Highlights
- RTS games like Supreme Commander and Age of Empires 2 offer a steep learning curve and punish players for small mistakes, making them challenging but rewarding for hardcore players.
- Civilization 6 introduces a wider variety of civilizations and leaders, offering a non-violent world conquest experience and turn-based gameplay against AI opponents or friends in multiplayer mode.
- Aurora 4x is a hardcore 4x game with an overwhelming level of customization and complexity, requiring players to reference external material and navigate nested options menus to start a game. It offers unparalleled depth for hardcore 4x fans.
Real-time strategy, or RTS games, make up a genre that gets less attention than others in today's market. These games are all about strategic planning and rapid execution to claim victory. In some ways, the genre has lived on with MOBAs, but they don't capture the same tense, high-stakes strategy as RTS games.
18 RTS Games That Are Perfect For Newcomers To The Genre
Jumping into the RTS genre can be pretty overwhelming for newcomers. Here are some games that are beginner-friendly.One reason there haven't been any new entries is because of how hard most RTS games are. They have a steep learning curve and punish players for making small mistakes. Some of the best RTS games were also known for being brutal, and some went overboard when it came to consequences.
Updated on October 22, 2023, by Kristy Ambrose: Different eras housed different trends in the RTS genre. The platforms that they appear on also determine a lot about player UI, game controls, overall design, and the speed at which things happen. Each developer also has their own trademarks when it comes to the difficulty curve and world-building, all of which heavily influence how much players like or hate an RTS title. Depending on the intended length of these games, one could be in for a single, brief skirmish or many lengthy and epic battles.
13 Supreme Commander
Supreme Commander is a paradise for players who turtle, a strategy that refers to rarely expanding from their base and playing defensive. As a result, many who play through the game's campaign will find it exceptionally easy.
Those people aren't wrong, but entering Supreme Commander's multiplayer component is a whole other story. Like most RTS games, the skill gap for SupCom is massive. Learning how to quickly manufacture armies and control the battlefield can thwart most turtling players in competitive multiplayer, which makes the learning experience even harder for players who got accustomed to playing defensively during the game's campaign.
12 Age of Empires 2
Age of Empires 2 is one of the best RTS games ever made. The combination of micro and macro-management makes for an addictive formula. Its wide difficulty curve is also what makes it so great. Most difficulties are fair and provide the experience players would expect, but playing Age of Empires 2 on the hardest difficulty turns this game into a nightmare.
Age Of Empires 3: 7 Best Defensive Civilizations, Ranked
Not all Civilizations in Age of Empires 3 are created equal; here are the best ones for defensive players to use.The enemy AI progresses through the ages and develops armies much faster than even the most skilled players can muster, resulting in matches that last under 8 minutes if players aren't careful. Surprisingly, the AI does not cheat to do this like in most RTS games.
11 Sid Meier's Civilization 6
In the spirit of the Civilization franchise, this installment still uses the 4x structure of Explore, Expand, Exploit, and Exterminate that's been present since the original board game. There are still mines to be found, fields to be tilled, and barbarians to fight.
What's different about Civ 6 is the wider variety of different civilizations and leaders available and improvements to the methods of non-violent world conquest and resource development. The turn-based gameplay, another holdover from the table-top version, is between the player and AI opponents or their friends, thanks to the multiplayer feature.
10 Company Of Heroes
- Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, iPadOS
- Release Date: September 2006
- Developers: Relic Entertainment (Original), Feral Interactive (iPad)
Relic Entertainment's Company of Heroes is all about attrition. Players fight over key locations on the map that grant resources to make units as with most RTS titles. The difference is how important strategy was in combat itself.
Soldiers can easily get suppressed by gunfire or explosives, making them immobile and nigh-useless. Tanks are also impervious to traditional gunfire and have to be attacked from certain angles with explosives. Combined with the game's cover system, combat was as much about managing resources as it was about making good decisions mid-fight. As a result, multiplayer matches against skilled players can feel impossible for newer ones who haven't mastered these mechanics. The AI on harder difficulties also provides a solid challenge for skilled RTS veterans to overcome.
9 Distant Worlds
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
- Release Date: March 2010
- Developer: Code Force
A popular subgenre for RTS games is 4x, which stands for explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate. This subgenre typically refers to strategy games that last much longer than most and have a larger emphasis on managing resources.
The 10 Games That Defined The RTS Genre & Where You Can Play Them
The RTS genre wouldn't be what it is today without these groundbreaking titles. Here's where you can play these iconic games.Few games in the 4x space can match the likes of Distant Worlds. Players take control of a galactic empire and can choose to exterminate other players or win through diplomacy. The game's large-scale and unintuitive UI can make it a nightmare to learn for any player. Enemy AI is also formidable on higher difficulties, but many players can conquer the highest difficulty once they get acclimated with automating various tasks. Learning this game is a massive investment, but the payoff is experiencing one of the best 4x strategy games ever made.
8 Take Command - 2nd Manassas
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
- Release Date: 2006
- Developer: MadMinute Games
RTS games usually take place in a fantasy, modern, or futuristic setting, but not Take Command - 2nd Manassas. This game is all about commanding an army during the American Civil War.
It might seem less exciting than other games in the genre, but it comes into its own with its exceptional AI. Even playing on normal difficulty is a large test of the player's skill. The AI does not hold back in this game, making for a punishing yet memorable campaign.
7 Stellaris
Another turn-based game that uses the 4x framework, Stellaris takes the RTS genre to a galactic level. The story is set in the distant future and players can decide which type of galaxy to explore and conquer. Possible outcomes range from peaceful co-existence to the destruction of all sentient life, should the player choose.
When the game begins, the civilization is just on the cusp of interstellar travel and has only recently begun traveling into the far reaches of space. The resources at the player's command include fleets of starships for military, scientific, or construction uses.
6 Sudden Strike
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
- Release Dates: October 2000
- Developer: Fireglow Games
At first glance, Sudden Strike appears to be an imitator of Company of Heroes and similar World War II-based RTS titles. That couldn't be further from the truth. Sudden Strike is about winning against insurmountable odds. Players don't have a base that pumps out units or resources for them.
8 Strategy Games With The Best Real-Time Combat
Strategy games become even more engaging when the combat takes place in real-time.Instead, the player gets a set number of units and must complete the mission with them, rarely earning reinforcements. Units accumulate experience points that make them better at everything, but one well-placed explosive or bullet is all it takes to end their lives. It results in every encounter feeling stressful and much more rewarding when beaten.
5 Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn
- Platforms: DOS, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Nintendo 64
- Release Dates: September 1995
- Developer: Westwood Studios
Most Command & Conquer games could have been mentioned for their brutal AI on higher difficulties or their high skill gap. With that said, Tiberian Dawn gets a special mention for its misleading mission objectives and unfair AI.
Certain campaign objectives can be completed to make future missions easier or bypass levels altogether. The problem is a few of the objectives in Tiberian Dawn are either vague or give incorrect information. Worse, the enemy AI on higher difficulties cheats to gain an edge and swarms the player with enemies with little regard for resources. The first Command & Conquer game is hard for all the wrong reasons.
4 Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
- Release Dates: June 1998
- Developer: Pyro Studios
Stealth and real-time strategy sound like a strange combination but work incredibly well together. With its methodical gameplay and soul-crushing difficulty, Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines is a great example of this.
10 Harrowing Military Shooter Games
While the shooter genre in video games is large, a lot of them are military titles where they put players into the brutal reality of battlePlayers control a squad of commandos and must complete their mission objective in any way they see fit. Stealth and developing strategies are paramount, as going in guns-blazing results in failure most of the time. Each character has a unique skill set that culminates into a diverse sandbox that has more in common with Immersive Sims such as Deus Ex than most RTS games.
3 StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty
StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty came out nearly 10 years ago and still has an Esports presence. Blizzard created an RTS that has the perfect mix of accessibility and depth. It follows most RTS trends with creating armies and managing bases, but the nuance of each unit's skillset makes for a game that has infinite depth.
The enemy AI is serviceable, but it pales in comparison to the veteran players that can be found in the game's competitive multiplayer offering.
2 Hearts of Iron 4
It's all about a historically accurate World War 2 scenario with Hearts of Iron 4, but that doesn't mean the scope of this game feels limited. The fourth in a series of games that take place in the same period, players can choose to control any nation in the world and start in either 1936 or 1939.
Other realistic features of the game include not only the minute details of weapons, vehicles, and machinery but also the manpower and resources required to keep them running. The object of the game isn't only about the best battlefield strategy, it's about navigating the perils of politics and the social costs of winning a war.
1 Aurora 4x
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
- Release Date: 2004
- Developer: Steve Walmsley
What originally started as an assistant application for the pen-and-paper game Starfire, Aurora 4x is a project that ballooned into a massive 4x game that rivals the complexity and fun of Distant Worlds and most of Paradox's 4x titles.
Aurora 4x is as hardcore as RTS 4x games get. Everything in Aurora can be fine-tuned, ranging from when ships refuel to the design of a ship's rockets. Options menus are nested in options menus, leading to a disorienting experience. The degree of options players get is so vast that many must resort to referencing external material to simply start a game.
Aurora's focus on conveying information through spreadsheets amplifies this learning curve even further. With all of that said, the depth and fine-tuning Aurora offers are unmatched in the genre, making this a great fit for any hardcore 4x fans who want something completely new.