Hi, my name is ColdBeer and let’s start with
Ashes of Singularity Here you will battle for control of
the galaxy as the advanced human race or their eternal foes, aliens named the Substrate.
Here you will dive into massive battles with thousands of units in huge, really
detailed maps and that distinguishes this game from many other RTSs.
Although keep in mind that these amounts of units in Ashes of Singularity require massive computing
power. Not as massive as yo momma. You can play the game alone or online
with friends in ranked or unranked multiplayer mode or play it by yourself against a powerful
non-cheating AI in skirmish or campaign mode. That is actually great - a well-made and just
like your wife - let’s hope - non-cheating AI is kinda rare, because it is hard to make.
So developers tend to cut it out and replace it with a fake AI instead that gets unlimited
resources and can see you through the fog of war. It’s like giving see-through-clothes
glasses to the random pervert. But not this time. Ashes of Singularity
doesn’t cut corners. Or AI’s. People on Steam are saying that
the game has a fun level editor and the amount of lasers is never too high.
Planetary Annihilation: Titans Here you can play the game alone and
rule your pathetic planet on a traditional real-time strategy campaign or dive into
multiplayer battles and sacrifice your dignity and self-esteem to much better players.
Game was released about 8 years ago, so you can imagine how many better players
Planetary Annihilation has bred. How many eggs of much better players it has laid and
how many of them had hatched. Now it’s too late to burn the nest with fire,
you will have to take them all one-on-one like a hero you are never meant to be.
And believe me, some of those players are still in the game. As for recent months about 300
players are in-game at all times. So you will not feel alone there. And that is a good thing.
Titans also has pretty good AI, which can surprise you with ingenious decisions,
like detonating their own homeworld in hopes to kill your commander. Go big or go home, they say.
Except when you blow up your homeworld you don’t have home to go to, so you can only go big.
Oh, the puns! Shut up, I’m really proud of this sentence.
Anyway, reviews on Steam are very positive, so I think you can give it a try without many thoughts
given. But better put it into your wishlist and wait for a sale, because then it costs about 6
euros or dollars. And for an RTS game with very positive reviews it’s an amazing deal.
Starship Troopers: Terran Command This game has a model similar to They
Are Billions where you defend from the hordes of enemies and try to keep your base alive.
Also here you can literally relive the best moments of the Starship Troopers movie by
defending your base from hordes of ladybugs. I remember when in 1997 my grandfather took
me to watch the film in a movie theater. I was amazed, it was the best movie ever for me, and
my grandfather, who was 66 years old back then, wasn't so excited. He said that the movie brought
back memories from WW2 when he was a teenager struggling to survive in these harsh times.
He’s 92 now, still alive. We drank a lot of vodka this summer together. He says
that vodka is his life elixir, and keeps him alive for so long. Who am I to disagree?
Anyway here you will encounter dozens of unique insect types, each with their own special
abilities and skills. Also the map has terrain elevation, true line of sight & true line of
fire providing deep tactical gameplay. Meaning that units that stand behind other units can’t
shoot unless they stand on a higher ground. Sadly you can’t play as alien insects. It’s not
off the table completely, developers say, but now you can only play as a
military human society. That’s it. If you are wondering if you can build a
base here - yes you can, but that is not the main focus of the game I would say. Despite
that it has a very positive review score on Steam and many commentators are stating that if
you like C&C or Starcraft you must try Starship Troopers as well. So do not ignore it.
Iron Marines Well it's hard to
introduce this game somehow differently than as a flat 2D Starcraft. And you know what? It's great!
The art style may look very familiar to some of you, because the game is made by the same
developers of Kingdom Rush - as I always say one of the best Tower Defense games ever made.
So here you will recruit and train the greatest heroes in the galaxy, lead them into dangerous
missions against near-impossible odds and unleash their mighty powers and abilities.
In short you will get 21 campaign missions across three different worlds and each mission
will require new tactics and actions to achieve victory. You will have to defeat unique Bosses
and control 14 different heroes. Game allows you to choose from several difficulty modes,
meaning that it can be enjoyed either by noobs or by veterans of the genre.
Game is quite funny, filled with easter eggs and more than 70 achievements for you to unlock.
People on Steam are saying that if you want to play something like Starcraft,
but don't want to fry your brain while doing that, Iron Marines is the next best thing. Game has a
very positive review score, so this may very well be what you were looking for after all.
Five Nations If Starcraft was
mockingly called a Warcraft in space then Five Nations should be called a Warcraft
in space in space. Because it is following the same gameplay formula as Blizzard games,
but everything is happening, you know, in space. But don't you worry, this is not some grand
strategy game or something like a Homeworld where the distances are huge
and everything is happening super slow. No, in Five Nations the background is space,
but all the action is the same as in old good base builder RTSs.
The game gets little attention, because it's an indie game, and they have no money to make huge
advertising campaigns. I found it just because I was especially looking for games like Starcraft
and it still took me an hour to get to this game. But now it may become a bit more popular,
because other youtubers tend to copy my lists. Great thing is that you can play the demo version
on Steam absolutely free and check it out with your own eyes. Although it's not easy to see
where to download it - look in the right column, above information about languages
and you will see the Download button. Five Nations managed to stay true to the
oldschool gameplay, voice overs and even writing style and that is great.
Homeworld Deserts of Kharak A ground based RTS prequel to the
classic Homeworld games. It has nice graphics, great special effects and
good gameplay in general. But do not expect miracles. Campaign is only 13 missions long,
and it’s quite easy – you can beat it in a day so put it into your wishlist and wait for a sale.
I just checked - on the last Steam sale it had a 90% discount and cost
less than five euros or dollars. That is a great deal, you can’t deny that.
Here an interesting story, fantastic desert setting and beautiful music makes this game one
of the candidates to occupy your time, even if it differs from Starcraft a bit. Just don’t buy this
game if you’re interested in multiplayer. Nobody plays it, it’s dead. Just like your hopes for your
boss to increase your salary. 8-Bit Invaders
Remember all the lovecraftian movies where bodies are merging with each other?
You know, like The Thing, The Fly or Annihilation with Natalie Portman.
So if Starcraft and Minecraft were protagonists in such a lovecraftian movie - 8-Bit invaders
would be their merging result. See, you can always think of something
better than just a cliche about “if starcraft and minecraft had a baby”.
So this is a fast-paced RTS - very colorful strategy-arcade game that is easy to learn
for players of all skill levels. Collect resources, build up and defend your base,
amass your army of tanks and starships and ultimately crush humans with your metal tentacles
or show aliens who’s the boss here. Here you will find 24 campaign missions,
10 co-op missions to play with your mother in law, destructible environments and... you know
who the composer is? Frank Klepacki. The same dude who created music for
Command & Conquer 27 years ago when he was 17. Yeah I will keep repeating this fact.
And if you feel that this 8 bit setting is appealing to you, keep in mind that you can
also find two more games - 8 Bit Armies, that are made with the fans of Command and Conquer
in mind and 8 Bit Hordes that can be appealing to Warcraft fans.
Crossfire: Legion Here you will lead your
customized army to failure... well, or to victory, which is less likely, on the proving
grounds of a not too distant futuristic world consumed by corporate conflict.
Here you will also find a nice campaign where you will fight in various terrains,
from atop of skyscrapers to marshy wet regions, that will remind you of your ex,
or infiltrate heavily defended military bases as you get to know the main characters
and goals of all three rival nations. Multiplayer is also implemented, so you
can climb leaderboards or most likely never ever see your name even close to the top or probably
at all. You can also team-up with your friend in co-op maps and defend together. Or show your
adversaries who’s the boss. Probably not you. People on Steam are saying that Crossfire Legion
has Starcraft style gameplay within Command & Conquer
Generals style setting, which is great. The downside of it is that you will need an
internet connection even for a single player campaign, also it lacks map variety and some
other features, but keep in mind that the game is constantly updated and it is new and complaining
is not what we do. More RTS like Starcraft is better than less. Let’s not discourage
creators with our overwhelming whining. Price is kinda high, but on a sale you can get
a few percent off. And you won’t miss any sales on my channel. I cover all Steam sales available.
Just make sure you have that notification bell button pressed. Otherwise Youtube will
not inform you about my new videos and you will be just a number on my subscriber count.
BlackChain This is a very nice
old fashioned Starcraft-inspired RTS that will take you only a few hours to finish.
Here you will be thrown to a year of 2088 where the Solar System is ruled by those who
can exploit it most efficiently. So I guess, by someone like Elon Musk if he can detach
himself from playing king of Twitter. BlackChain includes a classic campaign
across the Solar System with 12 unique story missions with full voice acting, base building,
land and air combat, skirmish mode versus AI, also a LAN multiplayer with 2 human players,
map Editor and custom games. Sadly there is only one faction
available... But hey, keep in mind that this game is made by one man and its price for a game that
is made in the year of 2021 is ridiculous. It is equivalent to 10 kilograms of potatoes if
you buy them in my city of Vilnius. So if you are not some weirdo who is
considering traveling to Lithuania just to buy 10 kilograms of potato, better spend
your money on BlackChain instead. Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
It was really hard to decide which Command and Conquer game to insert
into this list. Most of them are very good, but I don’t want to make this list
only out of C&C games, so I had to choose one. You know, it’s like if god descended from heaven
and said to you “You can spend a night with your favorite pornstar, but you can choose only one,
so choose wisely - I will delete the others”. It’s literally the same here. Except
nobody is deleting anything. So, Tiberium Wars with 90% of positive
reviews on Steam won this competition. Here you will get 35 original Single Player
Missions, great story and live action video sequences that tie the game’s story together
featuring diverse Hollywood cast, including actors from Star Wars, Starship Troopers,
Battlestar Galactica, LOST, and House MD. Game also has a nice AI with distinct
styles of play such as ‘rushing’, ‘turtling’ and “noob crushing”.
Grey Goo You know what is a cool
thing about Grey Goo? Well, definitely not its name, but the fact that you can play it offline on
Local Area Network. Meaning that you can buy two copies of Grey Goo on sale, invite your buddy with
a box of beer and fight each other. And later play this game together in 1v1 multiplayer battles.
Grey Goo was released about 8 years ago so you won't need a modern machine to run it.
But keep in mind that although the game was obviously inspired by Starcraft, it is slower,
and for fast paced combat lovers it could be a bit painful to play.
Developers even say that the game bases itself around "macro decisions over micro
management". That’s bad and not what you want to hear if you are a fan of Starcraft,
but Grey Goo really deserves some of your time if you manage to snatch it on a sale.
Nightside This is one of the most original looking
RTS games. Here you can participate in a war where lots of different blobs, shlorbs, glarbls
and shlapes fight each other in bloodthirsty battles for the domination of the galaxy.
Control wise it resembles Starcraft’s model really closely so you will feel right at home here.
Interesting thing is the decision to modify the fog of war concept - instead of it your
units and buildings have light sources to see the landscape and enemy units around them.
Game features 4 factions fighting over a resource called “the green
ice”. The game itself doesn’t seem to be very deep and it’s quite slow,
but if you want an RTS game with nice controls where you can chill
and relax - this is the game for you. And it’s cheap. Like 4 Euros cheap.
AirMech Strike Let me start from the fact
that this game is free to play and that most of you probably never even heard of it. And that's a
shame because AirMech Strike has a very positive review score and is really loved by players.
Well, I will say honestly that the free to play aspect is just for poor people like you and me,
but if you are rich like Elon Musk you can probably afford to buy a paid version of the game
and gain instant access to all AirMech classes, huge selection of units and other goodies.
In other words - try for free, but if you like it, don't be a Scrooge.
The game itself has a bit different approach than other RTS games, and it is more like a MOBA game,
because here you control your hero all the time and can make purchases by physically moving
your hero to the place. The hero also works as a transport vehicle where you can store your tanks,
fly them near the enemy and then unload. So in general here you will build lots of various
units and send them to battle, but the micro aspect is similar and as important as in Starcraft
games. You must manage the battle all the time. In other words: If you leave your shit unattended
Warhammer 40K: Dawn Of War I & II Prepare yourself for the grim,
dark future of the 41st millennium, where alien races battle mankind for galactic
domination in a universe of unending war. Here you can personalize your armies with a
unit customization tool that gives you the ability to choose your armies insignias,
banners, squad colors and names. Quite a cool feature if you’re nitpicky and
if you’re not - totally useless stuff. First two Dawn of War games are loved more
than the third which allegedly has an uninspiring campaign, dead multiplayer and also that tiny fact
that the game was abandoned after release. No patches or content updates at all.
Beyond All Reason This is a free open
source real-time strategy game created to uphold the legacy of Total Annihilation
and similar oldschool games. Although the game is not finished yet, it is currently in
playable open-alpha, with the multiplayer gameplay nearing a finalized state.
Meaning that you can just go to beyondallreason.info, download the
client and play the game absolutely free. It is being updated on a daily basis in terms
of the client and infrastructure, and the development team is working
on a single-player campaign as well. Now it offers ordinary skirmishes, 2 survival modes,
and a bunch of simple scenarios. And probably much more, because it is evolving every day.
Also if you feel like an RTS pro, you can participate in tournaments and earn money.
So far the game is not available on Steam, but developers said that it will be in the future.
As you can see, this list contains most of the games that are relevant today and
still easily playable. If I had to put all the classics here, it wouldn't be top 16,
it would be top 36 or something. But searching the parallels with
David Letterman’s show - Total Annihilation, Submarine Titans, Dune 2000, Supreme Commander,
C&C Remastered Collection and others needs no introduction. I hope you all know the classics.
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Thank you for watching, have a nice day and I’ll see you next time, bye!