Tempest Rising – PC Review

Back in the ancient times, playing the first Command & Conquer, I took Kane’s charisma, power and ideas to heart. His words – “one vision, one purpose” and “peace through power” – were a wonderful motto in battles. Then there were Command & Conquer: Red Alert, and Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun – Firestorm, and Red Alert 2, and, of course, Command & Conquer 3. We do not talk about the fourth game here.

Playing the games mentioned up above, I learned to love the RTS genre. The one that had you think through everything, from how to lead the troops to which troops to choose to fight against the enemy, how to build and protect your base, and how to approach the logistics and the micromanagement of the battlefield.

I fell in love with the RTS genre, and continue loving it still, fighting as a Legate on the Perimeter words, helping the Queen of Blades in the world of StarCraft 2, commanding the armies in the Age of… series, and many others.

But lately, game developers have not been overly generous when it comes to good RTS games: story-driven, with a good balance and competent mechanics. Of the good ones among the recent releases, I can only remember the fan-made Red Alert 2 – Mental Omega. But now, Slipgate Ironworks, a Danish studio that has already turned 15 years old, decided to present its RTS Tempest Rising.

In the distant 2014, Slipgate Ironworks had the idea to create a spiritual successor to C&C, but to do it better than Westwood did. Fortunately, the studio invited people responsible for C&C3, arguably the best part of the series.

The plot of the game tells about a world after the brutal World War III, in which nuclear strikes fell from the sky and led to the appearance of a certain flower. Called Tempest, this plant began to grow, first in areas with high radiation, then throughout the world. Tempest became the source of energy and the new reason for fighting. The mechanics of the game will be familiar to everyone who played the C&C series. You will be able to get into the game in a couple of minutes, and new players will be told and shown everything. The game features simple controls when building a base, purchasing units and installing defensive towers, everything is clear and intuitively understandable.

Tempest Rising has a talent system, a kind of arsenal. For finishing missions and completing additional tasks in them, you will receive currency, which you can use to buy enhancements. Enhancements such as reducing damage to your soldiers, passive healing of soldiers, and others. Each improvement will cost from 1 to 4 energy slots, and you will have 1 energy slot open with each mission. As a result, by the end of the game you will have 12 slots – and a large selection of arsenal talents – capable of diversifying the tactics in the game quite a bit.

There are also Doctrine talents, the development paths of your faction. There, talents will have more importance on the tactical side of the game than on battles. Buildings are more heavily armored, equipment hits further and lives longer, and others. There is plenty to choose from, but there is also a drawback. If you have already chosen 1 of 3 branches, then you can reset and transfer Doctrine talent points only a couple of times per game, and you want to take different doctrines for different missions, which will make your choice much more difficult. Knowing that the mission will require air units, I would like to transfer the Doctrine to them, even if only for 1 mission, and then redistribute them to other areas in other missions, but alas, I will have to endure without buffs to air units.

The story mode will introduce you to 2 campaigns, for the Global Defense Forces (GDF) and for the Tempest Dynasty. Both campaigns feature a set of missions in which you will have the main task and additional missions, each will reveal to you a small piece of the game’s lore and the history of the confrontation. Having completed both, you will be able to put together a shaky picture of the world.

But is it really complete? Passing the campaigns will give you food for thought, and the appearance of the 3rd side will create more questions than answers. The game currently ends at an fascinating moment, before which you will essentially go through 2 dozen missions that will make you sweat.

Difficulty levels will give a good challenge. On the easy difficulty level, the maps are passed easily. On medium, they already give a nice challenge and require the initial basics of tactics, on the last level of difficulty you will sweat on each map and replay the last 5 minutes more than a dozen times.

The enemy will be cunning and strong, which will give you the challenge you need. The campaigns themselves take 10+ hours and are quite good. Videos before each task will show the general mood, briefings will tell the history of the world in more detail and give you a lot of information and will not let you get bored.

Tempest Rising is created using UE5, and it does not lag or crash, with impressive optimization. The maps and details are well-drawn: nice little things like dust from under the wheels of transport, gradually collapsing buildings shrouded in clouds of smoke.

The game also boasts nice ambient sound and an impressive soundtrack, which is no wonder since it was created by Frank Klepacki. However, where it falls short is the creature design. The units lack expressiveness and memorability.

It is extremely difficult to distinguish one soldier from another in a crowd, and the tanks look quite… generic. Think back to the Marauder from C&C3 that would tear a cannon or a flamethrower from a tank, easily recognizable and remembered by players.

This is where I’ll criticize the game a little. The studio wanted to make a replacement for C&C, and they did it, but without giving Tempest Rising a striking visual identity all its own. Green Tiberius – Red Tempest, Tiberius from space – Tempest from the depths of the earth, 2 Factions – 2 Factions. The developers forgot to bring something completely new to this reimagining. There was a chance to implement something unique, but it was not used.

Don’t get me wrong, the game does not feel like a pathetic parody of the original – it is a great replacement and a strong standalone game in its own right, but what a replacement without innovations? In some areas, Tempest Rising even loses a little when compared to C&C, especially when it comes to video inserts and briefings.

Yes, at GDF, young Reagan is giving you a briefing. Dynasty has a very memorable leader: Alex Molchalin, memorable for his caricature parody of the “Evil Russian” and, of course, his scar. His father “Domovoi” Molchalin is the secret leader who pulls the strings, while Alex thinks that he controls the entire Tempest Dynasty. Yet they do not command attention the same way Kane or Cabal did. In Tempest Rising, the heroes are perfectly integrated into the history of the world, they correspond to it, but they lack charisma and depth. The actors speak with the right accents, they look nice, you can see emotions, and their moods are successfully conveyed through the splash screens, for which I can even applaud.

It feels like the developers were too unsure to step away from the classic canvas when it comes to innovations. Additionally, Tempest Rising lacks cinematic videos with live actors, CGI does not convey depth as well as living people do. It would also help for the plot to be presented in more detail and in more interesting, unusual ways.

Bots in Skirmish are a bit stupid, it will not be difficult to beat them, but in online battles against living people, the tactical side of the game is revealed very competently. I advise you to try your skills in the Ladder and spar with interesting opponents.

At the moment, Tempest Rising has some imbalance in technology, but I think it will be corrected in future patches. The 3rd campaign was promised in a major update a little later. As a result, the game still brings a great deal of joy both in mechanics and in the tactical component. The plot, alas, is lacking. For such strategies, it is important not only for the peak online to break through the sky, but also for audience retention and content support. I hope we will see the developers continue to support Tempest Rising, and succeed.