Tempest Rising preview: We played the new real-time strategy game

Tempest Rising preview: A love letter to the genre

“Tempest Rising is a love letter to the genre of real-time strategy games,” the developers tell us at the start of the preview event that precedes our playthrough. “A tribute to the classics of the 90s.”

And you can really see that in the title from the Danish development studio. Tempest Rising not only looks like one of the classic Command & Conquer spin-offs, it also plays like one. And that’s an absolutely positive thing, because older players in particular will undoubtedly appreciate the straightforward and action-packed tactical gameplay.

The story is quickly wrapped up: years after the Cuban Missile Crisis shook the planet in 1997, the Earth slides into the Third World War. While a mysterious electrical plant spreads, two factions fight for supremacy on Earth.

The Global Defense Force (GDF for short) has formed from the remnants of Western Europe and North America, while the Tempest Dynasty is forming in Eastern Europe and Asia. Both factions can be played as part of the single-player campaign, with the plot of both factions being advanced in eleven varied story missions.

The developers tell us that there will be a third faction, the Veti, as part of the campaign (which unfortunately we have not yet been able to play ourselves), but it will not be playable. But that doesn’t matter, because GDF (basically the GDI from C&C) and Dynasty (the counterpart to Nod) are based on very different gameplay and approaches anyway.

Tempest Rising: What we have already been able to play

Strategy fans love the Skirmish mode, in which you can play alone or with friends against CPU-controlled bots. Let’s be honest: besides multiplayer, this was always your favorite, wasn’t it?

The developers know this too, and have given the mode its own section in the game’s main menu. As part of the Tempest Rising preview, we had the opportunity to play the skirmish and multiplayer mode ourselves.

Bots are available in the levels Easy, Normal and Hard, and we were also able to choose between three different maps: Altittude is a varied 1-on-1 map. Overgrown Oasis is also designed for 1-on-1 battles and is a desert map with a gigantic pyramid in the center. The third map in the group is Alps, a 2v2 map that was presented at gamescom 2024.

Two against two is also the maximum size in online multiplayer, which we were also able to try out. In the custom game mode, you can also play games according to your own preferences and customize almost every parameter such as starting resources, army size, victory conditions and much more.

Control versus progress

Fortunately, the two factions play very differently. While the GDF is more focused on mobility and control of the battlefield, the Tempest Dynasty focuses on technological progress and changing play styles within a game.

The Dynasty begins a round with a vehicle factory in order to quickly send the first reconnaissance or combat vehicles to the front. On the other hand, the GDF sends reconnaissance and infantry units to the front in the classic manner.

However, as the GDF knows how to do reconnaissance, you can collect an additional resource with “Intel”. In battles, you collect information about the enemy, which can then be converted into tactical advantages. With the help of drones and beacons, the GDF is also able to spy out areas undetected, expand its own territory and reinforce its own units for battle with powerful buffs.

Many of the special units, as well as the drones, can be commanded individually in battle and can perform special actions. This is easy to do thanks to the precise and accessible controls for genre experts.

Progress through technology

While Global Defense Force plays very tactically, Dynasty focuses more on technological progress. If you get it right, you can put the enemy under a lot of pressure with powerful vehicles in the first few minutes of the game, before they have even formed up properly.

If you like rushing your opponents, the Dynasty is the right choice. A battalion of Havoc jeeps is quickly assembled. Add a few infantry units and you’ll quickly gain an initial advantage.

There are also differences between the factions when it comes to base building. While this is also classic for the GDF – you build refineries to collect resources, power plants to generate electricity and unit buildings – the Dynasty can build rigs in the Tempest vehicle factory, which then turn into refineries. In theory, you can station mobile refineries anywhere on the map and move them when the deposits have been harvested.

Another special feature of the Tempest Dynasty: While power plants normally produce a constant amount of energy, the Dynasty can put them into distribution mode, which significantly increases the production of energy, but also damages the buildings over time. This is perfect if you want to quickly gain a short-term advantage.

Tactical finesse

All of this is already a breath of fresh air in the otherwise pleasantly familiar feel of Tempest Rising. But that’s by no means all. Both factions have a total of 18 doctrines each, which you can unlock over the course of a game.

There are three upgrade paths for both GDF and Dynasty, each focusing on specific strengths of the respective faction. One of the first doctrines for the GDF, for example, significantly increases the range of communication and weapons, while in another tree you can later reduce the cost and cooldown of support abilities such as air strikes by 25 percent.

The Tempest Dynasty, on the other hand, can make the attackable, mobile harvesters significantly more resistant with one of the first upgrades and ensure that they heal themselves outside of combat. These doctrines make for a successful variety of gameplay, as they focus on different play styles.

In addition, each faction has unique specialist units and a total of five support abilities that can significantly influence the course of a game. These range from mobile healing stations to devastating air strikes.

The technology of Tempest Rising

From a technical point of view, Tempest Rising already cuts a very good figure, around three months before its release. The Unreal Engine conjures up impressive effects and details on the screen, ranging from snow to fire and sandstorms. At the same time, the game runs pleasantly smoothly.

Only the units could have done with a few more details, while some animations could do with a little fine-tuning. You shouldn’t expect an absolute graphics cracker, but the system requirements are pleasantly moderate.

The whole thing is combined with powerful sound effects and a wonderfully driving heavy metal soundtrack that perfectly matches the action on the screen.

Tempest Rising preview: Conclusion

With Tempest Rising, genre fans can expect an absolute highlight in April 2025. The game seems to have fallen out of time, as the presentation, gameplay and structure are strikingly reminiscent of the genre classics of the 90s and early 2000s.

However, the title combines this classic game construct with some really new ideas and provides enough unique selling points with its doctrines or special abilities to make the game feel really fresh.

The fact that the whole thing is at times strikingly reminiscent of Command & Conquer is, in my view, a rather positive thing. As an RTS fan, I’ve been waiting for a game like this for a very long time. Everything I’ve seen of Tempest Rising so far works brilliantly.

There is a target group that has been waiting for a game like this. And Tempest Rising does indeed seem to cater to this target group excellently, even if there are still some question marks surrounding the quality of the solo campaign.

Rating: Good to very good