Real-Time Strategy is one of the greatest and in my opinion the best, video game genres. However, the endless potential for intense gameplay which elevates it, also makes it seem unreachable for many newcomers. The majority of good RTS games are characterized by enormous complexity reachable only at the top of an intimidating learning curve.
True, many will put in the time and effort necessary to properly enjoy an RTS, but most won't. This majority of games will either reject the genre outright or seek help. Unfortunately, the first thing a curious beginner will find when searching for RTS content on the internet will be an army of weathered veterans spouting a river of foreign jargon with blisteringly fast and incomprehensible gameplay.
The worst part is that RTS games themselves refuse to make an honest effort to create an approachable new player experience. And while, yes you could just set any game on easy mode and coast through, you won't come out at the other end understanding what makes the RTS genre great.
No, no wait! Don't go, there is good news. I have for you ten games that go the extra mile. Games with no merciless dumping of info or lazy text tutorials. These ten masterpieces not only will accept newcomers with open arms, not only will they take the time to teach you their own mechanics, they will properly induct you into the world of RTS games and their philosophy. Then, no learning curve will be too steep. Oh, and you will have fun along the way, that's a given.
10. Plague inc
Starting off gently, Plague Inc is definitely the simplest game on this list. The core gameplay loop is simple: you are a pathogen (virus, bacteria, parasite, etc), you chose a county on Earth to start in and you begin to infect people. As you infect more and more, you gain points you can use to mutate yourself into a more potent form, increasing your severity and transmissibility. Choosing mutations carefully allows you to jump natural and man-made barriers to spread across borders and oceans.
You are on your way to infecting the whole world. You are inevitable. Not so fast. As you spread and as your victims display more obvious symptoms you are discovered by scientists all over the world. Unavoidably, the game turns into a race between pathogens and medicine, where strategy will decide the victor.
On PC console and mobile, Plague Inc provides a very intuitive gameplay experience, with a very simple control scheme, excellently guiding event prompts and choices whose effect is tangible visually and mechanically. An entry-level RTS through and through, playing Plague Inc won't make you an RTS expert by any means. However, if your experience with video games is limited (especially strategy games), I would recommend giving Plague Inc a spin before any other games on this list.
9. Hearts of Iron IV
Now on to a game that's everything but simplistic. Being a grand strategy game by Paradox Interactive, Hearts of Iron is designed from the ground up to satisfy the whims of even the most demanding RTS player. The player who plays RTS to live the experience of overcoming insurmountable odds by sheer strategic thinking and game knowledge (Also there are the WWII roleplayers but we aren't talking about them today).
Set in World War 2, Hearts of Iron IV allows you to select any country on the map and play out the historical sequence of events or a somewhat randomized one. Every aspect of the war effort on the grand scale is up to you. From the selection of battle lines and international politicking to designing your war machines and recruiting the right leaders.
Hearts of Iron IV doesn't sound like a beginner-friendly game and for good reason. And yet, it achieves something no other grand strategy RTS I know of has done. It presents an approachable and hands-on tutorial. The new player is called to manage the then simple colony of Libya and then go to war for independence against the Italians.
A genius introduction to all major mechanics of the game in a confined manner, a historical context, and integrated into what can become the beginning of a full playthrough if the player chooses. Even after that, you can select the complexity of your next playthrough indirectly via the country selection.
Liberate Libya, on to defending Greece, and a couple of playthroughs later you will be charging the red army into Berlin. Hearts of Iron IV is a great RTS for those willing to put in the effort and jump right into the heart of hardcore grand RTS goodness. But beware, the learning curve will get steep eventually. Be ready.
8. Age of Mythology
In a more personal entry, I present to you the game that years ago got me into the RTS genre. The game is set, as the title suggests, in the mythic age, with figures of ancient legend, like Odysseus and Achilles. In the campaign, you play as Arkantos and his followers as they fight to save their world from an even more ancient threat.
The gameplay of all three factions follows the same principles: Gather resources, build your base, recruit soldiers, monsters, and heroes, and finally destroy your enemy. Of course, there is more complexity than that, but this game wouldn't be on this list if it couldn't explain them better than a few of my words on a page.
Age of Mythology was one of the pioneers of RTS. It was among those games that set the standard of what an RTS is like today. One of those standards is merging ease of access with endless potential for strategic depth. Why am I recommending an old, clunky game over a newer one? Aside from being able to vouch for Age of Mythology's ability to make one fall in love with RTS, its slow, clunky nature acts as a speedbump between players and the desire to improve mechanically.
So, you might as well take a step back and watch your own actions and learn things no tutorial can teach you. You will learn more than how to play an RTS. You will learn how to be an RTS player. Not to mention the campaign's narrative is a blast.
7. Battlefleet Gothic: Armada
I suppose it wouldn't be an RTS list of mine if I didn't bring up an installment of the Battlefleet Gothic: Armada series... First things first, if you are a Warhammer 40k fan, drop everything and play this game and its sequel now! It's a love letter, written to you. Now, for everyone else, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada is a SCI-FI RTS where you command a fleet of spaceships in a 2D plane. You have absolute control of each vessel. You can set the speed, engagement range, target priority, movement, and ability activations.
In the campaign mode, you play a series of missions, each with several variations of winning conditions. Progressing earns you points with which you can buy new ships to bolster your fleet, eventually ending up with the most powerful armada in the sector. An armada to face the greatest threat to humanity's very existence.
I could go on and on about the entrancing atmosphere and narrative epicness of Battlefleet Gothic: Armada, so I'll concentrate on what makes it great for beginners instead. Once again, the game includes a great tutorial, teaching you the mechanics organically in the first missions.
What no other game in this list has, however, is the favoring of precision and decisiveness over multitasking. A handful of ships is all that you'll have to worry about, not armies, and the idea of “shoot or ram the Xenos and heretics to win” is more than intuitive.
6. Age of Empires 4
Bringing in the best aspects of its predecessors, games that defined a generation and shaped a genre, Age of Empires 4 marries the wisdom of the classics with this decade's technology. The result is a game that delivers the same gameplay principles of Age of Mythology in faithfully historical recreations of the great military campaigns that delivered Europe to the renaissance.
Age of Empires is unique in its approach to introducing new units and mechanics. Other games rely on an artificial tech tree-like progression of units, abilities, and mechanics. Here, however, the initiation into the players of gameplay is made more approachable by being tied to historical events and the progression of technology through the centuries.
Adding to that, its philosophy of having the different factions play very similarly draws the players' attention to how impactful the details that set them apart are. Understanding that brings you very close to grasping some of the hardest-to-learn aspects of RTS games.
5. Command and Conquer: Generals
Ok, one last oldie but goldie. Command and Conquer: Generals is in my opinion the ruling king of classic style RTS games set in a somewhat modern setting. The player is placed in the role of a general in one of three factions, each with its own campaigns. The USA favors elite infantry, high-tech gadgets, and air superiority. China relies on mass infantry and unstoppable tank formations. GLA resorts to asymmetric guerilla warfare and ruthless tactics to match their foes.
Command and Conquer: Generals' setting is as approachable as it gets, with the player able to draw from events in their own life to understand each unit's role before the game even gets a chance to explain. As an extra, the game's excellently paced campaigns and nearly non-existent tech tree in skirmish make access to the explosive action of modern warfare easier than ever without sacrificing what makes it a thoroughbred classic RTS.
4. Total War series
I see you, you who plays turn-based strategy games but has rejected RTS. The games of the Total War series are the perfect blend of both. You play a turn-based grand strategy game on a large-scale map, with all the bells and whistles of the greatest titles, but when the time for battle comes you get to control your armies in real-time.
There is a tragic amount of players who stick to turn-based strategy over RTS due to fear of the intensity that comes with real-time gameplay. What better way is it to make the transition than a game that brings the best of both worlds? A game where success in battle relies partly on your skills as a grand-scale strategist. And the best part? You get to choose if you want to take control of your army or just let the game calculate the most likely scenario. In other words, you get to play the RTS side only when the battle is too important, or too fun to miss out on.
3. Bloons tower defense 6
I bet you didn't see that coming, did you? Yes, a game from the series that started as an insanely simple flash game. Yes, I am serious, hear me out. Bloons tower defense 6 is a game where the player places monkey-themed towers to stop waves of balloon-themed enemies from going from one side of the map to the other. The waves get progressively stronger and the towers can be upgraded to deal with them. That's it, mostly.
Bloons tower defense 6 might seem like an insultingly childish game at first, and it can be, at first, but it can get as difficult as you want it to be. That's right, you can play a map where you mindlessly place and upgrade the most basic tower to win, or you can raise the difficulty up and up and up until it becomes the most difficult game you have ever played. Or you can stop at any point along the way, skip steps, go back, or do anything you want. Bloons tower defense 6 is an introduction to RTS at any pace the player decides.
2. League of Legends
A game that needs no introduction to any gamers who haven't been living under a rock for a decade. It's a MOBA. Since you are here, you know how it works, I know how it works, let's move on. Whether a MOBA is even an RTS is debatable, though I do lean towards “yes”, but it's beside the point in this context.
RTS or not, a MOBA will make you a better RTS player, and without even asking you to control more than one unit. It will teach you snap strategy decisions without quest markers. It will force you to outwit your opponent without pitting you against a cheating AI.
Not convinced? Let's touch on two things that supplement the game's decent tutorial. First, playing with and against other players of a similar experience is the best way to have your own improvement forge the learning curve instead of the other way around. Secondly, due to the game's age and fame, you could cut through the endless content about esports and dig out some truly incredible fan-made guides which game developers should take notes from.
1. Starcraft 2
It couldn't have been any other game on the top of this list, or most lists regarding positive aspects of RTS games. Blizzard's magnum opus, Starcraft 2 is from a technical aspect the greatest RTS ever made. With the gameplay fundamentals shared with the classics like Age of Empires and Command and Conquer, Starcraft 2 adds a twist. It is an asymmetrical RTS, meaning that the three factions are more different than they are alike, with their own core mechanics and strategies.
To get more specific, let's look at the first campaign, conveniently the best, most beginner friendly and the free one of the four in the complete game. Wings of Liberty teaches the class on how to induct a player into a game's mechanics. Each mission introduces a new unit and a new aspect of gameplay to then nudge the player into using it to counter this specific mission's threat.
Or not. Most missions have been designed so the new option is usually the best but by no means the only one. In many cases, in fact, the player could find an approach even better than the one the mission was designed around. Even more impressively, it achieves this without forcing the missions into a fully linear progression and featuring the ability to upgrade certain units over others between missions.
I could go all day, but my final words would be these: Starcraft 2 is a must-try for any gamer, especially fans of RTS or those who seek to dip their toes into the genre. The best part is free after all, what do you have to lose? And lucky you, the game's modding scene just so happens to have a renaissance lately.
