Mutants and mechs go to war for a post-apocalyptic Earth in Stormrise. Although the game's real-time battles are won and lost through the strategic management and tactical acuity of the command, not all orders are given from on-high, detached from the action. Players can take their place in the thick of the fight, for an up-close third-person perspective on the sci-fi violence. War is waged at multiple levels on the map, on rooftops above and in caverns beneath the ground. Stormrise was created by The Creative Assembly, maker of the well-respected Total War real-time strategy games for PC. Designed from the start with consoles in mind, the game features a "playbook"-styled control scheme tailored for gamepad use.In a moment of desperation and arrogance, humanity ruined the planet Earth. A small, lucky portion of the population escaped the poisonous fallout of a global disaster, locking themselves away in safe hibernation chambers. The rest of the people of Earth were left in the open to die, and most of them did. A few survived, however, and adapted to the new environment, becoming stronger over generations. Hundreds of years later, as the dust begins to settle, these two factions meet in a battle for the future. The Echelon, composed of the humans who found safety in cryogenic bunkers, fight with mechanized armor and technologically advanced weapons. The Sai, survivors in aftermath, use their mutant enhancements and home turf advantage to deadly effect.