Stormgate Finally Adds Stormgates a Year After Launch
▼ Summary
– The author initially disliked Stormgate for its lack of polish, poor single-player missions, and unappealing aesthetics and gameplay feel.
– Frost Giant has made significant improvements, including overhauling the campaign and adding the long-requested “Stormgates” feature.
– Stormgates are dimensional rifts on 1v1 maps that offer randomized, game-changing rewards like cloning units or summoning powerful creatures.
– Frost Giant replaced unpopular “creep camps” with Stormgates, as players found them unfun and unrewarding, though they remain in custom maps.
– The author acknowledges Frost Giant’s efforts to listen to the community and improve the game, with Stormgates now available in 1v1 and coming to other modes.
Stormgate has finally introduced the feature it was named after “stormgates” nearly a year post-launch, marking a significant step in the game’s ongoing evolution. The real-time strategy title faced criticism early on for lacking polish, depth, and engaging content, but developer Frost Giant has steadily worked to address player feedback. This latest addition could be the shakeup the game needs to win over skeptics.
When Stormgate first released, it struggled to carve out an identity. The campaign felt underwhelming, the mechanics lacked refinement, and the overall experience paled in comparison to genre giants like StarCraft. However, Frost Giant has since rewritten the narrative, redesigned missions, and now delivered on a long-promised feature that players have been asking for since day one.
The newly implemented stormgates are dynamic rifts that spawn during matches, offering high-risk, high-reward opportunities. Players can send units to unlock them, granting randomized bonuses that dramatically alter gameplay. These aren’t minor stat boosts, they introduce game-changing abilities like cloning units, summoning aerial predators, or unleashing waves of minions. Early testing suggests they force players to adapt strategies on the fly, creating more unpredictable and exciting battles.
Frost Giant openly acknowledged the irony of launching a game called Stormgate without actual stormgates. The feature replaces the unpopular “creep camps,” which many players found tedious and unrewarding. While creep camps still exist in custom games, they’ve been removed from competitive ladder maps to make room for this more engaging alternative.
The studio’s willingness to listen and iterate is commendable. Stormgates are currently available in 1v1 matches, with plans to expand them to other modes soon. Whether this update will be enough to revitalize interest in the game remains to be seen, but it’s a bold move that shows Frost Giant isn’t afraid to rethink core mechanics. For a title that initially felt like a hollow imitation of better RTS games, these changes suggest a brighter future, one where the name Stormgate finally makes sense.
(Source: PCGAMER)
