Against the Storm 1.0 release date revealed, coming to PC Game Pass

Genius indie city-builder is graduating from Early Access

Marco Wutz | Nov 20, 2023

Against the Storm 1.0 release date revealed, coming to PC Game Pass /

Against the Storm has been one of the best city-building games in recent memory, winning the hearts and minds of strategy game fans ever since it launched via Early Access last year. A bit over one year later, developer Eremite Games and publisher Hooded Horse have revealed that the game’s 1.0 launch finally has a set release date: Against the Storm will be out on December 8, 2023.

Against the Storm 1.0 will come with another game mode for the title, Queen’s Hand. It’s going to be the city-builder’s most challenging mode yet, hand-crafted for the most experienced players – in Queen’s Hand, users will only have a single cycle to complete the game’s most difficult goal: reforging the Adamantine Seal. Players will have to strive for the most optimal way forward in this mode, starting from scratch without any upgrades whatsoever every time. All who successfully tackle this challenge will be named Queen’s Hand and granted an audience with the Scorched Queen.

Against the Storm screenshot of a small settlement in a dark forest. — The full release of Against the Storm has a launch date :: Eremite Games / Hooded Horse

That’s not all the news, though, because the publisher also revealed that Against the Storm is coming to PC Game Pass at the same time, signaling another step in its partnership with Xbox. Recently, Hooded Horse and Xbox announced that Manor Lords would be a Day 1 PC Game Pass addition as well. Hooded Horse is known as an excellent tastemaker among strategy game fans, making them a strong partner for Microsoft and its ambitions regarding PC gaming.

Combining classic city-building gameplay with well-executed roguelike elements, Against the Storm is a truly unique genre-mix that can already be recommended for purchase even as an Early Access game – and it’s going to be a serious last-minute contender in many best strategy and indie game lists for 2023.

Over the course of Early Access, the developers shipped content updates for the title every two weeks, adding tons of additional content and mechanics on top of tweaking existing systems and adjusting balance. It’s a textbook example of the Early Access model being done right.

Against the Storm is available for $29.99 USD on Steam, GOG, and Epic Games Store.

Published Nov 20, 2023

MARCO WUTZ

Marco Wutz is a writer from Parkstetten, Germany. He has a degree in Ancient History and a particular love for real-time and turn-based strategy games like StarCraft, Age of Empires, Total War, Age of Wonders, Crusader Kings, and Civilization as well as a soft spot for Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail. He began covering StarCraft 2 as a writer in 2011 for the largest German community around the game and hosted a live tournament on a stage at gamescom 2014 before he went on to work for Bonjwa, one of the country's biggest Twitch channels. He branched out to write in English in 2015 by joining tl.net, the global center of the StarCraft scene run by Team Liquid, which was nominated as the Best Coverage Website of the Year at the Esports Industry Awards in 2017. He worked as a translator on The Crusader Stands Watch, a biography in memory of Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, and provided live coverage of many StarCraft 2 events on the social channels of tl.net as well as DreamHack, the world's largest gaming festival. From there, he transitioned into writing about the games industry in general after his graduation, joining GLHF, a content agency specializing in video games coverage for media partners across the globe, in 2021. He has also written for NGL.ONE, kicker, ComputerBild, USA Today's ForTheWin, The Sun, Men's Journal, and Parade. Email: marco.wutz@glhf.gg