The Veti’s Wrath: A DLC With Two Price Tags
The Veti were always coming to Tempest Rising. The public multiplayer beta ran from May 27 to June 10, 2026, on a simple promise: a third faction that every base game owner could play for free in multiplayer. The July 9, 2026 announcement confirms that the model holds, with a paid DLC next to it. What costs money is the solo campaign, not access to the faction in ranked or custom games.
Update, October 26, 2026: The Veti’s Wrath launched on Steam on September 29, 2026, at €19.99. The model described here held: the 11-mission campaign is paid, while the Veti in multiplayer and skirmish remain free for base game owners.
If you mostly play multiplayer, nothing changes. If you want a story reason to command the Veti, The Veti’s Wrath offers 11 missions, at a price Slipgate Ironworks had not announced at that point.
Who Are the Veti?
The Veti do not work like the GDF or the Tempest Dynasty. Their defining mechanic is conversion: fallen soldiers become “Enlightened”, which the faction then sacrifices to strengthen its units and structures. The loop is easy to state: kill, harvest, sacrifice, grow stronger.
The faction fields 9 buildings, 7 vehicles, 6 infantry units, 5 air units, 5 defensive structures, 5 specialists, 5 support powers and 1 superweapon: the Sanctifier Portal. It was already playable in the multiplayer beta, but without a campaign to give its story some context.
11 Missions to Tell Their Return
The Veti’s Wrath is an 11-mission solo campaign. Slipgate Ironworks describes the Veti as an ancient and brutal race fighting to turn the tide against humanity and reclaim its place in a world it once ruled. The campaign gives them a playable voice and a narrative arc that the multiplayer beta could not offer.
The studio opened a Steam demo on July 9, during TactiCon, the event organized by Hooded Horse and Firesquid. It contains the first 2 Veti missions, plus the first 2 missions of the GDF and the Tempest Dynasty. It also offers skirmishes against AI and custom games on 4 maps. The early Veti missions double as a tutorial for the faction, with tooltips explaining units, structures and mechanics.
Free Multiplayer: A Decision That Matters
Free Veti multiplayer is not a marketing detail, it protects the health of the game. In a competitive RTS, a faction locked behind a paid DLC splits the community and complicates matchups. Here, everyone can play the Veti in matchmaking, custom games and skirmish against AI, with no purchase required.
For solo players won over by the beta, the DLC adds what was missing: context, narrative progression and a reason to play through the 11 story missions. The real question right now is the price and the date.
What to Watch Now
Price and release date: Slipgate Ironworks has said nothing about either. The only hint is that the expansion is due “later this year” according to the July 9 announcement. For an 11-mission DLC, you can expect pricing within the usual range for RTS expansions, though nothing is confirmed.
If the campaign matches the quality of the GDF and Dynasty ones, The Veti’s Wrath is likely to be the most significant Tempest Rising expansion since launch. If it falls short, the faction stays free to play in multiplayer, so the purchase risk is limited to your solo ambitions. The free demo also lets you judge the first two missions before spending anything.