Often described as the spiritual successor to Command & Conquer, Tempest Rising is about to become even more appealing, especially for players who prefer to carefully plan their moves in single-player campaigns.

Released earlier this year, Tempest Rising finally broke the RTS curse by delivering an engaging remix of Command & Conquer’s classic formula. It balanced competitive multiplayer with solid single-player campaigns, though the latter sometimes felt too fast-paced, leaving little room for reflection. That issue is now being addressed.

The upcoming update introduces several highly requested community features. Chief among them are an active pause function and a campaign-specific speed adjustment tool. These allow players to slow down or completely pause the action while issuing commands to their units. Still, the biggest fan request was larger-scale multiplayer battles — and the update delivers.

Currently, the game supports 1v1 and 2v2 scenarios, but the patch will add 3v3 battles for both multiplayer and single-player skirmishes. To support these, a brand-new Kyoto-themed map designed for four and six players will be added, while the two existing multiplayer maps are being reworked for 3v3 gameplay. Beyond that, a “full” spectator mode expands on features added in June, campaign missions are being rebalanced for pacing, and a bot-free sandbox mode will debut as well.

“We’ve heard from new and experienced players alike that they want to be able to enter a map without opponents. In the next update, we’re adding a bot-free sandbox feature to Skirmish mode, so players can more easily experiment with units, buildings, and factions,” explained developer Slipgate Ironworks on Steam.

The update arrives September 9. Unfortunately, there is still no word on when Tempest Rising’s third faction will be available to play.

Source: PCGamer, Steam