Riftstorm is an upcoming co-op action roguelite game that mixes Diablo and Hades. Read on to learn everything we know, our review of its pre-Alpha playtest, and more.
Riftstorm Pre-Alpha Playtest Review
A Very Polished But Bland Tech Demo
Riftstorm is a top-down co-op PvE(players vs environment) with intense roguelite combat where you face off against monstrous creatures. Going into it, I had no idea what to expect. My very first impression of it was that it heavily resembled a 3rd person isometric Valorant due to its art direction. Instead of facing off against other players though, it’s handled like a PvE looter-shooter.
To start things off, Riftstorm doesn’t have much story to it. Most of what it contains is some worldbuilding about the world and its “Secret Societies.” Other than that, it’s pretty barebones. That’s excusable, of course, since this IS just a pre-alpha test. But it still would’ve been better to have a bit of a narrative taste that connected the game and its world. All of its story comes from premade cutscenes, with narration over tons of splash art.
Gameplay-wise, it borrows a lot of elements from the games it was inspired by. In the aforementioned interview with Riftstorm’s product manager, he describes the game as “Diablo with guns, but a procedural roguelite like Hades.” That perfectly sums up the gameplay experience of fighting monstrous hordes, selecting a new “upgrade” after each room clear, and acquiring loot. The game itself is quite smooth, with well-polished gunplay.
There is a meager set of guns, with the classic assault rifles, shotguns, pistols, and the like. Perhaps they kept it “basic” in order for the weapon upgrades to provide the complexities. There is also a good variety of upgrade choices, offering good potential to aim for specific builds for specific playstyles. Multiple characters with different passives and active skills are also present, where both types of skills synergize with certain weapons’ playstyles. Outside of that, though, they’re just there for the most part, as the majority of characters’ skills are only temporary buffs or stat boosts that last for brief durations.
Nothing really strikes as remarkable from the gameplay as a whole, as it clearly is just a proof of concept for the eventual finished product. But since even its pre-alpha release is already notably polished, there IS some potential here for something great. Right now, though, I can’t really say much. The replayability of trying to tie together different upgrades for certain builds undeniably has the most depth. Expanding upon those, alongside the rather limited character skills, would do the game good for the future.
Visually, as I mentioned before, a lot of its art REALLY looks like Valorant to the literal T. I don’t mean to say that it’s bad, but it continues the trend of games inspired by other titles lacking an identity. Instead, they just look similar to all the other games inspired by the same titles. But to only judge what’s currently in the game, the execution is notable in quality, but nothing extraordinary. The different biomes and rooms are just there, I guess. The enemy designs, on the other hand, are serviceable. But most of the creative design effort definitely went into the Agents/Operatives, as they are quite distinct with their vivid colors and “silhouettes.”
Riftstorm has good sound, with a lot of weapon sound effects (SFX) packing enough power to make shooting enjoyable. The special skills available, excluding all the temporary status effects and stat buffs, have excellently satisfying and snappy SFX, where the characters’ power and “specialty.” distinguishes themselves from the rest. The music tracks also bring a certain intensity that inspires hype and motivation.
Overall, I can safely say this pre-alpha build of Riftstorm is really polished in terms of gameplay, graphics, and audio. Though it lacks a bit more content in terms of story and missions, as a glorified tech demo to showcase what the game could be, Riftstorm is very adequate. The worst thing about it is that there are way too many similar games, and though the execution so far seems sound, there’s not much about it that stands up above the rest.
As it is, even as it’s obviously well made, it’s very basic and bland. It veers dangerously close to the pitfall of becoming just a very well-executed clone/amalgamation of games. It takes more than that to make players invest their time and money. Riftstorm is very much just Diablo with guns and progression like Hades, so it still lacks something that ties its identity together as something unique. If perhaps the developers’ goals aren’t any of that, but are comfortable with being a very well-developed combination of the games they love, then they’re well on their way to succeeding.
Riftstorm’s Blockchain Background
While it's not front and center as to their advertising of the game, the developers do seem to have some dealings with blockchain technology. Riftstorm is what the developers are calling the “Interactive layer” in which to onboard and expose players to their “Collaborative Entertainment'' mission. Their company’s namesake, “Mythic Protocol,” stands for the “forward-thinking IP that is built to expand towards the open metaverse.” Mythic Protocol plans to release in various forms of media within a cinematic universe, and that’s where Riftstorm comes in. They have garnered funding mostly from Blockchain companies.
They seek to build Riftstorm as an exhilarating roguelite ARPG with blockchain technology, using collaborative economy as the future of gaming. The different playable characters will be Agent NFTs that continue to get stronger and evolve into rarer NFTs as they defeat more opponents.
While this information cannot be found within the game or its marketing, a precursor search of “Mythic Protocol” brings up all these plans and features involving the game that have been public since 2022. It is unknown whether these plans will come to fruition, or canceled to continue with Riftstorm as a normal action RPG roguelite.
Everything We Know About Riftstorm
Riftstorm Story Plot
In the world of Riftstorm, major historical events throughout humankind’s records were cover-ups for bigger operations executed by four secret societies controlling the world. These elite four have been vying for control worldwide for centuries, but must cease fighting each other to face a new looming threat. These four factions now send their best Operatives to work together and defend humanity from the unknown.
Riftstorm Gameplay
Riftstorm is an action RPG roguelite that borrows elements from Diablo and Hades. You play as different “Operatives” with different skills and weapon specialties, giving stat buffs when wielding their specified weapons. Utilize those weapons and defeat the hordes of enemies you encounter in each room to survive.
After each room-clear, you may interact with a giant crystal that appears, which gives you a choice of three random buffs. These buffs stack and will stay in effect until the end of the mission, whether success or failure. Carefully choose the right buffs, form a proper build, and mow down the legions of enemies that try to get in your way.
In the world map, you select missions where the “dungeons” reside in specific “biomes.” The dungeon’s room layout is procedurally generated each time a mission is started. Each biome houses a different set of enemies, all of which drop random loot from that mission’s loot pool.
Riftstorm Release Date
Little is known about when Riftstorm is to be fully released. An interview with the game product manager on PAX East 2023 mentioned that they plan to release around 2024. A pre-alpha playtest of the game was held from November 15 to November 21, 2023, with results of the playtest available on their website.
Game8 Reviews
Riftstorm Product Information
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| Title | RIFTSTORM |
|---|---|
| Release Date | 2025 |
| Developer | Mythic Protocol |
| Publisher | Mythic Protocol |
| Supported Platforms | PC |
| Genre | RPG, Action, Rouge-Lite |
| Number of Players | 3 |
| ESRB Rating | N/A |
| Official Website | Riftstorm Website |
