Game Description
The Scouring is an RTS with fast pace, high attention to detail and next generation experience. Lead humans or orcs in a Classic Mode or use one of powerful Heroes to fight for victory! Play alone or with friends. Use our modding tools to create maps and custom game modes! Join The Scouring!
Release Date
To be announced
Demo Reviews
All Reviews
No user reviews yet.
Summary
This is what Stormgate wanted to be. New RTS tingling all the right senses. Units are fun and balanced, graphically not overwhelming but nice. Even pathfinding is beter! Check out this demo
yourself!
Extended Thoughts
You can fire up raw gameplay in the background to have some ambient music going on because it’s done well. You can feel and enjoy the ambience of the game. It’s not breaking immersion, and all the sounds add to each other. It’s fully done, with all worker sounds, including army fights (bigger unit, bigger stomp or chop), and each click gives you feedback. This is the main feeling that Stormgate was lacking. But that game deserves another post.
Let’s start from the beginning. I played The Scouring Demo on 1 March 2025. There is no release date for the full version or early access – if that happens, I will update this post. My army of undead scripts will remind me. The game greets you with a simple main menu where you can choose if you want to play single or multiplayer. It also showcases what the art style will look like.
Gameplay
I fired up a single-player game with all default settings: small map, random race, random AI enemy. There was an option to enable the AI assistant, but as a veteran RTS player, I disabled it and went straight into the game! The match started with a Town Hall and 5 workers in the middle of a forest with a gold mine nearby – very Warcrafty. In the game, there are 3 resources: gold, wood, and food. Gold is the main resource used to train units and buy buildings and upgrades. Food is an upkeep mechanic. The game does not limit your population like Starcraft does, but if you don’t want your units to die, you’d better build some farms.
What I want to point out is that it was cleverly done. If you have to, you can train more units, but they will begin to starve and walk slower. All of those will be signaled by little icons over their heads. The health bar obscures the potion icon, but it’s there. And worker moves slower than non starving one.
Aside from resources, gameplay offers NPC attackers during the night. Yes, this game has a night cycle, and sunrises look cool with morning fog and golden hour lightning. It’s amazing what a solo dev can achieve.
But wait! There is more. Game offers us Hero mode but it’s not included in the demo. What is, however, is unit experience. I did not notice it at the beginning but during one fight my wariors started flashing bright gold and I heard new sound similar to LVL up announcements. And behold we have at least 3 levels for each offensive unit. I will show you Munchers and Swordsmans from Orcs and Humans.
On the screenshots above, you can also spot the potion icons on unit portraits. Each unit can hold up to 2 potions. You can, but a potion by sending your units near a main building. For example, Town Hall. That’s another cool mechanic incentivising to not lose your army but fight, level up, and make them stronger. Potions are generally cheaper than a new unit, and if your warrior fights with the enemy without a potion, he will usually win. Also, a healed unit does not die, and thus, experience prevails. 🙂 More potions > more same units > more better units!
At the current stage of the game, there are 3 barrack units and 1 mechanical unit. Each can have an upgrade. Fights feel balanced in terms of army composition. Usually, a player with better macro will win, but that’s how life goes in RTS games.
There are currently 4 maps to enjoy, and you can play with friends, bots, or strangers. There is no campaign or hero mode in the Demo, but it can be expected on full release.
This game defends itself pretty well. Just check out Steam reviews for the demo and what people say. One downside is that there is no difficulty setting, and some players find it stressful and hard, but overall, there is a pretty good reception. Go check it out. Here is the link to the Steam Store Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3354780/The_Scouring_Demo/
