Four years ago, I looked at the once-mighty RTS genre—the genre that had so dominated my free time in the ’90s and early 2000s—and wondered if it could ever come back from the brink of death. Few developers seemed to remember its existence, and 2010’s StarCraft 2 remained its last great success story. “The genre needs a spark,” I said, “but lately we’ve been blowing on dying embers.” Two years later, I had done a U-turn.
“Real-time strategy is back from the brink of death,” I hastily announced. So naive. So hopeful. But with good reason. Homeworld 3, Company of Heroes 3, Tempest Rising, Stormgate, Dune: Spice Wars, The Great War: Western Front – so many exciting games in all sorts of configurations are coming. It was dizzying. And this list only scratches the surface. I have never been so happy to be proven wrong.
And now I’ve never been so disappointed that I was right. This was not a comeback. The RTS may not be dead yet, but it’s still in bad shape.
Reality check
Company of Heroes 3 landed with a thud. The missions were spectacular – a triumph of smart tactical systems and stunning cinematic elegance – but the much-vaunted dynamic campaign was crap. I liked it despite its flaws, but over a year later it hasn’t been able to change its “mixed” rating on Steam. Relic continues to support it, and multiplayer is still in full swing, but more people are playing its 11-year-old predecessor. Between this and Dawn of War, 3 seems like a doomed number for Relic.
At least it’s in better shape than Homeworld 3. I still enjoyed the fully three-dimensional space battles and impressive aesthetics, but this long, long-awaited sequel had none of the storytelling of the original games, its roguelike wargames mode was an absolute flop, and the multiplayer is already dead. And while I still found a lot to like about it – though I admit it doesn’t measure up to its incredible predecessors – that was absolutely not the case for most players, earning it a mostly negative Steam review.
There may still be hope for Stormgate, which is still in development. Things aren’t looking so good right now, though, after its lackluster Early Access launch. Frankly, I don’t think Early Access is the right move for an RTS, especially one that’s so heavily multiplayer-focused that it needs polish and balance that you just can’t get when it’s still in development. Frost Giant also made the mistake of forgetting that real-time strategy has always attracted more single-player fans, even though StarCraft – one of its main inspirations alongside Warcraft 3 – is an esports sensation. A good campaign is crucial, and a few dodgy missions won’t cut it.
The long list of recently released real-time strategy games mostly fluctuates between okay and good, but we are missing a major hit – an incentive to keep the genre afloat.
The long list of recently released RTS games oscillates between just fine and great, but we’re missing one major success – a lifeline to keep the genre afloat. The Great War was a valiant attempt to unravel World War I, but it was just too conservative. Dune: Spice Wars was fairly well received and had some new ideas in its hybridization of the 4X and RTS genres, but it’s not a particularly memorable example of either. We also have Warhammer: Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin, a game with too many doubles that failed to make an impression, and Men of War 2, a perfectly serviceable, if unbalanced, alternative to Company of Heroes 3.
Crucially, none of these games really encourage you to come back to the game. The best RTS games keep calling you to replay their best missions, engage in some good old-fashioned competition, or brawl with friends. With this game, the compulsion just isn’t there.
I still have high hopes for the C&C-inspired Tempest Rising, which I called “a dream RTS for Command & Conquer veterans” after being obsessed with the demo. After playing just two missions, I was hooked. But that’s about all the demo offered, and it’s been subject to significant delays and no longer has a release date.
There was one bright spot. Just this month, Sins of a Solar Empire 2 came out, a truly great RTS that retains everything that was so exceptional about its predecessor while adding fresh innovations, such as its main feature: dynamic maps that shift according to their celestial mechanics. It’s received good reviews, players are happy, and there’s a solid multiplayer community, but I suspect the lack of a campaign might hold it back from becoming the genre-supporting behemoth that the most influential RTS games of the Golden Age became.
But there really should be more than one game to breathe life into the genre. The genre’s heyday in the ’90s was marked by competition between Blizzard and Westwood. With each new game, they tried to outdo each other by developing new systems and tricks while advancing technology, storytelling, and UI design. And all around them were imitators and innovators. Total Annihilation experimented with scale, Age of Empires took its cues from Civilization, Homeworld gave us unbridled 3D space combat. In the space of a decade, we saw an incredible amount of growth and iteration.
Something old, something new
Maybe distance made it easier for us to develop a Golden Age story, but the genre felt more cohesive back then. You can see that clear line of evolution from things like Dune 2 to Warcraft 3. Now it’s all a bit more chaotic, and developers are desperately trying to find a lure, a unique approach to draw players in, something that says, “Look, the RTS is back and it’s cool again and doing interesting things.” There’s been some real innovation, but not enough to move the RTS forward. And all of these games feel like they’re being developed in a vacuum. If they’re inspired, it’s from the old classics, so we no longer have this environment where contemporaries are outdoing each other.
My concern now is that there have been so few successes that we’re heading straight back to a dark age of real-time strategy games where the risk just doesn’t seem worth it. The arguments against that are already being made. Tastes have changed. The genre has been dormant for too long and people just aren’t as excited about it anymore. Our expectations are so much higher than they used to be. But I don’t think that stands up to scrutiny.
For example, 2019’s Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition was very well received and five years later is significantly more popular than any modern game that has come out since. This is a 25-year-old game with an HD upgrade and some new campaigns, and it’s kicking everyone’s butts. While not quite as enduringly popular, 2020’s Command & Conquer: Remastered Collection also received a lot of praise upon release and has just as many, if not more, players than the new kids. Next week, Age of Mythology: Retold is out and we’ll see if the trend continues. These classics weren’t just great games for their time; they’re still great.
What this does mean is that the audience is still there, but it’s old. These remakes and remasters have been well received because RTS veterans want to relive the good old days. That’s also why Tempest Rising is so eagerly awaited. A lot of people on the cusp of middle age and beyond really miss Command & Conquer. What we’re missing is something to build a new audience with – something that will attract PC gamers who got into the hobby after the RTS downturn.
What we are missing is something that will help us build a new audience.
And I don’t think that’s going to change. Sure, we’ll probably see some quality stuff every now and then, and the genre will be able to rest on nostalgia for a while, but I fear that’s all it’s going to be. I find it incredibly hard to imagine we’ll ever get to the point again where multiple real-time games end up in GOTY lists, side by side with all those RPGs, shooters, and open-world games. And that’s pretty depressing.
Four years ago, I wondered if the RTS could come back from the brink of death. And now I’m pretty sure I have the answer.
