Real-time strategy games: about the games
Age of Mythology: Retold is a real-time strategy game from the creators of Age of Empires, moving from history into a mythical age where gods, monsters and humans collide. Players choose a deity from the Greek, Norse, Egyptian or Atlantean pantheons, command Centaurs, Trolls, Mummies or Cyclops, and summon storms, earthquakes or the dragon Nidhogg. It offers 50 campaign missions, from besieging Troy to fighting Giants in Midgard, plus randomly generated maps for fights against friends or AI and the Arena of the Gods mode with 35 mythic skirmishes for solo or co-op play.
Iron Harvest is a real-time strategy game set in an alternate reality after 1920, just after the Great War ended. The player commands giant dieselpunk mechs in single-player and co-op campaigns, as well as in skirmishes and multiplayer. Europe is recovering from the brutal battles of the World War, and farmers in the countryside are uncovering the remains of walking machines. The player deploys dozens of unit types, uses cover, and can choose a stealth approach.
Minecraft Legends is an action strategy game. Players explore a gentle land rich in resources and lush biomes that is on the brink of destruction after ravaging piglins arrive. The goal is to rally allies, including familiar mobs, and lead them in strategic battles to save the Overworld. The world is dynamic and differs in each playthrough, and multiplayer matches let friends compete or cooperate while defending a village and sending units to destroy opponents' settlements.
Homeworld 3 is a sci-fi real-time strategy game. Huge derelict space wrecks called megaliths bring 3D terrain into battles, the ruins of an ancient civilization can be used for ambushes, and dangerous phenomena such as particle storms and asteroid fields add challenge. The galactic story continues from Homeworld 2, as the Hyperspace Gate Network fails and Karan holds the key to the mystery. War Games is a three-player co-op mode with randomized, roguelike-inspired fleet challenges where artifacts boost your ships. Human opponents can be challenged in 1v1, free-for-all, or team battles.
Men of War: Assault Squad 2 builds on the real-time tactics series with fresh skirmish missions, large multiplayer battles, sharper visuals and smarter AI. Players command five factions across 65 maps, with more than 250 vehicles and over 200 soldiers, fighting in Europe, Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Pacific. The game offers 15 new skirmish missions and 25 reworked classics, ranging from full tank assaults to quiet sniper infiltrations. Direct Control lets you steer any soldier or vehicle by hand, while multiplayer supports battles from 1v1 to 8v8, co-op for up to eight players and the new Extreme Mode.
The Settlers: New Allies is a strategy game built around an in-depth settlement-building experience and real-time strategic battles. It was reimagined from the ground up, with new graphics and detailed animations. Players choose among three factions – the Elari, the Maru and the Jorn – each with its own look, playstyle and backstory. There is a story-driven campaign set in the world of The Settlers, a special Hardcore mode with additional challenges, and online skirmish battles for up to eight players against one another or against AI.
Dungeons 4 is a simulation and strategy game in which you play as the Absolute Evil and its trusted servant, the Dark Elf Thalya, aiming to triumph over the forces of good. You build a cozy dungeon tailored to your creatures’ needs, rule over them, and send them into the Overworld to remind its inhabitants that the Absolute Evil holds sway over their lands. You gather your Evilness in new ways and spread it across the green forests and plains, while keeping your dungeon secured with traps and defended by your creatures against the Overworlders.
Total War: ATTILA casts players back to 395 AD, to the very dawn of the Dark Ages and a time of turmoil. It is the next entry in the PC series that combines turn-based strategy with real-time tactics, and players decide whether to sweep oppression from the world and carve out a barbarian or Eastern kingdom of their own, or to brace against the coming storm as the last remnants of the Roman Empire. In battle, fire can set buildings ablaze and terrify defenders, while a new mechanic lets you raze entire cities and regions from the campaign map. Playing as the Western Roman Empire, you start with vast territories weakened by political in-fighting.
Total War: WARHAMMER is a fantasy strategy game set in the world of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. It combines a turn-based campaign of empire building with colossal real-time battles that, for the first time in the series, bring battle magic and flying creatures into play. You lead one of five wholly different races — Bretonnia, Empire, Dwarfs, Vampire Counts and Greenskins — together with their Legendary Lords, who earn fabled weapons, armour, mounts and deadly spells through individual quest chains. The fate of your chosen race is decided in the fight against Chaos.
Call to Arms is a real-time strategy game set in modern warfare that can also be played in first- or third-person view. You command several dozen units, place them in cover, flank the enemy and support your allies while advancing, and you can fortify FOBs or set up mortar positions. You may take control of your own soldier, tank or helicopter at any time and fight directly, picking the ammunition yourself. Battles take place in rural areas, factories, railway stations and towns, where cover is everywhere and nearly everything can be destroyed, alongside competitive online combat via Steamworks.
Sins of a Solar Empire II is a real-time 4X strategy game about the battle for galactic dominance: you explore, expand, exploit and exterminate through military force, diplomacy, trade, culture and influence. There are no turns and no separate battle mode; everything runs in real time, from tactical engagements to empire management. Planets orbit their stars, slowly changing the galaxy’s structure, and you can see its state up to an hour ahead. In War Year 35 you lead one of six factions – among them the human TEC, the alien Vasari and the deviant Advent – as emperor and battle commander.
The cataclysmic finale of the Total War: WARHAMMER trilogy sends players into the Realm of Chaos, where the fate of the world is decided. A rupture between worlds looses the four Ruinous Powers – Khorne, Nurgle, Tzeentch and Slaanesh – while the warriors of Kislev and the empire of Grand Cathay resist, and a vengeful Daemon Prince vows to destroy those who corrupted him. Command seven races and hundreds of units in real-time battles and a sandbox strategy campaign where 10 Legendary Lords are playable. Multiplayer adds an 8-player campaign, Domination mode and ranked battles.