The most popular real-time strategy games
Real-time strategy games (RTS for short) are strategy games in which actions do not happen in turns, but are free to happen continuously, thus players can issue commands, like moving or assembling combat units, at any time. Some of the most well-known RTS series are Warcraft, Starcraft, Command & Conquer, and Age of Empires.
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Command & Conquer: Red Alert
DOS1996freeware Westwood Studios
Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive in 1996. It is part of the Command & Conquer series and is set in an alternate history...
Age of Empires 2: The Age of Kings
Windows XP/98/951999protecteddemo Ensemble Studios
Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a landmark real-time strategy (RTS) game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft. Released in 1999, it is the second installment in the Age of Empires series and remains one ...
Age of Empires
Windows XP/98/951997protecteddemo Ensemble Studios
Released in 1997, Age of Empires is what happens when ancient history gets drunk and decides to party. You start in the Stone Age, bashing wild boars and clubbing trees, and before you know it, you’re building temples and fl...
Dune 2000
Windows XP/98/951998 Westwood Studios
Dune 2000 is an abandoned science fiction classic real-time strategy game based on the popular Dune franchise. The Dune "universe" took form in the books of science fiction writer Frank Herbert and went on to include mov...
Dune II: The building of a dynasty
DOS1992 Westwood Studios
Dune II, released in 1992, is a pioneering real-time strategy game developed by Westwood Studios. Set in the world of Frank Herbert's Dune, players command noble houses in a battle for control over the planet Arrakis. With base-bu...
Populous
DOS1989 Bullfrog
Populous is an abandoned strategy game designed by the video game celebrity Peter Molyneux, developed by Bullfrog. Populous was released by Electronic Arts in 1989 for DOS and for a long list of other 16-bit and 8-bit systems, bot...
Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness
DOS1995protected Blizzard Entertainment
Command & Conquer
DOS1995freeware Westwood Studios
The original Command & Conquer (1995, DOS) is the game that launched a thousand LAN parties. It’s gritty, fast-paced RTS warfare with full-motion video cutscenes so cheesy, they’ve aged into gourmet. You build, har...
Mega lo Mania
DOS1992 Sensible Software
Mega lo Mania, also known as Mega-Lo-Mania: The Battle for Elysium in some regions, is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game developed by Sensible Software and published by Image Works. It was originally released in 1991 for vario...
Warzone 2100
Windows XP/98/95LinuxMac OS1999freeware
Back in 1999, Warzone 2100 felt like a glimpse into the future of strategy gaming. Forget endless waves of faceless soldiers; here you could actually design your own tanks and choppers like a mad scientist in a scrapyard. “D...
Dune
DOS1992 Cryo Interactive Entertainment
Dune, released in 1992, is a game developed by Cryo Interactive and published by Virgin Games. It's based on the iconic science fiction novel of the same name by Frank Herbert. In Dune, players assume the role of Paul Atreides, th...
Populous 2: Trials of the Olympian Gods
DOSMac OS1993protected Bullfrog
Populous 2: Trials of the Olympian Gods is a classic sandbox strategy god game. As the title suggests, its setting is loosely based on ancient Greek mythology, and you play as a deity (hence the "god game" label). Populous 2 is th...
Supremacy: Your Will Be Done
DOS1990 Probe Entertainment
Supremacy: You Will Be Done (also known simply as Overlord) is a rare example of mix between real-time strategy and science fiction themed 4X game (eXplore, eXpand, eXploid, eXterminate). Supremacy was developed by Probe Entertain...
The Settlers
DOS1993protected Blue Byte Software
StarCraft
Windows XP/98/95Mac OS1998protecteddemo Blizzard Entertainment
StarCraft is a classic RTS (Real-Time Strategy) game developed by Blizzard Entertainment and released in 1998 for Windows and Macintosh. StarCraft takes the Warcraft experience to a sci-fi setting with an interesting story, three ...
Z
DOS1996protected Bitmap Brothers
Welcome to Z, the real-time strategy game where psychotic robots with British accents duke it out over territory in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Think Command & Conquer if the developers had a few too many pints and a twisted...
Empire Earth
Windows XP/98/952001protected Stainless Steel Studios
Empire Earth is a real-time strategy (RTS) game developed by Stainless Steel Studios and released by Sierra Entertainment in 2001. It's often compared to the "Age of Empires" series due to its similar gameplay mechanics and histor...
Powermonger
DOS1992 Bullfrog
Powermonger takes the god-game formula of Populous and gives it teeth. Instead of playing benevolent deity, you’re more like a slightly cranky warlord, sending little soldiers to raid villages and expand your empire. The joy...
Total Annihilation
Windows XP/98/951997protected Cavedog Entertainment
Castles
DOS1991protected Quicksilver Software
Castles is what happens when SimCity meets Game of Thrones. You design your own fortress, manage the budget, and tell unruly peasants why the walls are more important than food. Between building bricks and issuing royal edicts, yo...
Warcraft: Orcs and Humans
DOS1994protecteddemo Blizzard Entertainment
Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is the first real-time fantasy strategy game from Blizzard Entertainment. Two separate story lines (Orcs and Humans) evolve with 12 scenarios per side telling the tale of the battle for the Kingdom of A...
Command & Conquer: Sole Survivor
Windows XP/98/951997 Westwood Studios
Command & Conquer: Sole Survivor (1997, Windows XP) took the RTS formula and flipped it into a weird deathmatch where you control a single unit and try not to die... horribly. It’s like a survival game set inside the Red...
Stronghold
DOS1993protected Stormfront Studios
Stronghold, released in 1993, is a strategy simulation game developed by Stormfront Studios and published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI). Players assume the role of a lord tasked with managing a kingdom. The game involv...
The Ancient Art of War
DOS1984 Evryware
The Ancient Art of War is a classic video game that was released in the late 1980s. Developed by Evryware and published by Broderbund, it was available on various platforms, including Apple II, Atari ST, Amiga, and MS-DOS. The Anc...
Dungeon Keeper
DOSWindows XP/98/95Mac OS1997protected Electronic Arts
Castles 2: Siege and Conquest
DOSMac OS1992protected Quicksilver Software
Castles 2 took everything the first game did and cranked it up with actual diplomacy, espionage, and conquest mechanics. Now you’re not just stacking bricks—you’re plotting political marriages and assassinating r...
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
Windows XP/98/95Mac OS2001protected LucasArts
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds is a science fiction real-time strategy game set in the Star Wars universe, focused both on the first and the second Star Wars trilogy. Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds was developed by LucasArts...
Myth: The Fallen Lords
Windows XP/98/95Mac OS1997 Bungie
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...
Blood & Magic
DOS1996 Tachyon Studios
From the people who brought you Dungeons & Dragons, here's Blood & Magic (1996), the RTS that nobody remembers but definitely deserves a second glance. You summon golems from magical “blood forges” because appa...