Stormgate Early Access Impressions - A solid foundation with lots of caveats
It’s been a while since StarCraft 2 last was truly relevant. That’s not exactly me roasting Blizzard, as the three-part RTS sequel’s life was long and fruitful. Mind you, it can still be played and enjoyed just fine, yet fanatics of Blizzard’s strategy games haven’t had anything to look forward to for a while. Frost Giant Studios aims to change that with Stormgate.
Founded in 2020 by Blizzard veterans Tim Morten (SC2: Legacy of the Void producer) and Tim Campbell (campaign designer on Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne), Frost Giant aims to bring back the classic RTS spark of old, as their former company isn’t interested in doing so at the moment. On a surface level, Stormgate very much looks like a spiritual successor to both Warcraft 3 and StarCraft 2, and once you’ve spent a couple of hours with it, you’ll see that it’s the same deep down. Frost Giant isn’t afraid of embracing its past and building a new IP from the ground up with the help of very familiar DNA.
In its current early access state, Stormgate is already offering two campaign chapters (three missions each), basic custom games, 1v1 ranked play, and a three-player co-op mode based around commanders/heroes that can be levelled up over time. It’s a strong package for RTS fanatics looking for the next big thing with a ‘retro’ flavour, yet we’ve found it’s also hard to recommend to more casual players in its current state.
For starters, the campaign is very much a work-in-progress to the point it’s surprising to see Frost Giant pushing ahead with an early access release that dares to let players play through missions that would be internal builds not released to the public elsewhere. We think it’s refreshing and quite interesting to experience such a ‘green’ version of single-player levels and see them evolve over time, but the type of player who’s expecting all content making it to the public to be more polished might be turned off by the current campaign chunks available. It’s certainly a different approach to community-driven early access that could really pay off, yet it’s also a big risk given how ruthless and unsympathetic Steam reviews can be.
Once you get past how rough the visual presentation of these missions and performance are at the moment, Stormgate already ‘works’ well enough. Sure, AI and pathing issues abound, but those are to be expected at this stage and are far less embarrassing here than in full RTS releases that feel essentially broken at launch. Much like SC2 and WC3, the basics are easy to grasp, yet you’ll soon find the skill ceiling aims to be as high as those classic’s. Each of the three factions, very much based on StarCraft’s Terrans, Zerg, and Protoss, has a distinct playstyle and flow, with commanders/heroes adding even more spice to how you approach each battle. Of course, humans are once again the ‘vanilla’ species, yet the Infernal Host, and the angelic Celestial Armada might suit you better once you’ve learned the ropes.
Fresh world-building aside, we’ve seen it all before, and it doesn’t really matter. Instead of breaking new ground, Stormgate sincerely wants to keep the old Blizzard spark alive, and the strong foundations are already there. While there are some concerns regarding Frost Giant’s expenses versus the progress the game has made since 2020, the results are promising, and the devs’ activity on social media suggests they really are trying to build this one out alongside the community. It’s easy to see where and how changes might happen in the coming months; balance patches should be heavy to make each faction well-adjusted despite their profound differences, and the visual presentation appears to be a main area of focus, especially in the campaign, according to the devs.
I’ve found myself enthralled by each faction’s unique traits and some really clever class and building design – such as the humans’ defensive turrets being different based on the units inside them – but I’m also worried Frost Giant is focusing far too much on the more competitive modes from the get-go. 1v1 is the kind of experience only pros go after right away, and 2v2 is currently limited to custom games. For more laid-back players, only co-op feels ‘right’ at the moment, leaving the PvP experience lacking.
We must also raise concerns regarding the pricing model. Yes, the core PvP offerings and custom games are completely free-to-play as advertised, yet the campaign and extra co-op commanders are sold as DLCs that, while totally fair and similar to StarCraft 2’s approach to delivering its content, may come across as convoluted for players that are just curious about the game. This is more of a marketing issue, as it’s easy to assume after looking at the promotional materials – before doing any proper research – that Stormgate is quite loaded with content for free, and that just isn’t the case. If you’re looking for quick PvP online matches, sure. But anyone looking to dig deeper into its world and/or focus on cooperative play should treat Stormgate as a traditional premium game, and we wish that was made clearer.
For now, Stormgate is an easy recommendation for RTS fanatics as long as they’re aware of what ‘early access’ entails and are willing to provide valuable feedback, since the game still feels very far away from a 1.0 release. Anyone who wants to ‘check it out’ will be able to do so for free, but if you’re more of a casual strategy player, we would advise against getting those content packs until the campaign and co-op’s final shapes are more defined. In that case, maybe you should check Godsworn out instead.
Stormgate (early access) is launching on Steam as a free-to-play release on August 13. The access packs released on July 30 granted buyers a two-week head start.
