Tempest Rising

Tempest Rising is a real-time strategy (RTS) set in an alternate timeline where the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 resulted in a nuclear war. A mysterious growth called the Tempest began emerging from the Earth, moreso in areas with worse radiation; its features are not entirely understood, but its capsules can be harvested for resources, however its electrical charges are harmful to vehicles crossing through Tempest fields. It gradually became a critical energy source, over which two factions would begin fighting by 1997: the Global Defense Force (GDF), gathering North American and Western European nations, and the Tempest Dynasty, formed by Eastern European and Asian nations. However, another force lurks - the Veti, whose connection to Tempest is strong but of unclear nature.

Mechanically, the game is most similar to the Command & Conquer titles, where base building, resource harvesting and army control are the main focus. The factions differ in play style and unit compositions, and can upgrade their units in different ways via Doctrines. In the campaigns, unique Armory upgrades are also available that are acquired by finishing missions and completing optional objectives. Numerous status effects, both beneficial and harmful, can be triggered by using different weapons, abilities or crossing through Tempest. Similarly to RTS games by Blizzard and Ensemble, the game has a fixed population cap for every player. While conventional superweapons are absent, each faction has 5 named elite infantry units called Specialists, with unique high-impact weapons and abilities.

The launch version of the game features 11 campaign missions each for the GDF and the Dynasty, as well as 9 skirmish/multiplayer maps for up to 4 players. With updates until October 2025, this was raised to 22 skirmish/multiplayer maps for up to 6 players. Veti appear as a faction in the campaigns, but are planned to become playable in skirmish/multiplayer in a post-release update. The campaigns are fully voiced with cutscenes between missions, and the player can ask the characters additional questions relating to the upcoming mission before proceeding. Multiplayer is available through LAN and an official online server, with matchmaking using the Glicko-2 rating system. Additionally, campaign and skirmish/multiplayer balancing is separate in order to prevent post-launch balance updates from making singleplayer missions more difficult to complete.