The real-time strategy genre has been a cornerstone of PC gaming for multiple decades. This success has been helped in no small part by the diverse range of settings that the games take place; the genre has seen WW2 shooters, mythical battles, and Ancient Egyptian warfare. Another popular type of RTS game is futuristic science-fiction, a category that has been dominated by Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft series. The original game, StarCraft, won a multitude of awards upon release, including Strategy Game Of The Year by GameSpot and Real-Time Strategy Game Of The Year by PC Gamer.
Moreover, Blizzard Entertainment managed to catch lightning in a bottle twice when they released StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty. StarCraft 2 surpassed the original game and is one of the highest-rated games on Metacritic with a whopping score of 93.
Updated March 29th, 2021 by Jack Pursey: Although it may not seem like it, it’s been over a decade since Starcraft 2 was first released and almost half a decade since the game’s last expansion pack. Unfortunately, this lack of new releases isn’t a surprise, as the real-time strategy genre isn’t receiving much attention as a whole, with major releases being few and far between. Consequently, many gamers are now looking back instead of looking forward to something new to play.
Thankfully, numerous excellent RTS games have been released over the years. Consequently, this article has been expanded to include another five entries so that the genre’s fans have some more ideas of what to play next.
15 Ashes of the Singularity
Ashes of the Singularity was released in 2016 by Stardock Entertainment, the team behind the Sins of a Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations franchises. The RTS game differentiates itself from others in the genre by having thousands of units fighting at one time on enormous maps that make the game feel ahead of its time.
The game didn’t blow critics away when it was first released, exemplified by its lackluster 69 Metascore. However, an expansion was released shortly after, scoring a far more respectable 81. The expansion was initially released as a standalone product but has since been merged with the main game.
14 Rome: Total War
There aren’t many RTS titles that are as universally known and acclaimed as Starcraft 2, but Rome: Total War is certainly one of them. The game was released almost 20 years ago, yet it’s still one of the most enjoyable strategy games to play today.
Rome: Total War wasn’t the first Total War game, as both Shogun: Total War and Medieval: Total War came before it. However, the 2004 game is credited with popularising many of the features that are now synonymous with the iconic Total War franchise.
13 The Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle-earth II
A real-time strategy game set in middle-earth always sounded like a match made in heaven, so there was a ton of hype when Sierra Entertainment announced that The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring would be releasing in 2003. Unfortunately, the game failed to impress. However, fans wouldn’t have to wait long before the next RTS Middle-earth game was released, as EA’s Battle For Middle-earth hit stores just over a year later. The game was a critical and commercial success, so a sequel was announced shortly after.
The Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle-earth II isn’t only beloved for its Middle-earth features, as the game is also an excellent RTS in its own right.
12 Total War: WARHAMMER II
Much like The Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle-earth, Total War: WARHAMMER is the sort of game that fans of the franchise will fantasize about but not expect to see in reality. Total War: WARHAMMER was released in 2016, and a positive reception meant that work quickly began on a sequel.
As is the case with Battle For Middle-Earth, Total War: WARHAMMER II‘s fantasy themes are far more than just a gimmick; they offer a unique layer of depth and strategy to the game by giving players a vast range of unique units to control and contend with.
11 Rise of Nations
Rise of Nations was released in 2003 by Microsoft Game Studios, which is today known as Xbox Game Studios. The RTS title was developed by Big Huge Games, who is also known for its work on the 2012 action-RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
Rise of Nations piqued the interest of those who were in-the-know back in the early 2000s, as the development team was led by Brian Reynolds, who had previously worked on Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri and Civilization II. The game didn’t disappoint and received an impressive 89 Metascore, along with a User Score that currently sits at 8.8.
10 Age Of Empires 2: Definitive Edition
The Age of Empires series may be set in a completely different time period to the StarCraft games, but it deserves a spot on this list nonetheless for being among the best RTS games ever made. Age of Empires 2 perfected the formula that Age of Empires created and revolutionized the RTS genre.
Age of Empires 2 is set in the middle ages and focuses on resource management, base building, and unit deployment. In late 2019 a definitive edition was released. It includes all of the game’s expansion packs and is the best way to play the classic strategy game.
9 Age of Mythology
As the title implies, Age of Mythology is an Age of Empires spin-off. Age of Empires 2 is considered to be superior to its mythological counterpart. However, Age of Mythology is a fantastic game in its own right and earns a higher spot on this list for its fictional setting.
The game focuses on Egyptian, Greek, and Norse mythology and features key mythological figures like Zeus and Ra. It has similar mechanics to Age of Empires, with resource management, base building, and unit deployment again being key to the gameplay.
8 Company of Heroes
Relic Entertainment’s Company of Heroes is rightly considered to be the best WW2 strategy game. THQ’s real-time strategy gem won multiple awards upon release, including IGN’s Best Strategy Game award in 2006.
The gameplay predominantly focuses on controlling victory points. These points are dotted around key central parts of the map and are captured and controlled in a similar way to the popular domination mode in Call of Duty. There is also an annihilation mode that removes these victory points and simply requires players to destroy all of their opponent’s buildings to win.
7 StarFront: Collision
The gaming industry often looks down on mobile games. It’s frequently criticized for its plethora of cash-grab games that are geared towards getting consumers to spend money. Although plenty of these games do exist, mobile gaming does have a few gems.
One of these gems is StarFront: Collision. It’s not just similar to StarCraft in the name, either. StarFront is a futuristic sci-fi RTS game that lets you pick from three races to control. These three races play almost identically to StarCraft‘s Terrans, Zerg, and Protoss.
6 Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos
Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos is an easy game to compare to StarCraft as it has the same developer, Blizzard Entertainment. The game introduced multiple new features to improve itself from its predecessors, such as powerful heroes, a day and night cycle that affects the game’s races differently, and Creeps.
These Creeps guard key resources and are hostile towards all players.
5 Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2
The bankrupted THQ finds itself on this list again with an RTS title set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Warhammer 40,000’s universe is set in the distant future of the 42nd millennium.
Moreover, Warhammer 40,000 combines science and fantasy fiction, creating a unique gameplay setting. Dawn of War 2 removed the building bases that were featured in the original game and put extra focus on the cover mechanic.
4 Homeworld
Homeworld differentiates itself from other real-time strategy games by taking place in space. The game still focuses on the key gameplay mechanics that RTS titles are known for despite this jarring change though. Resource management and unit production, for example, are key features in the 1999 classic.
The Homeworld series is set to get its third installment in 2022 with Homeworld 3. The game was developed by Blackbird Interactive and is certainly worth people keeping an eye on if they’re looking for a modern science-fiction real-time strategy game.
3 Supreme Commander
Supreme Commander is set in the distant future of the 37th century. The game was praised upon its 2007 release for its strategic zoom. The zoom gave players excellent tactical views of their battles. Moreover, it impressively letting allowed players to zoom out far enough to show the entire map.
Accounting for this, the developer’s Gas Powered Games commendably built every unit to a realistic scale, ensuring that they fit the world around them.
2 Halo Wars
Halo Wars would have been a dream for fans of both Halo and StarCraft when it was released in 2009. Developer’s Ensemble Studios took the legendary sci-fi series and gave it the RTS treatment. The game didn’t try to re-invent the wheel and kept to standard RTS tropes like base building, unit production, and resource management. Fans were skeptical of how the game would transcend to the RTS genre, but the game was well-received, earning a respectable 82 score on Metacritic.
A second Halo Wars game has since been released but was met with a disappointingly lukewarm reception.
1 Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium War
Picking one game to play from the Command & Conquer series to play is no easy task as many of the games range in both quality and setting. For example, the original Command and Conquer is another great choice. In fact, it is the highest-rated real-time strategy game on Metacritic, with a huge score of 94.
However, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars tops this list as not only is it a fantastic RTS game that won Best Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year at the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. But it also ticks the familiarity box with its futuristic sci-fi setting.
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