The 22 Best RTS Games To Play If You Love Starcraft

Highlights

• StarCraft is a highly acclaimed RTS game, with the second installment surpassing the original and receiving great reviews.
• Real-time strategy games are becoming more popular on mobile devices, but are also making a comeback on PC with impressive visuals and sound.
• Games like Ashes of the Singularity, Ancestor’s Legacy, Grey Goo, Rome: Total War, Empire Earth: Gold Edition, The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth 2, Total War: WARHAMMER 2, Rise of Nations: Extended Edition, and Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition offer unique settings and gameplay for fans of the genre.

The real-time strategy genre has been a cornerstone of PC gaming for multiple decades. This success has been helped by the diverse range of settings in which the games take place; the genre has seen WW2 shooters, mythical battles, and Ancient Egyptian warfare. Another popular type of RTS game is futuristic science-fiction, a category that has been dominated by Blizzard Entertainment’s StarCraft series.

The original game, StarCraft, won a multitude of awards upon its launch, including Strategy Game Of The Year by GameSpot and Real-Time Strategy Game Of The Year by PC Gamer. StarCraft 2 surpassed the original game and is one of the highest-rated games on Metacritic. For those who love Blizzard’s signature RTS game but want a change of scene, there are plenty of choices for games like StarCraft.

Updated on November 28, 2023, by Kristy Ambrose: Real-time strategy games have a bigger presence on mobile devices now, at least compared to PC or home console titles. This trend is starting to reverse, however, with a new generation of gamers enjoying simulation or civilization-building games in an era of MMOs and VR. Part of the resurgence is due to how great these things look on big screens with equally impressive sound and graphics. There’s still the option of looking back instead of forward to find the next RTS game to play, and with the great titles that came out in the 1990s and had something to do with inspiring games like StarCraft.

22 Ashes Of The Singularity (2016)

Thousands Of Units And Giant Maps

Ashes of the Singularity was released by Stardock Entertainment, the team behind the Sins of a Solar Empire and Galactic Civilizations franchises. The RTS game differentiates itself from others in the genre by having thousands of units fighting at one time on enormous maps that make the game feel ahead of its time.

The game didn’t blow critics away when it was first released, but the Escalation expansion redeemed the game when it was released six months later. The expansion was initially released as a standalone product but has since been merged with the main game.

21 Ancestor’s Legacy (2018)

Real Events As Part Of A Larger Campaign

Like most RTS games that players can enjoy on a historic or nationwide level, the best features of Ancestor’s Legacy include a historical setting, famous leaders, and accurate army units and tactics. The regions the player can visit include various points in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, either as part of a single-player campaign or against their friends in multiplayer mode.

The playable races include Vikings, Slavs, Anglo-Saxons, and a Catholic Order of militant knights called the Teutons. A DLC called Saladin’s Conquest includes the Saracens. What sets this game apart from other historic RTS games is the clever use of real events as part of a larger campaign, such as the Viking campaign which uses the raid of Lindisfarne’s Monastery as a tutorial.

20 Grey Goo (2015)

Distinct Races With Special Powers

Grey Goo has a few details in common with StarCraft, such as the science fiction backstory and choice between four different races along with the choice between a single player or a co-op campaign. A distinct addition is that each race has its own power or perk, like extra speed or the use of teleportation technology, and players have to find ways to use these specialized abilities to their advantage.

The setting is 500 years into the future when humans have ventured into space and encountered the Beta, a race that is developing a wormhole of sorts to return to space after a long hiatus. Unfortunately, an aggressive alien race comes through to attack them and everything else in the galaxy. Fight them or join them and conquer the stars.

19 Rome: Total War (2004)

Another Fan Favorite Of The Genre

There aren’t many RTS titles that are as universally known and acclaimed as Starcraft 2, but Rome: Total War is certainly one of them. The game was released almost 20 years ago, yet it’s still one of the most enjoyable strategy games to play today that’s like StarCraft.

Rome: Total War wasn’t the first Total War game, as both Shogun: Total War and Medieval: Total War came before it. However, the 2004 game is credited with popularizing many of the features that are now synonymous with the iconic Total War franchise.

18 Empire Earth: Gold Edition

Realistic Settings And Historic Events

The original Empire Earth dates from 2001, and it created a franchise that consisted of four other games before an enhanced Gold Edition was released in 2007. It uses realistic settings and historic events to frame the battles, which is typical of some titles in the genre, but this one adds other features that are often in RP games, like a morality system.

This adds to the immersion and makes the player more emotionally involved in the game’s outcome. Heroes can take the role of Warrior or Strategist, with one choice relying more on planning and intrigue with the other focused more on fighting and brute force.

17 The Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle-Earth 2 (2006)

Real-Time Strategy In Middle-earth

A real-time strategy game set in Middle-Earth always sounded like a match made in heaven, so there was a ton of hype when Sierra Entertainment announced that The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring would be released in 2003. The game failed to impress but fans wouldn’t have to wait long before the next RTS Middle-Earth game was released, as EA’s Battle For Middle-Earth hit stores just over a year later.

The game was a critical and commercial success, so a sequel was announced shortly after. The Lord of the Rings: Battle For Middle-Earth 2 isn’t only beloved for its Middle-earth features as a game like StarCraft but also an excellent RTS in its own right.

16 Total War: WARHAMMER 2 (2017)

In-Depth Strategy With A Vast Number of Choices

Much like Battle For Middle-Earth, Total War: WARHAMMER is the sort of game that fans of the franchise will fantasize about but not expect to see in reality. Total War: WARHAMMER was released in 2016, and a positive reception meant that work quickly began on a sequel.

WARHAMMER 2‘s fantasy themes are far more than just a gimmick. They offer a unique layer of depth and strategy to a game like StarCraft by giving players a vast range of unique units to contend with and control.

15 Rise Of Nations: Extended Edition (2014)

Turn-Based Mechanics And Long-Term Strategy

Rise of Nations was originally released in 2003 by Microsoft Game Studios, which is known today as Xbox Game Studios. The extended edition title was developed by Big Huge Games, which is also known for its work on the 2012 action RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The game seamlessly incorporates turn-based strategy mechanics like attrition warfare with the RTS genre.

Rise of Nations piqued the interest of turn-based strategy fans back in the early 2000s, as the game’s development team was led by Brian Reynolds, who had previously worked on Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri and Civilization 2.

14 Age Of Empires 2: Definitive Edition (2019)

RTS-Style Gameplay In A Variety Of Periods

The Age of Empires series may be set in a completely different period from the StarCraft games, but it deserves a spot on this list nonetheless for being among the best RTS games ever made. Age of Empires 2 perfected the formula that Age of Empires created and revolutionized the RTS genre.

Age of Empires 2 is set in the Middle Ages and focuses on resource management, base building, and unit deployment. In late 2019, The Definitive Edition was released, providing stunning new visuals to the classic game was released. It includes all the game’s expansion packs and is the best way to play the classic strategy game.

13 Total War: Attila (2015)

Battles Set In Late Antiquity

Total War: Attila is an ideal choice for those who like realism and historical accuracy in their RTS games. The setting is late Antiquity, about the 4th century CE, a time when classical Rome was giving way to the medieval era. Battles that would decide the fate of Europe and Asia for centuries were fought during this time, and the player can experience some of that turbulent history through this game.

The title is intended to invoke an image of a certain era as opposed to focusing on a certain person. Attila himself doesn’t become a playable character until about halfway through the game, but there’s still plenty to do until he shows up.

12 Age Of Mythology (2002)

Legend, Myth, And Epic Battles

As the title implies, Age of Mythology is an Age of Empires spin-off. The characters offer a fascinating layer of depth to the classic Age of Empires gameplay. Age of Mythology is a fantastic game in its own right and earns a higher spot on this list of games like StarCraft for its fictional setting.

The game focuses on Egyptian, Greek, and Norse mythology and features key mythological figures like Zeus and Ra. It has similar mechanics to Age of Empires, with resource management, base building, and unit deployment again being key to the gameplay.

11 Company Of Heroes (2006)

Immersive Graphics, Effects, And Visuals

Relic Entertainment’s Company of Heroes is rightly considered to be the best WW2 strategy game with its stellar, engrossing sound effects and visuals. THQ’s real-time strategy gem won multiple awards upon release, including IGN’s Best Strategy Game award in 2006.

The gameplay predominantly focuses on controlling victory points. These points are dotted around key central parts of the map and are captured and controlled similarly to the popular domination mode in Call of Duty. There is also an annihilation mode that removes these victory points and simply requires players to destroy all of their opponent’s buildings to win.

10 StarFront: Collision (2011)

The Ideal Choice For A Mobile RTS Game

The gaming industry often looks down on mobile games. It’s frequently criticized for its plethora of cash-grab games that are geared toward getting consumers to spend money. Although plenty of these games like StarCraft do exist, mobile gaming does have a few gems.

One of these gems is StarFront: Collision. It’s not just similar to StarCraft in name, as StarFront is also a futuristic sci-fi RTS game that lets players pick from three races to control. These three races play almost identically to StarCraft‘s Terrans, Zerg, and Protoss varieties, so it’s the ideal choice if a player is a dedicated StarCraft fan.

9 Dune: Spice Wars (2022)

Galactic Intrigue And Competing Houses

There are several video games inspired by the Dune novels, and given the nature of the story, with different noble houses vying for territory and even whole planets, they would naturally be RTS games. Dune: Spice Wars is one of the most recent additions to the franchise, and it’s a classic-style 4X RTS game with modern graphics.

The setting is the desert planet of Arrakis, and the goals are to control as much territory as possible and extract the maximum amount of the precious spice, which is also known as Melange. This is done through a mix of diplomacy, intelligence gathering, and brute force. There are five different factions that a player can control; the Fremen, the Smugglers, and one of three noble houses: Harkonnen, Atreides, and Corrino.

8 Warcraft 3: Reign Of Chaos (2002)

Same Developer, Same Nostalgia

Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos is an easy game to compare to StarCraft as it has the same developer, Blizzard Entertainment. The modern remake of this game, Warcraft III: Reforged is famous for how it disappointed fans and players alike with connectivity problems and poorly rendered graphics.

The game introduced multiple new features to improve itself from its predecessors, such as powerful heroes, a day and night cycle that affects the game’s races differently, and Creeps, who guard key resources and are hostile towards all players. It looks similar to StarCraft games of the same era regarding gameplay and graphics.

7 Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War 2 (2009)

A Distant Future That Mixes Science Fiction And Dark Fantasy

The bankrupted THQ finds itself on this list again with an RTS title set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Warhammer 40,000’s setting is the distant future of the 42nd millennium.

Warhammer 40,000 combines science and fantasy fiction, creating a unique gameplay setting. Dawn of War 2 removed the building bases that were featured in the original game and put extra focus on the cover mechanic. The cover mechanic is well executed and differentiates it from other games like StarCraft.

6 Sid Meier’s Civilization 6 (2016)

Another Vintage Classic That Became A Franchise

There are a lot of great titles in the Civilization franchise, which has been going strong since the early 1990s. The core goals of the game are firmly based on the four “x” factors of RTS games, which means explore, exploit, expand, and exterminate. The player can compete against the computer or their friends to build a civilization big enough and strong enough to crush or assimilate their opponents.

The latest game had new leaders, new civilizations, and some upgrades to the discovery and civics trees so it would be easier for players to achieve peaceful conquests based on cultural victories. So far, the sixth installment in the series has been the last, but two expansions were released to further expand the title.

5 Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds (2001)

Strategy And Space Opera

A game that combines the thrill of real-time strategy with the lore of the Star Wars franchise, Galactic Battlegrounds was limited to the PC and Apple operating systems when it was first released and never got the attention it deserved. It uses the same graphics engine as Age of Empires and Age of Empires 2, and shares some of the same gameplay features.

Players collect certain resources to build bases, military units, and weapons, and they can either defend their base or attack others. Choose to play either Jedi or Sith and build ships, temples, droids, and other familiar things from the Star Wars universe.

4 Homeworld (1999)

A Modern Science Fiction Setting

Homeworld differentiated itself from most other real-time strategy games by using outer space as the setting, but that doesn’t have the same impact today that it did in 1999. It still focuses on the key gameplay mechanics that RTS titles are known for. Resource management and unit production, for example, are key features in the classic but the multiplayer functionalities are the best part.

The Homeworld series is set to get its third installment in 2022 with Homeworld 3. The game was developed by Blackbird Interactive and is certainly worth people keeping an eye on if they’re looking for a modern science-fiction real-time strategy game.

3 Supreme Commander (2007)

Set In A Distant And Violent Future

Supreme Commander is set in the distant future of the 37th century. The game was praised upon its 2007 release for its strategic zoom, which seems like a small detail, but it gave players excellent tactical views of their battles.

The new feature also had the benefit of allowing players to use a big enough screen to show the entire map, and other games in the same genre would copy the improved zoom. Accounting for this, the developer’s Gas Powered Games commendably built every unit to a realistic scale, ensuring that they fit the world around them.