Tempest Rising: The Veti’s Wrath Review Summary

A polished, high-quality campaign with a unique Veti faction, but the DLC's poor value, missing base-game content, and Veti complexity may frustrate.

Campaign is high quality: The new campaign is consistently described as fun, exciting, and well-made, with strong map design and mission development. Reviewers note it feels refreshing and more enjoyable than previous campaigns.

Veti faction is unique: The Veti faction stands out as highly distinctive from the other two factions, with a unique identity and gameplay style. Multiple reviewers call it one of the most unique RTS factions they have played.

Strong production and polish: The DLC features high production values, with immersive voice acting, tense soundtrack, and art direction that fits the Veti aesthetic. Mission briefings add atmosphere through character interaction.

DLC enhances base game: The DLC is widely praised as a well-done expansion that adds fun and value on top of the base game. Many reviewers find it pleasing and say it meaningfully builds on the core experience.

Good pacing and balance: Gameplay pacing is well-tuned, not overwhelming, and the turn-based pause feature is often unnecessary. Easy mode is no longer brutally difficult, and the faction is well balanced in the campaign.

Poor DLC value proposition: The DLC offers only an 11-mission campaign with little extra content, no new game modes, and no co-op or replayability, making it poor value at its price point.

Missing base game content: The new faction should have been part of the base game from day one, and the DLC fails to add new maps or units for existing factions.

Veti faction complexity: The Veti faction is difficult to understand without practice and requires very high APM compared to other races, with constant ability usage everywhere.

Story campaign gaps and pacing: The story has many unresolved gaps, and the campaign feels like a slog on Normal difficulty with missions that end too soon or are artificially difficult due to timers.

Localization errors in German: The German translation contains letter swaps, incorrect use of articles like der, die, das, and duplicated words such as 'ein ein'.

Veti faction distinct Egyptian theme: Multiple clusters highlight the Veti faction with a unique Egyptian-themed identity that plays very differently from the other two human factions. They are noted as having their own distinct playstyle and visual design.

Veti campaign 11 missions: The DLC includes a full campaign with 11 story missions where players control the Veti. The campaign features mission briefings and in-mission interactions.

High APM micro-intensive faction: The Veti require high actions per minute and frequent use of abilities, making them the most micro-intensive faction. Their gameplay involves managing sacrifice and teleporting mechanics.

Veti slow powerful late-game bulldozer: The Veti are described as slow and powerful, not depleting tempest nodes, and acting as a late-game bulldozer that must be crushed quickly. Their units are high burst damage ammo-based.

Corpse raising reinforcement ability: The Veti can raise corpses of dead enemies to reinforce units, but this ability only works within a certain range. It adds a tactical layer to unit management.

Strongly recommended DLC: Many players highly recommend the DLC and simply say to buy and play it. They consider it a must-support addition for fans of the game.

Wait for discount: Several players say the DLC isn't worth full price and recommend buying it only on sale or at a heavy discount. One even suggests waiting for a steep discount unless you're a dedicated Veti fan.

Worth full price: Other reviewers say it's definitely worth the asking price and offer good value for the new Tempest-focused single-player campaign. They describe it as a solid purchase at the appropriate price.

Optional for base owners: Some reviewers note that this DLC isn't an essential requirement if you already own the base game, though it's still recommended overall. It's seen as a nice extra rather than a mandatory purchase.

Support the developers: A reviewer urges players to give the developers some cash so they can keep making quality RTS games. This reflects a desire to support the studio and future content.

Community fair range: $18.00 - $20.00.

Reviews praise the game's immediate pacing and free multiplayer access to the Veti faction, but also cite a learning curve and a slog in timed campaign missions. No clear time-to-fun anchor is supported.

Friction: New enlightenment and subjugation mechanics have a learning curve; Single-player campaign is a slog on Normal; Missions are artificially difficult because of timers; Back-to-back time-based missions.

Unlock drivers: Prior Veti multiplayer/skirmish test experience reduces the learning curve.

Competitive Multiplayer Strategist: Plays skirmish and competitive online multiplayer, skipping single-player campaign content. Motivation: Competing in online multiplayer and skirmish matches while the new faction stays free. Stance: no buy.

Single-Player Campaign and Lore Seeker: Works through the scripted single-player campaign missions to absorb narrative and production value. Motivation: Experiencing the new single-player campaign, story, and faction lore. Stance: buy.

Value-Conscious Discount Waiter: Holds off on purchasing and evaluates the amount of paid content before committing. Motivation: Getting the campaign content only once the price feels justified. Stance: deep sale.

Monetization: The reviews focus on a paid DLC campaign for the game, discussing its price, value, and content. No evidence of in-game microtransactions, loot boxes, gacha, or pay-to-win mechanics is present. The DLC's multiplayer units are accessible without purchase, which is consumer-friendly. Complaints are limited to DLC pricing and comparisons to other games, which are not predatory MTX. The score is 0 because the monetization model is a fair one-time purchase for an optional expansion.

New faction Veti free in multiplayer: The DLC introduces the Veti faction, which is available for free in multiplayer and skirmish for owners of the base game. This is supported by Clusters 3, 6, 9, 11, 15, and 16.

DLC is single campaign only: The DLC consists solely of an 11-mission single-player campaign, with no other content such as new official maps. Clusters 1, 4, 7, 17, and 22 confirm this focus.

DLC adds lore and story conclusion: The DLC is the final chapter of the story and provides unique lore, making it essential for narrative completion. Clusters 13, 24, and 25 emphasize this aspect.

Campaign length similar to past expansions: The campaign's 10-12 missions are compared to StarCraft 2 expansions and classic C&C campaigns, suggesting a familiar scope. Clusters 2, 18, and 19 make these comparisons.

QoL improvements at launch: The launch includes additional quality-of-life improvements, and easy mode was adjusted in updates. Clusters 5 and 21 highlight these enhancements.