Hi, my name is ColdBeer and let’s start with Tempest Rising
The game is not released yet, you can play only the demo version now, but let’s be
honest - we were waiting for something like this for years and finally our wait is almost over.
Tempest Rising is set in a modern day alternative history war scenario. It features 3 unique
factions, each with its own approach to combat and economy thus offering a variety of strategies.
Here you will take on the role of Commander of highly mobile and advanced peacekeeping corps
in two 15-mission campaigns that will allow you to customize your army for each mission.
All three factions are asymmetrical, each featuring distinct economy and play styles,
so we are cheering for that already. Also skirmish, custom games, and ranked multiplayer
matchmaking will be available, so you will be able to actually measure how bad you play.
You can already try the demo version on Steam absolutely free.
Halo Wars: Definitive Edition Title includes improved graphics, new
achievements and all the DLCs from the original game. Here you can experience the campaign or
compete in online multiplayer battles. It is a surprisingly solid traditional
base-building RTS. Game has 91% of positive review score on Steam. It’s hard to ignore this
number - it may not be a masterpiece, but it's definitely one of the best RTS games out there.
The downside is that almost nobody is playing online anymore - you have to have a friend to
test your might in PVP matches. Or, you know, a mother-in-law. Also I have to stress out that the
game is oriented for those who know what Halo is, but the knowledge is not necessary to play.
So if you can manage to snatch Halo Wars on sale - it’s a win
Retro Commander OK, this looks like
a complete Red Alert rip-off, but it has one really really nice attribute you probably can’t
resist - it is free to play on Steam. It's in early access now and you can try it already.
Here you will encounter a challenging AI for single player games. Including co-op play with
the AI, cross-platform multiplayer over LAN or internet including co-op team and clan games.
You will encounter a campaign with a story line of humanity after a cataclysmic event
and zillions of units including infantry, tanks, jets, helicopters, airships, warships,
penisthrowers, submarines and many more. Well, maybe not all of them, but the game is not
finished yet, so you never know. StarCraft 2
So if you somehow avoided StarCraft 2 in your life, I envy you so much. I have sunk about
5000 hours into this game and I regret nothing. StarCraft 2 was basically the
only game I played for 3 years after its initial release and continued to do that
occasionally for many years after as well. And the best part of StarCraft 2 is that now it
is free. Well, I paid good money for it back then but now you don’t have to.
Multiplayer is free and the first full campaign with Terrans is free as well.
If you think that StarCraft 2 is dead because it’s an old game, you are more than wrong.
About 35 to 50 thousand players log into Starcraft 2 every day and play at least
1 game. That is not much if you compare it with the giants of the gaming world,
but it is far away from dead as well. I think with the upcoming release of Stormgate,
which is being developed by the former Blizzard employees, things may change
and Starcraft 2 may really die. But so far it is alive as ever.
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.
War Selection This is a real-time
alternative history strategy with base building, resource extraction and warfare. Here you will
battle for supremacy against dozens of opponents on a ginormous procedurally generated map.
Even 15 versus 15 skirmishes are available, but sadly the game doesn’t have such a big
community to actually make it work. So forget all that epicness right away,
just like you forgot your dream of becoming an outstanding penis doctor a long time ago.
Here every player starts in the Stone Age and then goes through 7 historical eras by
the process you are very familiar with from the Age of Empires.
When I say familiar I mean a rip-off, but nobody cares about that including
me. My whole youth I was buying Abidas and Abibas sneakers from my local market and
they were protecting my feet just fine. Game has very positive reviews on Steam,
but I have also found a lot of unhappy comments about the toxic community. Game is free to play
and free stuff always attracts a lot of kids who can only feel manly enough if they say
something mean to you, but we all know that is because they have very small pp and not even an
outstanding penis doctor could help them. 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.
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.
Dune 2000 (OpenRA version) Arakis awaits you - a sand planet
with famous giant underground sandworms who can easily eat the biggest units you got.
This force majeure element is absolutely amazing and will keep you on your toes
while fighting on dunes. The game itself is made with a similar engine
as a famous Command & Conquer Red Alert game. And honestly we can call it a clone of it just
with a few additional features and visuals. If you are a fan of the books or a recent
movie you will probably be delighted to hear that Dune 2000 is officially a free
game. Unlike the movies or the books. Just google OpenRA and thank me later.
Remastered version easily run on modern PC’s and you can even play multiplayer - lobbies
are full of players. Forged Battalion
People on Steam are saying that Forged Battalion has strong Command & Conquer vibes and charming
graphics but it's definitely not a game you will be playing for months or even weeks. Most of the
players who leave comments on Steam have from 1 to 10 hours of gameplay time.
Forged Battalion has mixed reviews on Steam, meaning that it has some flaws,
like weak AI of some units or balance problems. That is unacceptable.
The only balance problems I can approve of are when I drink too much beer. But not here.
Coolest thing is that here you can modify your own units - put weapons or
armor you like on your vehicles, make them unique and then send them to battle.
That is the only reason, this amazing feature, why this game is in this list.
I do not recommend buying Forged Battalion for the full price, but on sale it costs about 4 Euros or
Dollars so think about it. 8-Bit Armies
If Command and Conquer spent the night with Minecraft - 9 months later 8-Bit Armies would
be born. 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 planes and ultimately crush your opponents!
Here you will find 25 offline campaign missions, 12 co-op missions to play with your mother-in-law
and 10 multiplayer maps that support up to 8 players online. The game also has pretty good
AI you can play with or fight against. Game is easy to understand and
is really user friendly. 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. 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. 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. Zero-K
In this free-to-play game which has more than 90% of positive review score on Steam,
you will construct giant robots and move mountains if needed.
Conquer the enemy at all costs! This is a traditional real time strategy with physically
simulated units and projectiles. Here at the same time you will command
over a hundred different units with unique abilities including cloaking,
jump jets and terrain manipulation. And no, this is not just a multiplayer
game with scarce solo content. Here you will find more than 70 missions in campaigns to
be enjoyed alone or co-op with friends. Also here you will find challenging AI
which is nothing like your spouse. Because Zero-K’s AI doesn’t cheat.
And if you tend to play with friends you will find plenty of multiplayer content as well:
free for all, coop. ladders, replays, spectators and tournaments.
Game is really free, you will not find any stuff you have to pay for.
Supreme Commander 1 & 2 With lengthy and diverse campaigns, a skirmish
mode, and online community, Supreme Commander is truly what this genre of RTS is all about.
Also it has good mod support and it extends the lifetime of these games like potato salad
extends your lifespan or like cold beer extends your evening with friends.
Overall, if you played, let’s say, Total Annihilation, the Supreme Commander will
feel familiar - it has the same vibes. Both Commander games are old, so they will
probably run on the worst potato you have. Yeah not even a potato PC, just a simple
potato should be able to run first Supreme Commander. Just don’t make a lot of units.
This is terrible advice. Oh shut up.
Anyway it’s a real treat for people who can’t afford a high end computer,
but still want to play the best games. And Supreme Commander is all that.
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.
And now, thank you for watching, have a nice day and I’ll see you next time, bye!