Stormgate, a next-gen free-to-play RTS from developer Frost Giant Games, has entered its early access preview phase today, a full 2 weeks before its release on August 13, 2024. Kickstarter backers, closed beta testers, and those who purchase a Steam early access version of the game can get in early and start playing before anyone else.
There is a range of early-access versions of Stormgate that fans can pick up on Steam if they want to hop into the game right now. These range between $25 to $65 in price, and each offers increasingly expansive access to new content, including heroes and story chapters. The real advantage of getting the game early is to practice playing with each faction so you can dominate in the competitive online ranked ladder and know what you’re doing before the rest of the world jumps in.
Humans vs. demons vs. angels
Stormgate is an RTS created by a developer that consists of individuals who, in the past, worked on some of the biggest RTS titles on the planet, like Starcraft II and Warcraft III. It’s a free-to-play game with an ever-evolving story in which humanity is battling it out with two warring armies. One is a sci-fi force of demonic creatures called the Infernal Host, and the other is the angelic equivalent known as the Celestial Armada.
You can hop into 3v3 competitive matches against other players or opt for a co-op experience, working with other players to defeat the AI opponent. At launch and during this early access period, Stormgate will feature a prologue chapter and can level all heroes up to level 5.
Frost Giant Games plans to fund future development through the sale of supporter packs, additional heroes, and extra story chapters. Of course, the game can be completely free. If you don’t want to pay for it, you’ll just have to wait until August 13, 2024, to get access to it. The early access packs and what’s included in each are as follows.
- Early Access Pack ($24.99 USD): Includes Amara, a Vanguard hero; Chapter 1 of the Vanguard campaign (with three replayable missions); and the Gold Vanguard Army Accent cosmetic upgrade.
- Deluxe Early Access Pack ($39.99 USD): Includes everything in the Early Access Pack plus Maloc, the Infernal Hero; Auralanna, the Celestial Hero; and a Chicken Supporter Pet.
- Ultimate Early Access Pack ($59.99 USD): Includes everything in the Deluxe Early Access Pack plus unlocked access to Chapters 2 & 3 of the Vanguard campaign and the Firestorm Fog of War shader.
The developer has made it very clear that it doesn’t want Stormgate to be pay-to-win. So players will be on a level playing field regardless of whether they’ve purchased every available hero and story pack or if they’ve paid absolutely nothing for the game whatsoever.
I love a good RTS game, and based on what we’ve been shown so far, Stormgate looks like it could be a great entry point into the genre with its free-to-play model. I’ve always played RTS games for the story and have generally avoided the online competitive modes, but this game looks like it could develop a decent competitive community as long as the developer’s support is there.
