.