Summary
- Power & Revolution offers a mix of 4X and RTS gameplay, covering every country in the world, including modern warfare.
- ICBM: Escalation evolves warfare from Cold War to the future, focusing on military capabilities and global-scale conflicts.
- Regiments delivers engaging Cold War battles between NATO and Warsaw Pact, offering a challenging single-player experience.
When it comes to RTS games with expansive and detailed battle systems, franchises like Total War or Age of Empires are the first ones that come to mind, but they never try out modern warfare settings, which leaves a big itch to scratch for those who prefer playing with technically advanced military tools.
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Total War may never visit a modern era, but there have been plenty of games that have visited modern battles, though not all of them were successful attempts. Still, the RTS fans will not be left hopeless, thanks to some amazing products from indie developers in recent years.
7 Power & Revolution (2023 Edition)
Simulating Every Country With Authentic Rulers And Political Situations
- Developer: Eversim
- Release Date: Jul 17, 2023
- Platform: PC
Most players who have experience with the Geo-Political Simulator series believe that the franchise does have massive potential due to its gigantic scale, but there is one issue that holds every entry of the franchise back, and that's the enormous number of technical issues.
Power & Revolution is the fourth entry in the franchise, and it does a magnificent job in recreating the real-world challenges of leading a country in modern times, but it still deals with some technical issues. However, those who have a thick skin for bugs will find the joyful and addictive side of the gameplay loop pretty soon.
Power & Revolution is a combination of 4X and RTS. The battles are played in RTS, and players have full control over their units. It's quite possible to recreate modern wars or try out endless scenarios, as every single country in the world is playable in the game. Engaging in a war comes with serious consequences. So, be aware that warfare is just a part of this game and not all of it.
6 ICBM: Escalation
A Warfare-Focused RTS From Cold War Into The Future
- Developer: SoftWarWare
- Release Date: Nov 21, 2024
- Platform: PC
If Power & Revolution were supposed to solely focus on warfare and fix all the technical and balancing problems, the result would be something similar to ICBM: Escalation. The sequel to ICBM is a good step forward while keeping the core systems of the original game.
In Escalation, players will focus on extending their nation's military capabilities while getting ready to engage in a global-scale war. The game's timespan begins in the Cold War era, encompassing near-futuristic times with more cutting-edge warfare tech.
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Researching new military capabilities is the key to progress, but the most important part is how to use all the weapons and machinery during a war. The player needs to handle aerial, ground, and navy units properly, while also taking advantage of long-range options like surface-to-surface ballistic missiles.
5 Regiments
An Intense Cold War Battle With Challenging AI
Regiments
- Released
- August 16, 2022
- Platform(s)
- Windows
Regiments rewrites the history of the Cold War with a gigantic battle taking place between NATO and Warsaw Pact units. The game is solely focused on delivering a single-player experience, but there is no need to worry about AI, as it is almost as challenging as real players.
There are different units available from the USA, the UK, Eastern and Western Germany, Belgium, Poland, and the Soviet Union. The game's expansion adds even more regiments from Canada, France, the Netherlands, and Czechoslovakia, along with a new game mode that includes some new operations.
Regiments guarantees meaty content for the real RTS nerds who would love to explore Cold War scenarios. The game comes with deep gameplay mechanisms to control units, while making everything quite easy to learn, which is a massive plus for newcomers to the genre.
4 Line War
A Successful Combination Of RTS And 4X
- Developer: Studio Centurion
- Release Date: May 5, 2022
- Platform: PC
Line War is a bridge between old-school RTS games and the 4X scale. The game uses a 4X-style map along with some other elements of this genre, but the flow of the battles is solely based on classic RTS experience, heavily inspired by the Command and Conquer series.
Diplomacy has no place in Line War as the game focuses specifically on modern warfare. The control of units is quite easy in Line War, allowing players to get rid of boring micro-management steps and quickly apply their new strategy to the battlefield.
As such, the game features high-speed battles that turn into massive chaos in the blink of an eye. Line War supports single-player, co-op, and PvP multiplayer scenarios, which can serve as a pretty enjoyable drop-in, drop-out RTS.
3 Syrian Warfare
Recreating Urban Warfare With All Its Intensity
- Developer: Cats Who Play
- Release Date: Feb 21, 2017
- Platform: PC
Syrian Warfare is an intense RTS experience that ditches some of the most common features of the genre to make the game feel more realistic and authentic. The game is about the endless war in Syria, and the maps usually involve urban warfare, which is quite difficult to win.
Players will not get factories to build new machines or recruit new soldiers. As a commander, the player will need to carry over what they have from one mission to another, while having the option to receive support units.
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Syrian Warfare is a unique experience, and it does come with truly challenging gameplay systems that could be quite enjoyable for anyone looking to test their RTS skills.
2 Command And Conquer: Generals
An All-Time Classic That Never Gets Old
Command & Conquer: Generals
- Released
- February 10, 2003
- Developer(s)
- EA Pacific, i5works, Aspyr
- Franchise
- Command & Conquer
- Genre(s)
- Strategy, Real-Time Strategy
- Platform(s)
- PC, macOS
No matter how many years have passed since the release of Command And Conquer: Generals, this game is still playable, relevant, and entertaining. It's just amazing how an RTS has managed to age this well through decades, but Generals has a hidden magic inside that keeps players returning to the game.
What Generals excels at is executing "easy to learn, hard to master" perfectly. It's quite simple to learn the game's mechanics and to understand what each troop is capable of, but the level design and the balancing are so perfect that there are always a lot of challenges to face.
It's heartbreaking that the sequel to Generals never saw the light of day, but the Zero Hour expansion is still a worthy experience with some cool new units added to all the factions.
1 WARNO
A Deck-Based RTS For The Dedicated
WARNO
- Released
- May 23, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Eugen Systems
- Early Access Release
- January 20, 2022
- Genre(s)
- Real-Time Strategy, War, Action, Simulation, Indie Games
- Platform(s)
- PC
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
WARNO is a game for the true nerds of RTS with a competitive mindset. It's not a stretch to say that WARNO is currently the best multiplayer RTS out there that still receives new content from the developers. The best thing about this game is that it has an amazing team of developers who care about their game and the community.
WARNO uses the same deck-based gameplay as previous Eugene titles like Steel Division 2 or Wargame. However, the Cold War setting elevates the gameplay significantly, giving more depth to the tactical mechanisms and speeding up the pace.
Not only does the game succeed in delivering a competitive RTS experience with micro-management, but it also has a 4X-style commanding mode known as Army General, which allows players to control the overall flow of the battles in a grand scheme.
There are so many different units from both NATO and Warsaw Pact members available in WARNO, and developers keep adding even more by releasing multiple expansions throughout the year. The only problem with the game is probably the pricing of expansions!
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