Tempest Rising's Early Unlock Tier Available Now - Exclusive to Deluxe Edition Players

[T0@st]

Weapon systems live, awaiting orders...Your army is ready, Commander! Tempest Rising Early Unlock is now available for all players who pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition. We want to thank you all for supporting our game since we first announced it way back in 2022. We read every comment, and the excitement we've seen from RTS players around the world has kept us motivated throughout development. Also, a special thank you to all the players and other developers in the community who played Tempest Rising at live events, tried out our demos, and participated in our Closed Beta; your passion for RTS games was clear, and the feedback you gave us was invaluable during development! We hope you enjoy Tempest Rising as much as we enjoyed making it!

Double Time!
If you have not pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition, but are now considering playing early, don't worry, there's still time. Or maybe you're looking to get access to the Commander Pack items, like the Commander Main Menu backdrop. You can still purchase either edition before April 24 and still get the early bonuses for each! Below, you will find a brief breakdown of the Early Unlock information.




The 7-day Early Unlock for Tempest Rising starts today for players who pre-ordered the Deluxe Edition! Tempest Rising is a love letter to classic real-time strategy games, offering a modern take on the traditional action-RTS formula. It brings gameplay innovations, quality of life improvements, highly detailed visuals, and more to the genre, while still staying true to the core design of the classic games that inspired it.

Early Unlock
To cover off some key points related to the Early Unlock period for Deluxe Edition owners and pre-orders in general.

• Ranked matchmaking and Leaderboards WILL NOT be available during the 7-day Early Unlock period. This is to ensure that all players start at an equal position in the rankings.
• Quick play matchmaking will still be available, using a hidden MMR to match players; this will not count towards any official ranking.
• Deluxe Edition pre-order owners gain 7-day Early Unlock access to Tempest Rising, and receive the base game, the digital art book, a digital download of the original soundtrack, and the 'Commander Pack' items.
• Standard Edition pre-order owners also receive the "Commander Pack" items.

You may pre-order the game anytime before full release on Thursday, April 24 at 7am PDT / 10am EDT / 3pm BST / 4pm CEST and still receive the bonuses for each edition.

• If you pre-order the Deluxe Edition before April 24, then you will be able to play the game for the remainder of the Early Unlock period.
• If you pre-order either edition before April 24, you will still receive the "Commander Pack" items.

Prepare for the full launch of Tempest Rising on April 24, 2025!

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[Scrizz]

For some reason I'm getting Command and Conquer vibes from this.

 

[razzaQ]

For some reason I'm getting Command and Conquer vibes from this.

Well obviously, one look at the gameplay options it's clearly inspired and driven from C&C Generals.

 

[Vayra86]

Not a bad thing. Classic RTS... it has always felt somewhat unfinished and not entirely fleshed out, especially given todays tech. Almost all recent installments make the mistake of trying to be a MOBA or mix in gameplay that you'd never really want in here. We just want to build a cool base, build a cool army, and watch things go boom. Its like what Commander is to Magic the Gathering: make something stupid and go ham. We don't need a meticulously micro-optimized multiplayer super-balanced Starcraft copy. Just make things fun and dynamic.

 

[Dahita]

Nice to see Command & Conquer resurrected! Oh, wait...

 

[efikkan]

Not a bad thing. Classic RTS... it has always felt somewhat unfinished and not entirely fleshed out, especially given todays tech. Almost all recent installments make the mistake of trying to be a MOBA or mix in gameplay that you'd never really want in here. We just want to build a cool base, build a cool army, and watch things go boom. Its like what Commander is to Magic the Gathering: make something stupid and go ham. We don't need a meticulously micro-optimized multiplayer super-balanced Starcraft copy. Just make things fun and dynamic.

It seems like many of these developers are recreating their childhood memories but forgetting to study what made RTS games so great, or what even an RTS game is for that matter. It's not about story, it's not about cut-scenes, it's not about missions, nor is it about fancy artwork, no it's all about the core gameplay. The height of the RTS genre was in the mid 90s, with C&C Tiberian Dawn, and the formula nearly perfected with C&C Red Alert, many others followed with the probably last major proper RTS game AoE II (even this one is debatable).

Around the 2000s, they all fell into various traps, like micro-management(SC II as an extreme) and mixing in RPG-elements(e.g. WC III), eventually removing the strategy element almost completely. Even Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 went in this direction.

As we know MOBAs started out as mods of RTS games, but MOBAs are RPGs, and have never been RTS gameplay at all (I want to make this clear since the younger gamers don't understand this difference.).

So in order to make a better RTS they should focus on the strategy element, and probably make it more unpredictable. Probably slow it down a bit and avoid micro-management, instead of a click-frenzy and a perfect build-order.

Still, regardless of how great a such game could be, playing over the Internet is not the same experience as having a LAN party with some buddies. Oh the times when we brought our CRTs and desktops to have a few nights of gaming…

 

[bug]

We even get GDI/GDF

 

[Vayra86]

It seems like many of these developers are recreating their childhood memories but forgetting to study what made RTS games so great, or what even an RTS game is for that matter. It's not about story, it's not about cut-scenes, it's not about missions, nor is it about fancy artwork, no it's all about the core gameplay. The height of the RTS genre was in the mid 90s, with C&C Tiberian Dawn, and the formula nearly perfected with C&C Red Alert, many others followed with the probably last major proper RTS game AoE II (even this one is debatable).

Around the 2000s, they all fell into various traps, like micro-management(SC II as an extreme) and mixing in RPG-elements(e.g. WC III), eventually removing the strategy element almost completely. Even Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 went in this direction.

As we know MOBAs started out as mods of RTS games, but MOBAs are RPGs, and have never been RTS gameplay at all (I want to make this clear since the younger gamers don't understand this difference.).

So in order to make a better RTS they should focus on the strategy element, and probably make it more unpredictable. Probably slow it down a bit and avoid micro-management, instead of a click-frenzy and a perfect build-order.

Still, regardless of how great a such game could be, playing over the Internet is not the same experience as having a LAN party with some buddies. Oh the times when we brought our CRTs and desktops to have a few nights of gaming…

I do think what War/ Starcraft did was the exploration the genre needed. The micro focus, the hero unit, etc were all great mechanics with their own emergent gameplay. In the end I think the RTS is as much an immersive experience as it should be a tight well balanced game. You want to see the big clashes between armies and you want to have good control over these clashes. Then I look at Dawn of War. The unit customization and the slightly different place of the 'hero unit' now as squad 'addons' alongside custom weapon choices to fine tune your armies. Again, micro plays a role, too.

The formula is there and it really does offer quite a few ways to build games around. Base building, another aspect I think hasnt been given due attention over time.. but that also invites tower defense-ish mechanics. C&C did really touch on a lot of these things already. Dark Reign is another such gem that really nailed a lot of aspects. But I still feel there is so much potential here.

 

[Quicks]

Good game, feels much quicker than C&C and StarCraft or maybe I'm just getting old. So far so good 4th mission on hard is challenging.

 

[nickbaldwin86]

Good game. I loved the C&C and Starcraft RTS back when and this brings it all back with really great features and amazing graphics.

Highly recommend!