Real-time tactical games
Real-time tactics games are an hybrid between real-time strategy (RTS) and turn-base tactics. Real-time tactics are played in real-time, like RTSs, but lack the resource management and base and unit building elements. Real-time tactics games focus much more on individual units and tactics on the battlefield. Some of the most popular real-time tactics games are: the Syndicate series, Cannon Fodder.
Most popular real-time tactics games
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Air Force Commander
DOS1992 Impressions Games
In Air Force Commander (1992), you don’t just fly planes - you run the whole air force. Think of it as being a general with a spreadsheet addiction. Assign squadrons, manage budgets, and try not to start World War III. It's ...
Ambush at Sorinor
DOS1993 Mindcraft Software
In Ambush at Sorinor, tactics meet fantasy in a land where ambushing people is apparently the national sport. You’re a mercenary commander picking the right team to win missions and not get horribly skewered. Battles play ou...
Army Men
Windows XP/98/951998 The 3DO Company
Army Men lets you live out your childhood fantasy of plastic soldier warfare without the hassle of crawling under the couch. You control Sarge, a green-tinted war machine with a stiff upper lip and an affinity for melting tan enem...
Army Men 2
Windows XP/98/951998protected The 3DO Company
Army Men 2 doubles down on everything from the first game - more weapons, more plastic carnage, more trips to “The Real World” where you fight in bathtubs and backyards. It’s like Toy Story if Buzz Lightyear carr...
Battle Bugs
DOS1994 Epyx
What if ants could use bazookas and beetles had battle plans? Battle Bugs answers this crucial question by turning your screen into a war zone where tiny insects wage strategic warfare over leftovers. The stakes are high and the t...
Battle Master
DOS1991 Personal Software Services
In Battle Master (1991), you play as a heavily armored murder-hobo leading an army across a fantasy world that really doesn’t want you there. It’s part action-RPG, part tactical slog, with clunky pathfinding and surpri...
BattleTech: The Crescent Hawks' Revenge
DOS1990 Westwood Studios
BattleTech: The Crescent Hawks' Revenge is a turn-based strategy game developed by Westwood Associates and published by Infocom in 1990. It is the sequel to "Crescent Hawk's Inception" and is set in the BattleTech universe, a...
Black Moon Chronicles
DOS1999protected Cryo Interactive Entertainment
Based on a French comic series, Black Moon Chronicles (1999) is what you'd get if a fantasy novel and a real-time strategy game had a slightly awkward baby. The art is dark, the tone is darker, and the gameplay is surprisingly com...
Cannon Fodder
DOS1994protected Sensible Software
War never changes—but it does get oddly cute in Cannon Fodder. Guide your tiny commandos through missions filled with explosions, carnage, and dark humor. The game mixes arcade action with light strategy, and the body count ...
Cave Wars
DOS1996
If you’ve ever looked at a cave and thought, “Yes, this is where I’ll build my empire,” then Cave Wars is your jam. Released in 1996, this strategy game throws you into a subterranean slugfest of factional ...
Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines
Windows XP/98/951998protected Pyro Studios
Forget Rambo. Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines is what happens when you drop six experts behind Nazi lines and tell them to behave tactically… or else. Every mission is a deadly puzzle where timing, stealth, and patience are y...
Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty
Windows XP/98/951999protected Pyro Studios
You thought the first one was hard? Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty laughs at your pain and then asks you to infiltrate a Gestapo HQ with a knife and a prayer. This standalone expansion throws you into more impossibly complex m...
Core War Plus
DOS1984
In Core War Plus, programming isn’t just for making spreadsheets—it’s for virtual combat. You write tiny programs that battle for control of computer memory, turning coding into a gladiator sport. It’s part...
Cossacks: Back to War
Windows XP/98/952002protected GSC Game World
Cossacks: European Wars
Windows XP/98/952000protected GSC Game World
Cossacks: European Wars is a real-time strategy epic that lets you command armies so big you’ll lose track of half your soldiers. Set in the 17th and 18th centuries, it’s a mix of historical battles and freeform conque...
Cossacks: The Art of War
Windows XP/98/952001protected GSC Game World
An expansion to the original, Cossacks: The Art of War refines, expands, and generally cranks up the chaos. New units, new campaigns, and more ways to accidentally bankrupt your nation while trying to outmaneuver your enemies. It&...
Dark Reign 2
Windows XP/98/952000protected Pandemic Studios
Released in 2000, Dark Reign 2 took the futuristic RTS series into full 3D territory. While other games were content with flashy visuals, this one focused on tactical depth and resource management. You control factions fighting ov...
Dark Reign: The Future of War
Windows XP/98/951997protected Auran Games
Before its sequel, there was Dark Reign: The Future of War (1997), a forward-thinking RTS that introduced mechanics ahead of its time, like customizable AI scripts for units. The result was a game that demanded brains as much as r...
Dominus
DOS1994 Viacom New Media
Dominus (1994) is what happens when a tower defense game and an RPG get thrown into a medieval blender. You’re tasked with defending your castle from wave after wave of enemies, but instead of just building towers, you direc...
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel
Windows XP/98/952001protecteddemo Interplay Productions
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel is a tactical role-playing game published by Interplay Entertainment in 2001. Unlike its predecessors, which were traditional RPGs with turn-based combat, Fallout Tactics took a different appr...
Fields of Glory
DOS1993protected MicroProse Software
Fleet Command
DOS1999protected Sonalysts
Fort Apache
DOS1992 Impressions Games
Ground Control
Windows XP/98/952000protected Massive Entertainment
Ground Control is a strategy game developed by Massive Entertainment and released by Sierra On-Line in 2000. More precisely Ground Control is a real time tactical game with a sci-fi setting.
Hooligans: Storm Over Europe
Windows XP/98/952002 DarXabre
J.R.R. Tolkien's Riders of Rohan
DOS1997 Papyrus Design Group
Master of Orion 3
Windows XP/98/95Mac OS2003protected Quicksilver Software
Modem Wars
DOS1988 Ozark Softscape
Myth: The Fallen Lords
Windows XP/98/95Mac OS1997 Bungie
Omega
DOS1989 Origin Systems
Omega is an abandoned science fiction themed strategy game developed and released by Origin Systems in 1989 for DOS, Amiga, Apple II, Atari ST, C64. Omega is a rare example of a programming game about robots.
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