Hello and welcome to games like Age of Empires.
Let’s start with
Age of Mythology
Ensemble Studios, who created Age of Empires decided to make a spin-off series based on
mythological beliefs.
So here game takes place in a lost land of Atlantis and focuses on the famous Greek,
Egyptian and Norse myths and legends.
So, to say short - it’s an Age of Empires, just with a mythological setting.
So be prepared to fight almighty Kraken, who isn’t that big as legends describe.
Definitely smaller than your mom.
All in all, game is really fun to play and it’ a must try for every Age of Empires
fan.
Rise of Nations: Extended Edition
Rise of Nations was released in 2003, but despite the age it still looks really good.
I wish that somebody said that about me.
“Oh, despite the age he is ridiculously good looking”.
Said to me no one ever.
So, here you can choose from 18 different civilizations and guide them through 8 different
stages of worlds history.
Mostly by pillaging and raping other civilizations, yeah!
Game has some unique RTS gameplay elements, including automatic spawning of citizens-workers,
who automatically look for a task to perform.
That is so far from reality, usually people try to hide from their responsibilities.
Other unusual feature is unlimited resources.
No that doesn’t mean that you can mine zillions of everything and make zillions of soldiers,
and then achieve zillion victories, no.
Instead of limiting resources, game is limiting extraction speed.
So if yours is bigger than opponents, that’s what she said, you will probably win.
Empire Earth franchise
First part is the most loved by old school players, but let’s be fair – graphics
are outdated.
So if you’re not a fan already, you might want to choose another part.
So, you are probably thinking,”hey I’m gonna try third – newest part”.
No, no.
That would be a mistake.
Because I doubt that you want to play a game with user score of 2.8.
Yes, out of 10.
So let’s look at second part of Empire Earth.
It’s way less outdated than the first, and way less terrible than the third.
Here, according to a game description, you will become the greatest conqueror of all
time.
And in reality it could be other way around.
You could actually suck at this game and be conquered all the time.
Just like in real life.
Warcraft 3
Warcraft 3 was released in 2002, so it’s an old game, but not too long ago, in 2018,
Blizzard issued an update for it, supporting widescreen monitors, adjusting viewpoint and
making it look like a new game.
Warcraft 3 is really fun, it has a great campaign story, great gameplay and amazing multiplayer
with matchmaking system, meaning that you will always find an opponent to battle.
Game is still popular, so you definitely will.
Bannermen
Alright, this is a shot into the darkness, because game isn’t released yet.
It will be in a second half of 2018, but I don’t want to limit my list because of that,
and I think that you will enjoy this mini review anyway.
Bannermen is a medieval real-time strategy game that aims to refresh the RTS genre.
Game takes place in semi-fantasy medieval world that has been brutally damaged due to
decades of war, starvation and natural disasters.
The goal of the game is to lead your bannermen to victory and defeat the evil once and for
all.
Not really that original and refreshing.
Game will contain single player campaign and several multiplayer modes.
Everything looks really fun, especially destructible environments, and I will definitely look into
it.
I recommend the same to you.
Stronghold (Series)
The Stronghold series began in 2001.
The game focuses on a historical setting and especially on the war side of strategy games.
Stronghold does still feature an economic side and even features two separate campaigns
(one economic and one military).
Other game modes include one-off missions (both combat and economic) where players must
complete specific goals, a siege mode, and free-build mode.
So, where to begin?
I recommend you to start with an original game I just talked about, just be sure to
find HD version on Steam, and then slowly and cautiously progress up, because some of
the later games are not so loved by players and critics.
And by contraries – some are great.
I also do recommend Stronghold Legends: Steam Edition.
Please, check it out.
0.
AD
0 A.D. is a free, open-source, cross-platform real-time strategy game, which is still under
development by Wildfire Games.
Works on this game began in 2001 as a mod of Age of Empires 2, and later evolved in
a stand alone project, so it’s really the game you are looking for.
It offers twelve different civilizations.
You will advance from village phase over town phase to city phase.
These phases represent the size of settlements in history and every phase unlocks new units,
buildings, and technologies.
You probably already heard that somewhere.
Game looks really good, especially if you keep in mind that games like Age of Empires
are rarity in our days.
And if you have a low end PC, you might think that this game is too modern for your machine,
but take a look at the requirements – it’s probably not.
LotR: Battle for Middle Earth 2
Game offers a real time strategy experience for Windows and for the Xbox 360 users.
And that is actually a rare thing.
Consoles and RTS games aren’t well known to be a best friends.
Game has a total of six different factions, each having their own units and structures
along with a preferred type of gameplay.
Men of the West, Elves and Dwarves represent good side of Middle Earth and Goblins, Isengard
and Mordor represents evil.
But only Mordor and Goblins can summon Durin’s Bane: The Balrog.
No doubt – the coolest unit in this game.
Or should I probably say - the hotest one.
Cossacks franchise
Unlike most other Real Time Strategy games the Cossacks series focuses on huge confrontations
between large armies.
However most of the rest of the game is like a traditional RTS, in that you build a base
and gather resources.
The first game, Cossacks: European Wars, and its expansions were set in Europe in the 17th
and 18th century, with the sequel Cossacks II: Napoleonic Wars and its expansion is set
just in the Napoleonic era.
I do live in a city Napoleon once seized, but sadly I had to google, when he lived.
So, now you will too, tadam!
Free history lesson.
Cossacks III, released in 2016, however it is a remake of the classic game, that originally
launched in year 2000.
It looks really good, it has a nice graphics, and everything is in 3D.
It has randomly generated maps and five historic single player campaigns.
And you can create amazing huge battles.
Look at that.
This is really impressive.
And as for now, I have read that it has issues with multiplayer.
Some say that game crashes when total amount of units goes over 1500 and others say that
if your connection is lost - you automatically lose the game.
Maybe creators will fix that, so if multiplayer and not single player, which is great, is
your thing – read comments carefully before buying.
Empires Dawn of the Modern World
From Middle Ages through World War II: here you will find an array of historic troops
and abilities over land, sea, and air.
Lead 7 civilizations; fight 3 campaigns and conquer epic maps in historical battles throughout
the history.
Convincing voice acting, very nice map design and good graphics.
As one said - not excellent, but really clear and easy to read.
Seems like a nice game, huh?
But what are the flaws?
Well, people are saying that on Windows 7 mouse cursor doesn’t work.
RTS game without mouse support is like plane without wings, like Steven Seagal without
dictators carrot – you can look at it but it’s useless.
So, be carefull.
Game is pretty cheap, only 8 euros 49 cents on GOG.com.
Sorry I can’t see how many dollars, because I’m from Lithuania and gog.com only shows
me the price in our currency.
But I think it’s about 10 dollars anyway.
Starcraft 2
Starcraft 2 is a free to play game.
If you want to play multiplayer, there is no restrictions, you can download it and immerse
yourself into amazing battles.
If you want to play campaigns, you will have to pay real money, but hey, they are really
good, so it’s worth it.
Starcraft 2 is no doubt one of the greatest real time strategy games, and, to be fair,
one of the greatest games overall.
You can choose from three races, they are completely different, with distinctive gameplay,
units and so on.
Zerg, Protoss and Terran – alien insects, alien aliens and humans relatively.
Game is quite easy to learn, but if your dream is to be a professional player, you will have
to perform about 300 or more actions per minute.
That’s a lot.
If you’re casual player, you will probably start with about 20.
Spellforce 2: Anniversary Edition
Anniversary edition includes Spellforce 2: Shadow Wars and the add-on Dragon Storm, also
many bugfixes and widescreen support and full compatibility with modern operating systems.
At least this is officially written in a Steam platform.
But when you read the comments, you can find many that are not so happy and talk about
bugs and other issues, but overall reviews are mostly positive, so don’t be scared.
Spellforce is a bit different from other games in this list, because it has a lot of RPG
elements, some even say that this is half Baldur’s gate and half deep RTS put together
into amazing game, but it’s a good thing after all.
Spellforce is certainly a pretty game with some nice visuals and day and night cycles
that help you to immerse into another world.
Huge levels make exploration fun and the fact that you can travel back to previous levels
at any time, lets you feel like this game is not fragmented, but rather its an actual
continuous world.
Also you can try original Spellforce and Spellforce 3, which is released in 2017 and has really
nice visuals, but it has mixed reviews and it’s quite expensive, so it’s up to you.
Northgard
After years of tireless explorations, brave Vikings have discovered a new land filled
with mystery, danger and riches: Northgard.
The boldest Northmen have set sail to explore and conquer these new shores, bring fame to
their Clan and write history through conquest, trading, or devotion to the Gods.
That is, if they can survive the dire wolves and undead warriors roaming the land, befriend
or defeat the giants, and survive the harshest winters ever witnessed in the North.
People say that once you understand the drill it takes 6 hours and 1 save to explore everything
in the game.
For 6 hours it is fun and later it becomes repetitive and kinda boring.
But hey.
6 hours of fun is way more than most games can give you.
Just wait for a sale.
Knights of Honor
Ok, this may sound hard to believe, especially if you never heard about Knights of Honor,
but this is actually one of the best strategy games ever created.
Oh, I can already hear you saying “In your dreams comrade, just look at it, there is
no way this game iz best”.
But look at the score.
It’s 9.
On imdb best movie of the year has score of 7.
So, yeah, you know what I mean.
People say that this is absolute must for Real time strategy fan, and everyone is surprised
how they could make a game with such simple graphics into one of the most addictive games
ever made.
Megaglest
This may not look like exceptional RTS and it’s not by all means a perfect game, but
it has several good qualities.
First it’s the price.
0,99 Euro cents.
Second - it’s really well made RTS, seriously, it’s an amazing example of a properly made
RTS game.
It has great community, level editor, single-player, multiplayer, it has great AI and when I wrote
this text, all reviews on Steam, every single one of them.
were positive.
That is actually impressive.
So, that’s it, please subscribe for more epic reviews, you will help me grow.
Bye.