A recent demo of the game Tempest Rising has been released. And given its inspiration from the Command and Conquer franchise, I was on board as soon as I heard about it.
My takeaways can be broken down into a few major categories, namely graphics, music, and voice acting. I will speak a bit about gameplay as well. But since it is a demo, I think it is hard to give a full impression of it.
Visuals
Tempest Rising takes an interesting direction with graphics. On one hand, it is very detailed, offering a plethora of particle effects, detailed environments, and animations.
But on the other hand, many of the buildings and units have flat, monochromatic pieces to them that give a toy soldier look.
Neither of these looks clash with each other, which is very good. You hardly think about it while actively playing. But it’s something that’s certainly there and is worth pointing out.
As for the design of the units and buildings, this is much more airtight. The GDF soldiers really dig into their “well-equipped and well-trained” look, while their vehicles give off the vibes of a modern military with a few tech enhancements.
Where it breaks beyond these modern military molds is with the Tempest Dynasty. The opposing faction to the GDF harnesses the full potential of tempest, putting it in their vehicles and weapons. They use everything from large amounts of electricity to flamethrowers to bring down the GDF.
Much of this is reflected in the visuals of the army. Most, if not all vehicles trade sturdy structures for more powerful weapons, such as the rocket jeep. The ground soldiers come in vast numbers and can overwhelm most garrisons on their own. They give off an air of improvisation that they don’t always have what they need, but make due and thrive through ingenuity (or recklessness).
Soundtrack
I have much less to say about the music. It’s simply just amazing. It seems to take after the likes of Mick Gordon, meaning that they focused on making the music sound awesome and then secondarily figured out how to fit it into the tone of the game.
The music should, first and foremost, leave a lasting impression on the listener. This will build a much stronger connection between player and developer than a soundtrack that attempts to be immersive first and puts the fun part of the music second.
Voice Acting
The voice acting is also top-notch, by and large. Even something as simple as the regular GDF rifleman still has some power put into their delivery. This “power” is so difficult to describe but is vital for something like RTS voice lines because, again, they should leave a lasting impression on the player.
In fact, it is doubly important for voice acting because the lines are going to be repeated constantly, and if they sound off or flat, they are slowly going to kill your enthusiasm for the game as an experience.
So, the fact that the voice actor really put their all into it, no matter which unit it is, cannot be understated.
Is It Worth Playing?
Absolutely it’s worth playing. You’ll get a good hour of enjoyment out of it free of charge, and maybe it’ll get you interested in the full release. But speaking of that, there is still much to be seen of this game, so I would not take this article as a full impression of what the final product will be like.
The demo is good. The full game is to be determined. Though, I am optimistic.
