Two charismatic factions, lots of war over a strange alien resource and lots of real-time strategy. Sounds like Command & Conquer? “Tempest Rising” could follow in the footsteps of the genreopa. Can it also do eSports?
Strategy fans take note: At gamescom, we looked for potential eSport candidates with a magnifying glass, and found them in places you wouldn’t have thought. But “Tempest Rising”, a thoroughly interesting project by the Danish game maker Slipgate Ironworks under the umbrella of THQ Nordic, could be magnifying glass clean.
Looks like C&C
The whole thing is a so-called RTS, that is, a Real Time Strategy Game. The action is not turn-based, but runs in real time, like in League of Legends or StarCraft. The interesting part of the game is this: it looks and feels like a Command & Conquer. The presentation and the feel of the game are overwhelmingly reminiscent of the Tiberium parts, which EA in turn produced.
However, this comparison makes the developers a little uncomfortable when we visit them at the fair. They were inspired by games from the 90s and only develop what they like to play themselves. C&C as an inspiration was only reluctantly admitted when asked. Curious, because the similarities are everywhere: After a nuclear war, two factions fight each other, the Global Defence Force and the Tempest Dynasty.
The war is over the resource “Tempest”, the tendrils of which have to be collected by collectors. The overlay of the GDF faction is strongly reminiscent of the GDI from Command & Conquer and both buildings and vehicles are extremely similar to the old strategy game.
Elo system is provided
Thrilling for us: The developer definitely has an eSport mode in mind. An Elo system will be introduced for this, but of course “eSports will differentiate themselves over time”. There will be a total of three factions that play asymmetrically. As known from C&C, this means different units for each faction, or different characteristics of related units such as building yards or collectors. The combat system is based on rock-scissors-paper, we are told. So there will be infantry that is particularly good against vehicles, vehicles that are particularly good against buildings, and so on.
Early 2023 – With good story
As cautious as with the obvious inspiration, one is with the release date. They would like to release the game in 2023. Exactly when remains under wraps. The game will probably only be released for the PC.
Those who grew up with C&C will immediately feel at home. So at first glance the game looks great from a fan perspective. For single players, it will stand or fall with the campaign story. When asked about eSports, the developers assured us that they would take special care of this. You can certainly play the whole thing competitively, but the balancing will be crucial. We have not yet been able to take a look at this. However, all C&C veterans can already put Tempest Rising on their wish list. A worthy successor seems to be in development here.
