How Tempest Rising channels the heart of '90s strategy games without "losing its soul"

In the crowded world of modern real-time strategy (RTS) games, Tempest Rising stands out, not by reinventing the wheel, but by masterfully re-engineering it. It’s a game that deliberately echoes the heyday the genre, when games like Command & Conquer, StarCraft and Warcraft were dominant.

But, as I discover when speaking with game director Frederick Schreiber about the game's art and models, its design and aesthetic, this isn't simple a play for nostalgia’s sake, but to reclaim and refine what made those games memorable.

At the core of this project lies an ambitious and thoughtful approach to art direction, character design and environmental storytelling, one that balances gritty realism with necessary readability.

Tempest Rising is explores how a visual style can feel both comfortingly familiar and strikingly modern, using Unreal Engine 5 to drag a game genre up to date without breaking the reason why fans of Command & Conquer and its ilk will want to play. It's a fine balancing act, something Frederick is embracing.

Tempest Rising is more than retro design

One of the biggest challenges for Tempest Rising’s development team is navigating the tightrope walk between realism and gameplay clarity. As Frederick puts it, "We wanted to create something that looks very cinematic, very realistic. But at the same time, we have silhouettes that make units easier to read".

Frederick says this struggle is at the heart of nearly every design decision in the game’s visual development.

Whereas modern RTS titles like Company of Heroes embrace visual authenticity to the point that units are sometimes become camouflaged or intentionally hard to see, an integral part of their strategic design, Tempest Rising has different goals.

This game's DNA is rooted in the accessible, satisfying gameplay loops of '90s RTS classics. "We’re not trying to make a war simulator," Frederick explains. "We’re making a base-building, resource-gathering, slightly arcadey RTS that prioritises fun and clarity."

This means finding clever ways to convey unit information visually without sacrificing the game’s grounded aesthetic. Frederick's team rejected the default path of making units cartoonishly oversized or hyper-stylised, opting instead for what he calls "functional realism".

Frederick's explains troop designs in Tempest Rising are detailed with real-world gear, like the engineer’s red toolbox and shovel, or the igniter’s bulky red fuel tank, which enhances their silhouette without betraying the grounded look of the game.

Creating these iconic silhouettes isn't accidental. It begins long before any polygons were pushed in one of the best 3D modelling softwares. "First of all, we did concept art for all units," Frederick says. "Followed by key illustrations, which determined materials, textures and even the early silhouettes."

Before modelling even begins, the team lays out black-and-white versions of each character to assess how distinct they looked at a glance. "Are they easily distinguishable from each other?" was the question that guided the early visual language, reveals Frederick.

Colour-coding helps associate units with their faction, but variation in gear, posture and size does the heavy lifting to ensure players can quickly assess a battlefield cluttered with infantry, tanks, and explosions.

Defining a game's art style

Once silhouettes are locked, the game’s characters and vehicles are modelled with the same level of detail you’d find in a triple-A shooter, brags Frederick. He notes that each unit’s Level of Detail version is rendered at cinematic fidelity, down to visible reflections in a character’s eyes.

These high-res models serve dual purposes: they populate the game’s in-engine cutscenes, and they’re loaded dynamically when the player zooms in close. "If you zoom in enough," he adds, "you’re looking at the same model we used in our cinematics."

This approach not only elevates the game’s visual consistency but subtly reinforces the player’s immersion. Everything you see in a cutscene can exist in your hands during gameplay.

This is a rare feat in strategy games, where cinematic assets and gameplay models are often worlds apart. It's a sign, that while Tempest Rising pitches the nostalgia of a retro game, it's not holding back on modern detail and fidelity.

Environments in Tempest Rising follow the same core philosophy: grounded, gritty and clear. Rather than crowding the screen with dense detail, the team focuses on layout and visual composition that supports the gameplay, in this case, strategic thinking.

“It was never about pure nostalgia," Frederick clarifies. "It’s about taking what worked and improving it."

Drawing on the limited resolution constraints of old CRT monitors, where a tank had to look like a tank even at 320 x 240, the team is building maps and levels with readability in mind from the start. Terrain colours and textures are designed to contrast against units, while lighting and particle effects serve both atmospheric and functional purposes.

Creating visually consistent yet distinguishable settings was no easy feat. One recurring challenge was ensuring units remained readable across various environments, particularly during chaotic battles.

Frederick explains how red Tempest Dynasty units placed in a red-tinted Tempest field often became difficult to distinguish. But every time the team brightened or stylised the units further, feedback emerged calling the art style "too cartoonish".

This ongoing balancing act became a core tension in development. "If you follow every piece of feedback, you end up with a game that’s perfectly visible, but totally bland," Frederick tells me, adding: "It loses its edge."

Tempest Rising is more than nostalgia

Despite what the game art and final in-game design might suggest, Tempest Rising isn't built for pure nostalgia. "It’s not about remaking the past," Frederick insists. "It’s about building upon it."

That sentiment guided everything from UI design, an elegant hybrid of Age of Empires, StarCraft and Command & Conquer, to unit control, economy systems and visual hierarchy.

"WASD [control] movement in a first-person shooter works for a reason," he says, drawing a comparison. "Same with base-building and unit selection in RTS games. These things are foundational. We didn’t change them just to be different – we improved on what already worked."

By respecting genre foundations while enhancing them with modern tech and design principles, Tempest Rising walks a narrow path. The result is a game that feels instantly familiar to seasoned RTS fans, but rich and inviting for a new generation of players.

As development has continued, Frederick and his team face the ever-present risk of "design by committee" and the slow erosion of creative identity through over-accommodation.

"The more feedback you take in," he explains, "the more the game loses its soul". His team had to make tough calls: ignore certain feedback, preserve their vision and accept that not every player would agree.

"You see this in movies too,” he adds, citing the homogenised feel of recent blockbusters. "When you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one," reflects Frederick.

For Tempest Rising, preserving the game's soul means committing to a specific vision. It means prioritising strong, functional visuals over maximal realism or stylisation. It means making a game that, while not revolutionary, feels powerfully deliberate.

Remaking the past

Tempest Rising aims to be a spiritual sequel to an entire era of classic RTS games. It isn't trying to reinvent what Command & Conquer or StarCraft perfected. Instead, the game, and its approach to design, acts as a continuation, a 'what if?' scenario for fans who longed for the genre to evolve without abandoning its core.

"Our purpose with this game wasn’t to innovate," Frederick tells me. "It was to refine. Make the best version of what we already loved."

And for those who’ve never played a '90s RTS? Everything will feel fresh. "For them,” he smiles, "this is innovation".

Tempest Rising releases 24 April, visit the developer's website for more details. Inspired? Read our guide to the best game development software and start creating.