One of the best games ever imo. People still play it in fact, on gameranger since the official server was shut down many years ago. It even has a fan patch that fixes many bugs and balance issues between factions. It's a blast and I still play it occasionally.
Of those forgotten RTS, I often remember Black&White and Dungeon Keeper. These teo were truly exceptional RTS that are now forgotten. I don't know if the Sudden Strike series can be considered forgotten, but it was Sudden Strike that laid the foundations for games like Gates Of Hell.
Great games and if you watch the channel (my recent God Games list) I adore them but I don't know if I consider them pure RTS, I tried to be strict to prevent the list being 100+ games 😆- Tom
@@LTGamingRUclips Oh, I have missed the God Games video! Thanks! BTW it would be interesting to see a video about how Sudden Strike style games (o base building millitary RTS) evolved and what they have evolved into. I remember after Sudden Strike there was Blitzkrieg series, the Codename: Panzers series, then Men of War and so on.
And they're not really forgotten, still beloved and talked about even to this day, just had a conversation with my sister yesterday about B&W2 she and her friend used to play it a lot and Dungeon Keeper keeps getting remakes.
A good list, some interesting games mentioned. I'd add some more: Spellforce, R.U.S.E, Total Annihilation, The Kings' Crusade, Call to Arms, Knights of Honor, Earth 2150, Act of War: Direct Action, Men of War, King Arthur: The Roleplaying Wargame, Perimeter, Castle Strike, World War III: Black Gold, Blitzkrieg 2, Warzone 2100 Conquest: Frontier Wars, No Man's Land, Codename Panzers, Haegmonia: Legions of Iron, Sudden Strike 2, Seven Kingdoms II Star Trek: Armada, Rise of Legends, War Front: Turning Point, ParaWorld, Nemesis of the Roman Empire, Rush for Berlin Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising, Imperial Glory, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, Soldiers of Anarchy, Mechcommander Star Trek: Starfleet Command III, Full Spectrum Warrior, Soldiers: Heroes of World War II, Empires: Dawn of the Modern World Desert Rats vs. Africa Corps, Order of War, Officers, Metal Fatigue, D&D: Dragonshard, Myth II: Soulblighter, S.W.I.N.E Emperor: Battle for Dune, Universe at War: Earth Assault, Tzar: The Burden of the Crown, Rising Kingdoms, Joint Task Force The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom, Warlords Battlecry II, Faces of War, Celtic Kings: Rage of War.
Rise and fall was the fkn best shame ya can't get it anywhere any more atleast not that I've seen haha the disc version don't work on modern equipment haha
Warrior Kings was fantastic although clunky. Sneaking some fire archers to burn down the enemy city was my fave strategy. Good to know others have seen this gem too!
world in conflict was amazing and deserves a part 2 or something along those lines. KKND had alot of potential and i wouldnt mind that making a comeback of some sort
@@Skerra-kk6sm TA completely changed the RTS world. I remember the review in Adrenaline Vault. The reviewer ended with "this is the best game I have played period"
Nothing has felt as tactically sophisticated as Ground Control did whilst still being visually awesome. The first time I played the demo it blew my 14 year old mind, shame that Ground Control 2 sucks so hard in comparison.
I was really hoping Deserts of Kharak would scratch that itch, and while being a good game on its own, I just didn't get the ground control vibes I was hoping for.
Spellforce. Now, I understand that the franchise is not exactly slept upon, but Spellforce 1 is a completely different beast from its successors ! I don't think I've ever found a game that balances so well having heroes and needing an army anyway : most games either makes heroes super units barely worth investing in (Age of Mythology), or make heroes that can wipe the map clean by themselves, with a base that only need to survive in the meantime (2 and 3 for instance). Here, your main hero can wipe entire camps if you build it properly, but good luck walking around the map if you haven't rushed making a base first thing ;7
Fun Fact: Since I was a kid I've always been a huge fan of Spellforce 1, I just didn't like the fact that it had no skirmish option. Years later, Spellforce 2 dropped and it had the skirmish option, you could even play against special races like the undead, BUT: I didn't like the fact that they chose to mix the 6 races from Spellforce 1 into 3 coalitions that didn't make much sense to me. Another couple of years later - I was 23 years old at the time - I decided to change my profession and had to go back to school again. One of our teachers was pretty chill and asked us about our hobbies and stuff, so I told him that I was into gaming. He got interested and asked me about my favourite genres, which were RTS and RPGs at that time. He smiled and asked me if I had ever heard about the game Spellforce. I laughed and said it was one of my all-time favourites. He was glad to hear that and eventually revealed that he was one of the original devs of this game and only became a teacher because he suffered from burn-out syndrome during the later stages of development and had to promise his wife to change his profession. I was quiet stunned, I tell you. We talked for a brief while about the game and I told him what I didn't like about Spellforce 1 and 2 and that I wished someone would merge their good parts into one game. He laughed and told me that his son always felt the same way, which had apparently been the reason why he became a game dev just like him and was currently working on Spellforce 3, with the clean races from Spellforce 1 and a skirmish option included. My jaw dropped and I just said, "They're working on a Spellforce 3?" :D
4 дня назад
Finally a list with truly forgotten games. I'm pretty sure I haven't thought about Sumbarine Titans or Warrior Kings once in the last 20+ years.
Adding my 2 cents of nostalgia: *Poulous III: The Beginning* + unique spherical maps + innovative 'production' system of unit + awesome shaman hero to go and manipulate the map with floods, vulcanoes, tornadoes, swarms of bugs, etc. + very smooth and rounded without overcomplicated leveling etc.
Zed was really cool. The map was divided by sectors with factories constantly slowly producing units. The units belonged to the faction controlling the sector at the moment of the end of production. So it was not only about controlling and defending the most sectors but also about timing your attack according to the factory production.
Metal Fatigue, Conquest: Frontier Wars and Rise of Legends are my go-to forgotten titles. Always happy when Sacrifice gets a mention though, Grey Goo too.
Dominion Storm Over Gift 3 ? War Wind ? Rise of Legends ? Paraworld ? And so many more ! I miss the RTS era, it's slowly coming back but eeeh most interesting ones come back as free to play which will have crazy micro-transactions and it's enough to avoid them ! If I wanted to see proper remasters, I'd say War Wind, Dark Reign and Submarine titans are definitely on my list !
Sacrifice was such a great game. I miss it so much. It had one of the best RTS systems for playing as a mage. The spells were Mana-Costly and not as easy to pull off but that means they were also very impactful. You could literally rip the earth open underneath enemies and plunge them into the depths of the earth. This feels so much better as later fantasy RTS games where you throw fireballs and earthquakes at the enemies and they react like it's a minor inconvenience. This totally defeats the purpose of playing as a mage. I really wish someone would take inspiration from that game and make a spiritual successor.
Space Clash: The last frontier. A 1998 unknown spanish rts game. I really loved it. The unit movement was so clumsy but the music, the diplomacy system, the multiple kinds of attacks of the units, and some other things that make for a lot of fun.
Metal Fatigue has a fun mechanic of 3 map layers (Air, Surface, Underground) and customizable mechas (combots) who completely break the game balance XD. Machines is a RTS where you can also directly commandeer your units like a FPS. Star Command [Revolution] had an interesting game design with 4 factions with 4 damage types and their own gimmicks also one of the first RTS with unit leveling (game is played on DOS XD). Warlords Battlecry was successfull enough for releasing a third installment. Earth 2140 to 2160 had 2140 had fun capture mechanics and 2150 a fun tech tree, too bad 2150 and 2160 lost enemy tech capturing. Black and White was godly. Knights & Merchants was fun for it's combination of RTS and city building. Tzar I remember messing with map editor with my brother and created a map where 3+3 heroes against 3 nations it was fun seeing a small number of units chowing down a giant army. Hegemonia was a fun space RTS and you can actually steal unique tech.
I am SOOOO GLAD to see Ground Control in this list. Was lucky enough to play both the main game and Dark Conspiracy expansion not long after their release and man, they got a piece of my heart. Just a few days ago I was on ModDB looking for GC mods and overhauls to have an excuse to play it again and found the "Aftermath" mod which looked super interesting
One that I felt never got its fair chance to shine was Emperor: Battle for Dune, by Westwood. The heads of Westwood were still hyper-focused on their C&C franchise at the time, and released Emperor at about the worst possible time inbetween releases of hotly anticipated popular RTS games (including RA2, and several others). The 3D unit modelling, terrain mapping, and unique faction units, combined with classic Westwood live-action cutscenes made for a memorable experience.
Empire Earth was a multiplayer addiction for me for about 10-12 years after it came out. Especially the addition, Art of Conquest, that added the Space Age and space fighter and starship combat. My favorite game type was Modern Era: Islands games. I had a very solid custom civilization that let me rush a large navy, wipe out the enemy, then use guided missile subs to finish off the enemy on land (along with masses of carrier based fighters.) I also really like the Middle Ages games. I had fun coming up with new ways to torment my enemies (such as a civilization that used priest towers. They converted enemy troops just like priests in Age of Empires 2. I combined this with a Wonder that allowed multiple conversions to happen at once, then took the special Cloaking ability for my Town Halls in my civ. I finished up by making a ton of trebuchets. So if you attacked, you were being converted by invisible towers you couldn't see, losing your soldiers to my side, while you got pounded on by a massive amount of trebuchets that were also invisible. Make it through all that and you had to fight your own troops that had switched sides. Made more than a few people rage quit with that one.)
Rise and Fall Civilizations at War is always one that stands out to me - it was fairly simplistic but did have a few different ideas and two decent campaigns
On Steam it randomly gets updates and patches too, like last one was in April, and modders are still working on their own custom campaigns and balance mods
Saga - Rage of the Vikings was my favourite forgotten RTS. For its time it was a pretty complex and immersive game. I wish we had something like that today. :
I was 7th on American Conquest ladder and I played half of the list, I have a great story to tell about each of them. I can't forget the time I was pursued by my brother on Battlezone, almost no hp left on my little vessel, I jumped out of it and sniped him (you can snipe the pilot throught the copit) while he was finishing my vessel. We never played again after that^^
Duuuuude! I was just thinking of Armies of Exigo the other day, except I couldn´t remember it´s name to save my life. Then it just came up in your list and as soon as I watched the graphics, it all came back to me, taking me back to 2004 when I was obsessed with WC3 and looking for any game that could scratch that itch. Then I thought, "yeah, and there was that other rpg/rts hybrid I also played around that time. You were an elf figthing off against a zombie apocalypse or something,.. what was it´s name?" And it was Heroes of Annihilated Empires! THE NEXT GAME ON THE LIST!
Warrior kings has an active modding community, you can find people that play warrior kings battles(second game) in multiplayer fielding massive armies. :)
What an amazing list, would love to see you tackle some other categories with these larger lists too. This was a great reminder of many of these games for me.....and that I am getting old 😅
Great list! Was almost shocked when I realized I played EVERY game on it! Great stuff, and it feels that you really love and know your games. Thanks for nostalgia and realization that most of those games are STILL better than most modern ones
Glad you enjoyed it! It was a blast to make and recall all the good times, think I gotta do a follow up from the amount of suggestions I got to try out. - Tom
Rise and fall was a great game with RTS with 3d person hero that you could play slashing and climbing towers, shooting your bow ans great fun! Not alot of people know about it
No one has even mentioned Rise of Legends! That game was AMAZING!!! I loved the graphics, the mechanics, the Lore 👌🏻 Its a lot better than Rise of Nations and more obscure.
I’ve always loved playing Rise of Nations, but lately, new titles like Gates of Pyre with their rich lore are popping up, and they’re really hitting the spot.
Very glad you have Impossible Creatures and Empire Earth on this list! 2 Of my favourite RTS games from when I was very young, and I recently replayed Impossible Creatures on Steam. Kind of hoping for a remake/remaster one day XD
@@epicsheepgamer7002 Agreed. The original was hands down one of the most replayable, varied and enjoyable multiplayer RTS games ever to exist. In addition to the numerous map types and time periods, there was also custom scenarios players could create that totally changed the game, and players created some great ones. Every time you played a different scenario or game type, it was as if you were playing a totally different game, and that was amazing. You could also set what Ages the game took place in, locking it into a specific period or allowing a specific range of advancement from any Age to any Age as long as it was in order. But the sequels lost what made the original game so special, and the series just died out.
I'm surprised how many games there were I didn't even know. And some I just forgot, thanks for bringing the memories back (hello Battle Realms). One that'S missing here is "Metal Fatigue". Released in 2000 (and re-released in 2018) it had 3D graphics and Combat Mechs that could be upgraded by salvaged parts.
Thanks for the list to check out, I've had that RTS itch recently after all the Stormgate news and Blizzard messing up WC3 Reforged so I appreciate the options
Thank you for bringing back the memory. Glad that you mentioned Kohan, it's really an underrated gem. I'd also like to mention Warlord battlecry series .
Kudos for including American Conquest, a gem among the games depicting exploration era. In my opinion is way better, more historically accurate and more immerisive than Age of Empire III. As honroable mention I would also mention Tzar: The Burden of the Crown and Praetorians
I miss the KKND and the bunker who dropped random characters like the special 4x4. Star Wars Empire At War worth this list too, was pretty fun the blank areas where you only could pass with spaceships.
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, Armies of Exigo and Kohan 2 have one thing in common: Jeremy Soule soundtracks. Also i would add to the list: Rise of Legends, Universe at War, Rising Kingdoms and Total Annihilation: Kingdoms.
Didn't expect "Sacrifice" because I could call it a "Tactical Action RPG" yet I loved to see it mentioned in a list of games. Armies of Exigo is a... lost game literally since its studio bankruptsy an the IP somewhat missing. Loved the Cthulu esthetic of the "Fallen". Dark Reigh spawned an expansion for itself and a sequel (Prequel storywise) Dark Reigh 2. Rise of Nations beautiful game to say the least. Grey Goo I wanted to play it but I couldn't find a physical copy at the time. So it past to me. Kohan 2 is the first time I heard of it I might check it out. That was such a trip through memory lane, thank you.
One of the cult games that still lives on thanks to the community is Warzone 2100. Post-apoc rts where yiu design your own units and throw massive armies at each other. Now developed as an open source project by fans. Amother unique one was Dragonshard, based on the D&D lore, had some unique approaches with heavy focus on hero units
A good Tactical RTS that no one ever talked about is Force 21. It's pretty much the first Endwar. Also, no talk about Wargame RTS base of the 80s movie. It had some interesting old school graphics.
RISE OF NATIONS- THEY KEEP ON RISING! also 2 more are Conflict Zone - Played demo of it in 2002 as a kid. I remember war journalists in the game. and Earth 2160 instantly recognisable main menu music, and great rts on mars
So many great memories, really long time since I played impossible creatures but went back to it for a long time, but now I don't think I even have the cd any more. One quirky old game I'd chuck in there: 7th legion. Because command and conquer style gameplay but with mechs with large missiles on their backs and lazer raptors Kknd still has a semi active community I think and some mod/recoding work done by it. Just remember: It's a war for oil, humanity and it is for kids!
My pick unfortunately is not on the list. Urban assault. A blend of first persion action and rts. You control a host station which can create units. You can order them around or take direct control, you move about the map, conquer territories to bolster your unit production and fight different enemy host stations. Each station has some unique units and playstyles. Your objective is to defeat the enemy host stations and survive the onslaught.
@@LTGamingRUclips yeah a lot of these games deserve a second lease on life. Many great innovative mechanics and gameplay loops have been forgotten. Some were ahead of their time, maybe someone sees your list, plays a game and makes something new and exciting based on these old games. Loving the channel, keep it up.
Great list, per the usual! I half-expected to see Tzar: The Burden of the Crown on here as that's another obscure RTS that not many recall. Lot's of hours spent sending ninjas off to smite the bad guys in that one!
I would add that Ground crontrol has some of the most satisfying explosions ever made. It truly one of those games that needs a sequel. Some AA should give it a spin.
Battle Realms, a blast from the past. Cool video. However, it seems that RTS games have relevance now, many cool games are popping out. Did you look at Immortal Gates of Pyre? I participated in the play test 2 weeks ago and it was refreshing.
I think Battle for Middle Earth needs an honorable mention. I feel like this was the last good RTS before things started dying down.
BfME2 was god tier
One of the best games ever imo. People still play it in fact, on gameranger since the official server was shut down many years ago. It even has a fan patch that fixes many bugs and balance issues between factions. It's a blast and I still play it occasionally.
I am still playing that one from time to time, but yeah! XD
Also Empire At War another good one..
Yeah, bfme2 rotwk with different mods is all I play lol
Earth 2150 (+ Moon Project/Lost Souls) & World War 3 were amazing. Played countless hours against the AI in skirmish mode
Of those forgotten RTS, I often remember Black&White and Dungeon Keeper. These teo were truly exceptional RTS that are now forgotten. I don't know if the Sudden Strike series can be considered forgotten, but it was Sudden Strike that laid the foundations for games like Gates Of Hell.
Great games and if you watch the channel (my recent God Games list) I adore them but I don't know if I consider them pure RTS, I tried to be strict to prevent the list being 100+ games 😆- Tom
@@LTGamingRUclips Oh, I have missed the God Games video! Thanks!
BTW it would be interesting to see a video about how Sudden Strike style games (o base building millitary RTS) evolved and what they have evolved into. I remember after Sudden Strike there was Blitzkrieg series, the Codename: Panzers series, then Men of War and so on.
That is a pretty damn good idea mate! - Tom
I wouldn't call B&W1 as a rts, but B&W2 has RTS elements
And they're not really forgotten, still beloved and talked about even to this day, just had a conversation with my sister yesterday about B&W2 she and her friend used to play it a lot and Dungeon Keeper keeps getting remakes.
I would like to add Warlords Battlecry series, 20 years and not even HD edition or remaster made it definitely forgotten
Yes, good shout here, I am going to have to make a follow up expanded list! - Tom
Warlords is my all time favorite rts game still play it with my brother on steam
Praetorians.. anyone?
Yes
Yes
CORE MEMORY UNLOCKED!!! THANK YOU!!
yes
yes played that
Ground Control 2 is one of my favorites with mod that fixes balance, adjust UI and allow you to play as Terran Empire.
It's really great that you mentioned a lot of lesser-known games that I haven't seen others talk about.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it mate!! - Tom
Warrior Kings was sometthing else. It was a legitimate threat to Total War series, but ended up fading into history
Agreed it could have been a mega series!
Can't believe you didn't mention Total Annihilation. The best RTS ever.
Yeah, but the video is titled **forgotten** RTS games. TA is not forgotten... :)
@@BannorGaming Glad to hear that.
A good list, some interesting games mentioned.
I'd add some more:
Spellforce, R.U.S.E, Total Annihilation, The Kings' Crusade, Call to Arms, Knights of Honor, Earth 2150, Act of War: Direct Action,
Men of War, King Arthur: The Roleplaying Wargame, Perimeter, Castle Strike, World War III: Black Gold, Blitzkrieg 2, Warzone 2100
Conquest: Frontier Wars, No Man's Land, Codename Panzers, Haegmonia: Legions of Iron, Sudden Strike 2, Seven Kingdoms II
Star Trek: Armada, Rise of Legends, War Front: Turning Point, ParaWorld, Nemesis of the Roman Empire, Rush for Berlin
Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising, Imperial Glory, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, Soldiers of Anarchy, Mechcommander
Star Trek: Starfleet Command III, Full Spectrum Warrior, Soldiers: Heroes of World War II, Empires: Dawn of the Modern World
Desert Rats vs. Africa Corps, Order of War, Officers, Metal Fatigue, D&D: Dragonshard, Myth II: Soulblighter, S.W.I.N.E
Emperor: Battle for Dune, Universe at War: Earth Assault, Tzar: The Burden of the Crown, Rising Kingdoms, Joint Task Force
The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom, Warlords Battlecry II, Faces of War, Celtic Kings: Rage of War.
Wow a fantastic list of games there. I made a second video where I touch on some of those as well.
Also Axis and Allies (2004). Interesting WW2 game.
Battle for Middle Earth, Rise and Fall Civilisations at war, 2 more very good RTS games
Rise and fall was the fkn best shame ya can't get it anywhere any more atleast not that I've seen haha the disc version don't work on modern equipment haha
Empire earth 2 was pretty great. Quite impressive the improvements they made over 1, in such a short time
Bfme isn't really hidden or forgotten, but rise & fall is definitely both
Metal Fatigue and Thandor the Invasion. My rts childhood
I did a second list with Metal Fatigue on! Great game
Warrior Kings was fantastic although clunky. Sneaking some fire archers to burn down the enemy city was my fave strategy. Good to know others have seen this gem too!
Did Anyone Hear About "Rise And Fall:Civilizations At War"?
I still play it and have a grand ole time.
Yesss One of the most under appreciated rts games, and its naval warfare was sensational
world in conflict was amazing and deserves a part 2 or something along those lines. KKND had alot of potential and i wouldnt mind that making a comeback of some sort
Yes I can get behind these sequels for sure 😀
So happy you mentioned Dark Reign.
Good to see "Nexus: The Jupiter Incident" recognized. Great game.
Another good Sci-fi RTS game: "Dark Colony" from 1997.
Empire Earth modder, reporting to duty. 🗿
Your service is appreciated sir!
Suddenly the Total Annihilation music came in as you talked about Empire Earth😂
I was a little disappointed. He never even mentioned total annihilation as a comparison point despite how revolutionary it was.
@@Skerra-kk6sm TA completely changed the RTS world. I remember the review in Adrenaline Vault. The reviewer ended with "this is the best game I have played period"
Seriously no Knights & Merchants(1998) was my introduction into the genre and still play it to this day whenever i feel like it.
This list deserves more forgotten classics like:
Tzar
SpellForce
Knights & Merchants
Praetorians
The Nation
Battle for Middle Earth
Army Men RTS is a gem that many people played in their childhood but not many people rate highly.
Haha I def put my time in that game!
Nexus: The Jupiter Incident was one of the hardest games I've ever played! I don't think I ever finished it! Would love to give it another try.
Can you not buy it on steam, I'm sure I've got it on there
They added a version on steam in 2016 I believe. The game was so good for its time and I had a blast in the PVP matches
Nothing has felt as tactically sophisticated as Ground Control did whilst still being visually awesome. The first time I played the demo it blew my 14 year old mind, shame that Ground Control 2 sucks so hard in comparison.
I was really hoping Deserts of Kharak would scratch that itch, and while being a good game on its own, I just didn't get the ground control vibes I was hoping for.
Spellforce. Now, I understand that the franchise is not exactly slept upon, but Spellforce 1 is a completely different beast from its successors !
I don't think I've ever found a game that balances so well having heroes and needing an army anyway : most games either makes heroes super units barely worth investing in (Age of Mythology), or make heroes that can wipe the map clean by themselves, with a base that only need to survive in the meantime (2 and 3 for instance).
Here, your main hero can wipe entire camps if you build it properly, but good luck walking around the map if you haven't rushed making a base first thing ;7
Fun Fact: Since I was a kid I've always been a huge fan of Spellforce 1, I just didn't like the fact that it had no skirmish option.
Years later, Spellforce 2 dropped and it had the skirmish option, you could even play against special races like the undead, BUT: I didn't like the fact that they chose to mix the 6 races from Spellforce 1 into 3 coalitions that didn't make much sense to me.
Another couple of years later - I was 23 years old at the time - I decided to change my profession and had to go back to school again. One of our teachers was pretty chill and asked us about our hobbies and stuff, so I told him that I was into gaming. He got interested and asked me about my favourite genres, which were RTS and RPGs at that time. He smiled and asked me if I had ever heard about the game Spellforce. I laughed and said it was one of my all-time favourites. He was glad to hear that and eventually revealed that he was one of the original devs of this game and only became a teacher because he suffered from burn-out syndrome during the later stages of development and had to promise his wife to change his profession.
I was quiet stunned, I tell you. We talked for a brief while about the game and I told him what I didn't like about Spellforce 1 and 2 and that I wished someone would merge their good parts into one game. He laughed and told me that his son always felt the same way, which had apparently been the reason why he became a game dev just like him and was currently working on Spellforce 3, with the clean races from Spellforce 1 and a skirmish option included.
My jaw dropped and I just said, "They're working on a Spellforce 3?" :D
Finally a list with truly forgotten games. I'm pretty sure I haven't thought about Sumbarine Titans or Warrior Kings once in the last 20+ years.
Adding my 2 cents of nostalgia:
*Poulous III: The Beginning*
+ unique spherical maps
+ innovative 'production' system of unit
+ awesome shaman hero to go and manipulate the map with floods, vulcanoes, tornadoes, swarms of bugs, etc.
+ very smooth and rounded without overcomplicated leveling etc.
1000 hours in EMPIRE EARTH
Ive always liked it more than age of empires. If only it had gotten a proper remake.
Epic game for sure - Tom
KKND (both extreme and krossfire) were really amazing, having a new one would be so cool!
Agreed it had a really fun and unique vibe! - Tom
Sacrafise is most incredible game out there. It's pitty that there's no remake of it
It would be amazing 🤩
Armies of Exigo, damn got a surge of nostalgia:D
Zed was really cool. The map was divided by sectors with factories constantly slowly producing units. The units belonged to the faction controlling the sector at the moment of the end of production. So it was not only about controlling and defending the most sectors but also about timing your attack according to the factory production.
Im glad that Battle Realms is here.
A classic!
LT you nailed every big game from my childhood. thanks for the nostalgia! Though, I would have loved to also see Metal Fatigue on here.
KKnD was the first game I ever owned. This video has made me finally play it to completion.
You are forgetting THE rts game that started it all, Warwind
Beautiful video. Could use a second part with some others like Magic & Mayhem, Populous: The Beginning, Warzone 2100, etc.
Thank you mate and yes really considering a follow up based on the feedback. - Tom
Battle Realms isn't forgotten, still in our hearts
Empires Dawn of the Modern World surely deserves a mention
Bought Impossible Creatures, Nexus & Sacrifice thanks to you. Thank you!
Glad I could help!
Metal Fatigue, Conquest: Frontier Wars and Rise of Legends are my go-to forgotten titles. Always happy when Sacrifice gets a mention though, Grey Goo too.
More underrated or forgotten games like this pleease!
Dominion Storm Over Gift 3 ? War Wind ? Rise of Legends ? Paraworld ? And so many more ! I miss the RTS era, it's slowly coming back but eeeh most interesting ones come back as free to play which will have crazy micro-transactions and it's enough to avoid them !
If I wanted to see proper remasters, I'd say War Wind, Dark Reign and Submarine titans are definitely on my list !
Sacrifice was such a great game. I miss it so much. It had one of the best RTS systems for playing as a mage. The spells were Mana-Costly and not as easy to pull off but that means they were also very impactful. You could literally rip the earth open underneath enemies and plunge them into the depths of the earth. This feels so much better as later fantasy RTS games where you throw fireballs and earthquakes at the enemies and they react like it's a minor inconvenience. This totally defeats the purpose of playing as a mage. I really wish someone would take inspiration from that game and make a spiritual successor.
War breeds would have been a great addition to this list! One of the first RTS I ever played
Myth : The Fallen lords
Sacrifice has got Tim Curry as a voice actor. 'Nuff said, darlings.
Indeed!!
Space Clash: The last frontier. A 1998 unknown spanish rts game. I really loved it. The unit movement was so clumsy but the music, the diplomacy system, the multiple kinds of attacks of the units, and some other things that make for a lot of fun.
world in conflict is the gem on the list in my opinion
Metal Fatigue has a fun mechanic of 3 map layers (Air, Surface, Underground) and customizable mechas (combots) who completely break the game balance XD.
Machines is a RTS where you can also directly commandeer your units like a FPS.
Star Command [Revolution] had an interesting game design with 4 factions with 4 damage types and their own gimmicks also one of the first RTS with unit leveling (game is played on DOS XD).
Warlords Battlecry was successfull enough for releasing a third installment.
Earth 2140 to 2160 had 2140 had fun capture mechanics and 2150 a fun tech tree, too bad 2150 and 2160 lost enemy tech capturing.
Black and White was godly.
Knights & Merchants was fun for it's combination of RTS and city building.
Tzar I remember messing with map editor with my brother and created a map where 3+3 heroes against 3 nations it was fun seeing a small number of units chowing down a giant army.
Hegemonia was a fun space RTS and you can actually steal unique tech.
KKND2 was a great game that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I am SOOOO GLAD to see Ground Control in this list. Was lucky enough to play both the main game and Dark Conspiracy expansion not long after their release and man, they got a piece of my heart. Just a few days ago I was on ModDB looking for GC mods and overhauls to have an excuse to play it again and found the "Aftermath" mod which looked super interesting
Maybe I can revisit some of these to take a look on the channel. Thanks for watching mate!
This video unlocked so many memories
Glad to hear it!! - Tom
One that I felt never got its fair chance to shine was Emperor: Battle for Dune, by Westwood.
The heads of Westwood were still hyper-focused on their C&C franchise at the time, and released Emperor at about the worst possible time inbetween releases of hotly anticipated popular RTS games (including RA2, and several others).
The 3D unit modelling, terrain mapping, and unique faction units, combined with classic Westwood live-action cutscenes made for a memorable experience.
Empire Earth was a multiplayer addiction for me for about 10-12 years after it came out. Especially the addition, Art of Conquest, that added the Space Age and space fighter and starship combat. My favorite game type was Modern Era: Islands games. I had a very solid custom civilization that let me rush a large navy, wipe out the enemy, then use guided missile subs to finish off the enemy on land (along with masses of carrier based fighters.) I also really like the Middle Ages games. I had fun coming up with new ways to torment my enemies (such as a civilization that used priest towers. They converted enemy troops just like priests in Age of Empires 2. I combined this with a Wonder that allowed multiple conversions to happen at once, then took the special Cloaking ability for my Town Halls in my civ. I finished up by making a ton of trebuchets. So if you attacked, you were being converted by invisible towers you couldn't see, losing your soldiers to my side, while you got pounded on by a massive amount of trebuchets that were also invisible. Make it through all that and you had to fight your own troops that had switched sides. Made more than a few people rage quit with that one.)
Always wanted a Lotus campaign in Battle Realms. Love that game.
Battle Realms is a great game, played it all the time as a kid. I’ve never played any other RTS like it
Rise and Fall Civilizations at War is always one that stands out to me - it was fairly simplistic but did have a few different ideas and two decent campaigns
Finally somebody mentions Original War! I stand by it being a complete hidden gem, an amazing game especially when you get into it.
Love that game, total gem
On Steam it randomly gets updates and patches too, like last one was in April, and modders are still working on their own custom campaigns and balance mods
Saga - Rage of the Vikings was my favourite forgotten RTS. For its time it was a pretty complex and immersive game.
I wish we had something like that today. :
I will check this out!
@@LTGamingRUclips Another two really good ones are
1. Majesty - The Fantasy Kingdom Sim
and
2. Tsar - The Burden of the Crown
God, good times. :
Impossible creatures was a childhood game for me. Got a demo disk from a magazine at a gas station when i was a kid
I was 7th on American Conquest ladder and I played half of the list, I have a great story to tell about each of them. I can't forget the time I was pursued by my brother on Battlezone, almost no hp left on my little vessel, I jumped out of it and sniped him (you can snipe the pilot throught the copit) while he was finishing my vessel. We never played again after that^^
Duuuuude! I was just thinking of Armies of Exigo the other day, except I couldn´t remember it´s name to save my life. Then it just came up in your list and as soon as I watched the graphics, it all came back to me, taking me back to 2004 when I was obsessed with WC3 and looking for any game that could scratch that itch.
Then I thought, "yeah, and there was that other rpg/rts hybrid I also played around that time. You were an elf figthing off against a zombie apocalypse or something,.. what was it´s name?" And it was Heroes of Annihilated Empires! THE NEXT GAME ON THE LIST!
Haha that is probably the best story I have heard from this list! Glad you reconnected with those games! - Tom
Warrior kings has an active modding community, you can find people that play warrior kings battles(second game) in multiplayer fielding massive armies. :)
What an amazing list, would love to see you tackle some other categories with these larger lists too.
This was a great reminder of many of these games for me.....and that I am getting old 😅
Thanks man! We are considering a few more for sure! - Tom
Great list!
Was almost shocked when I realized I played EVERY game on it! Great stuff, and it feels that you really love and know your games. Thanks for nostalgia and realization that most of those games are STILL better than most modern ones
Glad you enjoyed it! It was a blast to make and recall all the good times, think I gotta do a follow up from the amount of suggestions I got to try out. - Tom
@@LTGamingRUclips
Absolutely, go for it!!
Rise and fall was a great game with RTS with 3d person hero that you could play slashing and climbing towers, shooting your bow ans great fun! Not alot of people know about it
No one has even mentioned Rise of Legends! That game was AMAZING!!! I loved the graphics, the mechanics, the Lore 👌🏻
Its a lot better than Rise of Nations and more obscure.
I’ve always loved playing Rise of Nations, but lately, new titles like Gates of Pyre with their rich lore are popping up, and they’re really hitting the spot.
Conflict Zone - it wasn't perfect, but bringing public opinion into the fight against terrorists was a feature I quite liked.
I will check it out, thanks for the suggestion - Tom
Very glad you have Impossible Creatures and Empire Earth on this list! 2 Of my favourite RTS games from when I was very young, and I recently replayed Impossible Creatures on Steam. Kind of hoping for a remake/remaster one day XD
Also, just want to add: One reason why Empire Earth also died is because of its lacklustre sequels.
@@epicsheepgamer7002 Agreed. The original was hands down one of the most replayable, varied and enjoyable multiplayer RTS games ever to exist. In addition to the numerous map types and time periods, there was also custom scenarios players could create that totally changed the game, and players created some great ones. Every time you played a different scenario or game type, it was as if you were playing a totally different game, and that was amazing. You could also set what Ages the game took place in, locking it into a specific period or allowing a specific range of advancement from any Age to any Age as long as it was in order. But the sequels lost what made the original game so special, and the series just died out.
I'm surprised how many games there were I didn't even know. And some I just forgot, thanks for bringing the memories back (hello Battle Realms).
One that'S missing here is "Metal Fatigue". Released in 2000 (and re-released in 2018) it had 3D graphics and Combat Mechs that could be upgraded by salvaged parts.
Thanks for the list to check out, I've had that RTS itch recently after all the Stormgate news and Blizzard messing up WC3 Reforged so I appreciate the options
Glad you enjoyed it mate! - Tom
How strange. At those times we wished, we had the graphics seen in later games, and today we remember those romantic times of early gaming.
Thank you for bringing back the memory. Glad that you mentioned Kohan, it's really an underrated gem. I'd also like to mention Warlord battlecry series
.
I think another list is brewing! Thank you for watching mate - Tom
Kudos for including American Conquest, a gem among the games depicting exploration era. In my opinion is way better, more historically accurate and more immerisive than Age of Empire III.
As honroable mention I would also mention Tzar: The Burden of the Crown and Praetorians
Populous the Beginning was wonderful. Spent many hours playing the demo and later the full game.
9:47 Ivan: Don't shoot! I am not soldat! Yankee: Oh, cool. You are on holidays, right? < all hapening in prehistoric Siberia. I loved that game XD
Can't believe I never heard about Nexus: The Jupiter Incident!
Glad you found a new one!
I miss the KKND and the bunker who dropped random characters like the special 4x4.
Star Wars Empire At War worth this list too, was pretty fun the blank areas where you only could pass with spaceships.
Let me add 2 great ones - Conquest Frontier War and Kingdom Under Fire: War of Heroes
Perimeter and Black&White are unique and deserve to be mentioned in that list
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, Armies of Exigo and Kohan 2 have one thing in common: Jeremy Soule soundtracks. Also i would add to the list: Rise of Legends, Universe at War, Rising Kingdoms and Total Annihilation: Kingdoms.
Didn't expect "Sacrifice" because I could call it a "Tactical Action RPG" yet I loved to see it mentioned in a list of games. Armies of Exigo is a... lost game literally since its studio bankruptsy an the IP somewhat missing. Loved the Cthulu esthetic of the "Fallen". Dark Reigh spawned an expansion for itself and a sequel (Prequel storywise) Dark Reigh 2. Rise of Nations beautiful game to say the least. Grey Goo I wanted to play it but I couldn't find a physical copy at the time. So it past to me. Kohan 2 is the first time I heard of it I might check it out. That was such a trip through memory lane, thank you.
Upvote for mentioning empire earth!
One of the cult games that still lives on thanks to the community is Warzone 2100. Post-apoc rts where yiu design your own units and throw massive armies at each other. Now developed as an open source project by fans.
Amother unique one was Dragonshard, based on the D&D lore, had some unique approaches with heavy focus on hero units
A good Tactical RTS that no one ever talked about is Force 21. It's pretty much the first Endwar.
Also, no talk about Wargame RTS base of the 80s movie. It had some interesting old school graphics.
Ah man, I remember nexus having some of the best space explosions I'd ever seen, such a shame they never made a second
RISE OF NATIONS- THEY KEEP ON RISING!
also 2 more are Conflict Zone - Played demo of it in 2002 as a kid. I remember war journalists in the game. and Earth 2160 instantly recognisable main menu music, and great rts on mars
So many great memories, really long time since I played impossible creatures but went back to it for a long time, but now I don't think I even have the cd any more.
One quirky old game I'd chuck in there: 7th legion. Because command and conquer style gameplay but with mechs with large missiles on their backs and lazer raptors
Kknd still has a semi active community I think and some mod/recoding work done by it. Just remember: It's a war for oil, humanity and it is for kids!
Glad you got to stroll down memory lane! I need to check out 7th legion for a potential follow up vid! Thanks for the suggestion.
Theocracy (2000) was one of my favorite.
My pick unfortunately is not on the list. Urban assault. A blend of first persion action and rts. You control a host station which can create units. You can order them around or take direct control, you move about the map, conquer territories to bolster your unit production and fight different enemy host stations. Each station has some unique units and playstyles. Your objective is to defeat the enemy host stations and survive the onslaught.
I did not know this game! I really like the look of it though, I think I am going to have to play all the suggestions and make a second list!!- Tom
@@LTGamingRUclips yeah a lot of these games deserve a second lease on life. Many great innovative mechanics and gameplay loops have been forgotten. Some were ahead of their time, maybe someone sees your list, plays a game and makes something new and exciting based on these old games. Loving the channel, keep it up.
Armies of Exigo!!! I was on top players online ranking back then. Holly shit i lovd that game soo much...
Great list, per the usual! I half-expected to see Tzar: The Burden of the Crown on here as that's another obscure RTS that not many recall. Lot's of hours spent sending ninjas off to smite the bad guys in that one!
I have not played this one! Added to the list, it looks awesome- Tom
Y that one is awesome actually play it on steam to this day sometimes:)
I would add that Ground crontrol has some of the most satisfying explosions ever made. It truly one of those games that needs a sequel. Some AA should give it a spin.
Great list, you hit on some of may favourites, I would add Warwind.
Thanks man! I will go take a look at this!
Battle Realms, a blast from the past. Cool video. However, it seems that RTS games have relevance now, many cool games are popping out. Did you look at Immortal Gates of Pyre? I participated in the play test 2 weeks ago and it was refreshing.
Yes I made an Upcoming List recently on RTS as well. It is making a comeback! - Tom
I will add Praetorians (2003).
Underrated gem.
War Wind anyone ? Found it very underrated.
I'll check it out!