Despite the absence of StarCraft news at BlizzCon this year, fans of real-time strategy (RTS) games have something to look forward to with the upcoming release of Frost Giant’s Stormgate. The game is being developed by many veterans of Blizzard’s now-defunct RTS team and is being touted as the closest thing fans will probably ever get to a StarCraft 3.
One of the major factions in Stormgate is the Infernal Host, the bad boys of the upcoming RTS game. Similar to StarCraft’s Zerg and Warcraft 3’s Undead, the Infernal Host is a spread-corruption-across-the-map faction, featuring a unique mechanic called Shroud that swirls around the main base building and defensive towers. This mechanic allows for units standing on Shroud to slowly fill up a secondary health bar, making them extra tanky and serving as a natural deterrent to early harassment.
The faction also introduces the concept of white health, which begins to degrade when units are not standing on Shroud. This encourages players to build up a huge critical mass of troops on Shroud and send them in all at once while they are at their beefiest, resulting in wave tactics and timing and tempo pushes. Additionally, the faction collects a unique resource called Animus every time something dies anywhere on the map, which can be used to perform special rituals.
The Infernal Host features a variety of units, including the Brute, which can split into two fiends upon death, and the Gaunt, which can spread an Infest status effect to enemy units. The faction also includes unique units such as the Weaver, the Magmadon, and the Doombringer.
While the faction may take some getting used to, it offers a unique and riotous gameplay experience, with battles that can quickly turn in favor of the player. The pre-launch page for the Stormgate Kickstarter is currently live for those interested in trying out the Infernal Host for themselves.