Tempest Rising

Tempest Rising is an upcoming real-time strategy game being developed by Slipgate Ironworks and 2B Games and published by 3D Realms.^[4]

Synopsis

Tempest Rising is set in the same universe as Bombshell and begins around 100 years before the events of Ion Fury.^[5] The game takes place in an alternate history where the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 had escalated into a Third World War. In the decades following the nuclear holocaust, an anomalous yet potent and valuable plant called "Tempest" began appearing from the cracks of the Earth's crust around the world. Realizing the potential of this new energy resource as the nuclear winter dissipated, human civilization began to rebuild.^[6]

By 1997, two global powers had emerged: the Global Defense Forces (GDF) is an international military alliance formed by Earth's surviving governments that secures, maintains, and exploits the majority of the Tempest sites; while the Tempest Dynasty is an alliance of Eurasian nations that suffered the most from the nuclear war and oppose occupation by the GDF.^[4]^[7] After years of uneasy peace, the GDF and the Dynasty engage in a world-spanning conflict to control the Tempest resource, while a third mysterious faction known as the Veti lurks from the shadows and may be linked to the origin of the Tempest plant itself.^[6]

Gameplay

Tempest Rising is a traditional real-time strategy game with its core gameplay based on titles like Westwood Studios' Dune, Command & Conquer, and StarCraft. There are three playable factions: the Global Defense Forces, the Tempest Dynasty, and the Veti. The Veti will not be playable at launch and will be added in a future update.^[8] All three factions will be asymmetrical in their playstyles. The game's UI features a sidebar for primary navigation and control, and the main gameplay loop will involve base building and resource collection.^[6]

Players will be able to control and produce a variety of ground and air units. Fixed-wing aircraft will appear in the form of support powers. There will be no naval units, but amphibious units have yet to be confirmed. Unit effectiveness against opponents follow the rock-paper-scissors principle. Some units may passively or actively apply a status effect which would affect their stats and behavior on battlefield, such as temporarily buffing combat capabilities of friendly units.^[9]

Base buildings are constructed on a grid layout. Before being placed down, buildings can be rotated in 90 degree increments.^[10]

Support powers are unlocked from constructing the prerequisite structure.^[11] There are no endgame structures analogous to superweapons, but there will be high-tier support powers that deal direct damage to targets in an area.^[12]

Maps will take place in a variety of biomes, including temperate, desert, and snow. On some maps, there will be civilian and neutral forces that players can either take control of or contend with.^[4]^[8]

Several C&C-like gameplay mechanics will be present:

Tanks and heavy vehicles are able to crush enemy infantry.
There are engineer units that can capture enemy buildings. Capturing an enemy Construction Yard will give the player access to the enemy faction's build tree.
The GDF and Dynasty rely on Power Plants to power their buildings. Defenses will be disabled and production will be slowed if there is insufficient power.
Credits are obtained primarily by harvesting Tempest fields via harvesters. The harvesters deposit their load at the assigned refinery, which is converted into credits up to a limit. Additional harvested Tempest are stored in silos.
Players in control of multiple production structures of the same type are given extra queues from which they can produce units or structures in parallel.
There are garrisonable structures from which infantry units can fire out of.^[8]
Different types of walls can be built, and certain types of walls allow ground units to fire over them.^[6]
Units earn veterancy based on damage dealt against enemy targets.^[13] There are three levels of veterancy;^[14] the first veterancy level increases unit durability.^[15]

There is also a unit limit present, but the current limit as of the 2023 Playable Preview is 200, and each controlled unit can take up 1 or more population count.^[16] The player will be at the limit at the start as there are no supply structures for building to increase up to said limit.

Campaign

GDF operations room

Tempest Rising will feature two 11-mission campaigns, one for the Global Defense Forces and one for the Tempest Dynasty. The Veti will not have its own campaign. Prior to each mission, the player will receive a briefing from their commanding officer, and can later interact with them to either get more information on the mission itself or for background knowledge.^[6] Following this, the player can then access the Doctrine, Commissary, and Armory menus for customization options.^[17] Players will be introduced to specialists, named characters who in gameplay serve as hero-like units that have their own storyline arc and can perform special abilities on the battlefield.^[18] Players will need to earn the trust of up to 3 specialists in a campaign playthrough.^[19]

Multiplayer

The game will include skirmish and multiplayer modes, along with a Glicko-2 rating system for ranked matchmaking.^[8]

Gameplay balance in skirmish and multiplayer will be separate from the campaign, to ensure the integrity of the campaign in perpetuity.^[20]

Development

Tempest Rising was first conceptualized in 2014, while active development started in 2019. The team within Slipgate Ironworks working on the title numbers over 100, and includes several prominent members from the RTS community serving as designers and consultants.^[21] The lead designer on the game is Brandon Casteel, who is known for providing analysis and commentaries of RTS games on the Wayward Strategy site.^[18]

The game will feature mostly a dark ambient and industrial soundtrack composed by Michael Markie, Hexenkraft, Adam Skorupa, Sigurd Jøhnk-Jensen,^[4] and Frank Klepacki.^[22]

The Steam store page for Tempest Rising was created on 22 August 2022, 10 days after the release of the announcement trailer during the 2022 THQ Nordic Showcase. The game was initially slated for release sometime in 2023. At Gamescom 2022 (24-28 August 2022), a demo that features a modified version of the first GDF campaign mission was shown and was available for attendees to play.^[23] The same demo was also available for attendees to play at THQ Nordic's booth at PAX East 2023 (23-26 March 2023).^[24]

A public Playable Preview featuring the first GDF mission was released on Steam during the 2023 THQ Nordic Showcase (11 August 2023), and was available for all users until 28 August 2023.^[25] The full demo including the first Dynasty mission was released as part of the 2023 Steam Strategy Fest.^[26]

On 8 December 2023, it was announced that Tempest Rising will not release within 2023.^[27] A release date has yet to be officially revealed.

The game will not be released into early access, but the developers do plan on conducting several rounds of closed beta tests.^[4]