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Recommend me some obscure RTS games

O

Omega Kirby

Member
I'm in the mood of discovering some new rts games that never got enough,if any, love in the limelight from any time period

So that means don't mention any games from the following series; Age of Empires, Total Annihlation, Rise of Nation, Command and Conquer, Starcraft, Total War, Sin's of a solar empire, Company of heroes, Dawn of war etc.
 
Ground Control, the predecessor to world in conflict is one of the best games I've played. The original is free, but you can buy the series on gog.
 
Battlezone - A brilliant blending of first person tank combat and RTS gameplay. A really incredible game.
Krush, Kill ‘n' Destroy - A really well done C&C clone, solid campaigns, great soundtrack, cool setting.
Dark Reign - A well done sci-fi RTS with some of the best AI around, also has a great soundtrack from acclaimed Mechwarrior 2 composer Jeehun Hwang.
Nexus: The Jupiter Incident - A tactical fleet battle game, really really good.
Blitzkrieg - World War II strategy game with a lot of depth and a crazy amount of content. Really solid, challenging game.
Conquest: Frontier Wars - Space based RTS with a focus on battling across multiple fronts and maintaining supply lines. Really cool game.
Grey Goo - Sci-fi RTS from the remnants of Westwood. Solid RTS that plays a lot like C&C, however the 4 included factions are all really creative and unique. Godly soundtrack too.
Kohan: Ahriman's Gift - Considered by many who've played it to be the finest RTS ever made, a really unique, deep and challenging game that removes almost all the micro management from RTS and instead focuses on the larger picture and wide strategy aspects. Highly recommended.
Cossacks: European Wars (or any of the others in the series) - If you enjoyed Age of Empires but thought it was too shallow and small in scale then Cossacks is your new jam.
 
Stalin vs. Martians
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzQrgqd1yLY
147880-stalin-vs-martians-windows-front-cover.jpg
 
World in Conflict - very good campaign with excellent story. Smaller scale battles with emphasis combined arms and support call ins.
Wargame series - Cold War themed RTS with some light war game elements and deck building/unit composition.
RUSE - direct precursor to Wargame series with many similar elements, but simpler with less units and more rock, paper, scissors style gameplay. Delisted from STEAM unfortunately, so it's almost impossible to find on PC now, but it should still be available on console. (Console version is actually pretty good.)
 
kontonChaos said:
Ground Control, the predecessor to world in conflict is one of the best games I've played. The original is free, but you can buy the series on gog.
Click to expand...
Ground Control 1 is a legit hidden gem and I wish it was more popular so other developers would have ripped it off.

It's a pretty ballsy game. No resource gathering, no reinforcements, no building of any sort, special abilities are limited use and there's no mid-mission saves either so you're forced to use what you have effectively and play around losses. Gameplay doesn't boil down to "turtle -> tech -> mass units -> roll out" like most RTS campaigns do.

You get your briefing, you pick and customize your guys, you choose your entry point and then you just get to work. In a weird way it feels like the old Rainbow 6 games.
 
Not quite as obscure as some of these other rts games mentioned, but if you passed over it I highly recommend Myth 2: Soulblighter (and Myth 1).

n8r2MZs.gif


It focuses solely on the story and combat, there's no base building/resource harvesting or anything. You get a limited number of units and you have to make use of what you get throughout each level of the game.

Multiplayer is still active but you have to use third party to play it, since bungie.net shutdown years ago.
http://gateofstorms.net/
 
I don't know if Battle Realms can be considered obscure but I strongly recommend it.

Samurai, ninjas, ronin, daemons, wolf tribes and very original battle mechanics (and unit recruitment too). It's on GOG for sure, maybe on Steam too.

Also, the same team (Liquid Entertainment) released an RTS based on Tolkien Lords if the Rings books. I don't remember the title.
It's very different from EA games because the license it's not from the movies.
 
OMG. Why has no one said Ogre Battle?
Ogre Battle,
Ogre Battle,
OOOOGREEEBAAATTTTLLLLLEEE!

100%, best RTS game ever made, especially when you play around with mods

Fight it out!
 
Stiler said:
Not quite as obscure as some of these other rts games mentioned, but if you passed over it I highly recommend Myth 2: Soulblighter (and Myth 1).

n8r2MZs.gif


It focuses solely on the story and combat, there's no base building/resource harvesting or anything. You get a limited number of units and you have to make use of what you get throughout each level of the game.

Multiplayer is still active but you have to use third party to play it, since bungie.net shutdown years ago.
http://gateofstorms.net/
Click to expand...
Cool games indeed.

The same focus on combat was also shared by Ground Control games but in a sci-fi set.
 
Stiler said:
Not quite as obscure as some of these other rts games mentioned, but if you passed over it I highly recommend Myth 2: Soulblighter (and Myth 1).

n8r2MZs.gif


It focuses solely on the story and combat, there's no base building/resource harvesting or anything. You get a limited number of units and you have to make use of what you get throughout each level of the game.
Click to expand...
Where is this available?
 
Stiler said:
Not quite as obscure as some of these other rts games mentioned, but if you passed over it I highly recommend Myth 2: Soulblighter (and Myth 1).

n8r2MZs.gif


It focuses solely on the story and combat, there's no base building/resource harvesting or anything. You get a limited number of units and you have to make use of what you get throughout each level of the game.

Multiplayer is still active but you have to use third party to play it, since bungie.net shutdown years ago.
http://gateofstorms.net/
Click to expand...
I know Myth was decently popular back in the day, but nowadays you often hear about how people don't want to put up with APM and build orders or whatever and it makes you wonder if Myth would have been huge if it were made now.
 
Oh my friends, do I have an RTS game for you.

pic.php
Click to expand...

The game is essentially "STALKER: The RTS". Post-apocalyptic, eastern-European setting. Trade for weapons and put skill-points into your soldiers. It also has a realistic ballistic weapons system, so when you get into a Littlebird of BM-21 Grad, it functions how it would in the Arma series rather than playing a quaint little firing animation and dishing out some hitpoints.

There is also Elements of War, which is similar to World in Conflict with a slight sci-fi edge.

shot2.jpg


Hegemonia is a space RTS with brilliant explosions.

hegemonia_image6.jpg
 
Warlords Battlecry series.

17bcd67967a13599ade27ba761c990b2affa8706d2c947ff0b4069d3493a0d32_product_card_screenshot_600.jpg


ace33dadd5a584341074b2aa48d6c3bbadb703898c229dc2d98129f7acb61c0f_product_card_screenshot_600.jpg


7d199c9e95f9769c56e82941408da3d2fc9fc732990bf00a08ff11526414fc3c_product_card_screenshot_600.jpg


RTS mixed with RPG elements. WB3 Features 16 different races and 28 hero characters/classes you can improve and turn into amazing units (before Warcraft did this). Features an interesting non-linear story and some of the most epic music in the genre too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qosbHOqI4Uo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WT1WX0H0oQ

Find them here. I recommend WB3 although the gog version features a not so good included patch with additional content.

https://www.gog.com/game/warlords_battlecry
https://www.gog.com/game/warlords_battlecry_2
https://www.gog.com/game/warlords_battlecry_3
 
Battalion wars for Gamecube. It's a GC exclusive RTS/third person shooter hybrid as a spin off from the advance wars series.
 
Stiler said:
Not quite as obscure as some of these other rts games mentioned, but if you passed over it I highly recommend Myth 2: Soulblighter (and Myth 1).

n8r2MZs.gif


It focuses solely on the story and combat, there's no base building/resource harvesting or anything. You get a limited number of units and you have to make use of what you get throughout each level of the game.

Multiplayer is still active but you have to use third party to play it, since bungie.net shutdown years ago.
http://gateofstorms.net/
Click to expand...


This is all you need OP. On top of it going to ProjectMagma allows you to download a demo to see if you like it and you can purchase the whole game from Amazon. Also, they still update and patch the game to run better and look nicer on newer machines. If you want an awesome story as well as the best and only Tactical RTS of it's type, Myth can do you no wrong.
 
More_Badass said:
Where is this available?
Click to expand...

Sadly it's not offered digitally. Take 2 owns the IP and they haven't done jack with it since Myth 3 (which was not done by bungie but mumbo jumbo; and it wasn't nearly as good as Myth 1/2).

So the only way to get it is ebay/amazon, it's not expensive or anything though. If you do get it make sure you get the latest fan patches and everything.

Rambler said:
I know Myth was decently popular back in the day, but nowadays you often hear about how people don't want to put up with APM and build orders or whatever and it makes you wonder if Myth would have been huge if it were made now.
Click to expand...

It probably would, but Take 2 seems to have forgotten about the whole IP. There's not really a game like it these days. The closest is the combat in the Total War games, but it focuses on a much larger scale and then you have the usual over-world RTS stuff that it focuses on instead of a storyline.

I think if it were given a proper new game done like Myth I/II from a good developer (hell bring back the old devs to do it) It'd do amazingly, especially if they supported its multiplayer community like back then. It was like half life, a ton of user created content and lots of people playing it online all the time.
 
Tzar: The Burden Of The Crown - I remember loving it back in the day.

Also, the Stronghold series (at least the first one and Crusader) - Pretty much centered around building and besieging the titular strongholds, which makes it far different than most of the RTSes.
 
Kingdom Under Fire: A War of Heroes

Another RTS that mixes RPG elements and hero units. Way before the console games (which I also recommend, at least the OG XBOX ones) this game existed and it was pretty good.

pc-63423-314494216421ks7q.jpg


pc-63423-51449421642upsau.jpg


It has in my opinion, some of that Diablo 2 charm in its design and animations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wz5RxjzDIHc

Not sure where you can find a copy. Maybe Amazon used or ebay.
 
Populous: The Beginning

1ea5020f041bc118aaaf33d28e65f13d3a5abfa2e8bab01ff394b1ccf1e62ad7_product_card_screenshot_600.jpg


RTS/God game. You basically control a tribe and its shaman. The shaman can do powerful spells like summon tornadoes and volcano's. I don't know how this holds up to other games as I'm not actually a rts fan, but I always had a ton of fun playing this game.
 
Jackpot said:
Hegemonia is a space RTS with brilliant explosions.

hegemonia_image6.jpg
Click to expand...

In case you're wondering, this was made by the people who made Imperium Galactica. Delightful 4X game where you can fuss around with diplomacy for hours before scorching a dozen planets bare with plasma and nukes.

The singleplayer campaign is actually quite challenging at times, although that's mostly because it's stingy as hell with resources and the opposition is more than happy to make you regret every bad decision you make.
 
Sinatar said:
Battlezone - A brilliant blending of first person tank combat and RTS gameplay. A really incredible game.
Krush, Kill ‘n’ Destroy - A really well done C&C clone, solid campaigns, great soundtrack, cool setting.
Dark Reign - A well done sci-fi RTS with some of the best AI around, also has a great soundtrack from acclaimed Mechwarrior 2 composer Jeehun Hwang.
Nexus: The Jupiter Incident - A tactical fleet battle game, really really good.
Blitzkrieg - World War II strategy game with a lot of depth and a crazy amount of content. Really solid, challenging game.
Conquest: Frontier Wars - Space based RTS with a focus on battling across multiple fronts and maintaining supply lines. Really cool game.
Grey Goo - Sci-fi RTS from the remnants of Westwood. Solid RTS that plays a lot like C&C, however the 4 included factions are all really creative and unique. Godly soundtrack too.
Kohan: Ahriman's Gift - Considered by many who've played it to be the finest RTS ever made, a really unique, deep and challenging game that removes almost all the micro management from RTS and instead focuses on the larger picture and wide strategy aspects. Highly recommended.
Cossacks: European Wars (or any of the others in the series) - If you enjoyed Age of Empires but thought it was too shallow and small in scale then Cossacks is your new jam.
Click to expand...

Kknd dissapointed it took 7 posts to name that damn game.
 
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