When AoE3 came out in 2005, my mind was blown. It has the best artillery in any Age game, period. It has the most flavour, depth, customizability, immersion, and personality. It quickly became everything I ever wanted out of an RTS, and that holds true to this day. You can tell ES poured their heart out making the game. It isn't without flaws, and DE has fixed some of them, but man, is it a joy to play. Sad it doesn't get the respect it deserves.
Yep little kid me was blown away, was the first AoE for me, really only played Warcraft III and StarCraft before that. Also Empire at War. I remember the cannons vividly, as the ragdolls were funny AF. I remember a couple times where physics were kinda fked and some bodies were sent flying across the map. Even did some mapmaking. Some people didn't like the shipments thing, but I did. It helped you to invest more into a certain nation, and some even allowed for unique ways to play. ..... Or you just get factories and pump out heavy cannons lol.
When it was released, it was too good for its time and brought average grade gaming PCs to their knees that people avoid playing water maps. I remember the demo almost killed my laptop in sea battle. Today I have to say out of the remasters, AoE 3 is the one that got the most orphaned treatment. They only add new civs for basic inclusivity sake but not much else. Unlike 2 which got that plus they kept upgrading the old content to balance the new additions. I wish they actually pay more attention to 3 just like they do with 2 and 4.
I downloaded a version of the game from some page online, but the game speed is tied to the frame rate so the units are very fast and things die extremely quickly. There’s a way to change the files with OS Big editor to lower the frame rate but I’m not sure how to do it.
Empire at War still getting the attention it deserves makes me happy. What a stellar game. There's a really active and impressive modding community too! Check out the EaWX mods (Thrawn's Revenge and Fall of the Republic). They're particularly good! On another note... how did we make it through the first minute with no mention of StarCraft, arguably the GOAT of competitive golden-age RTS.
I honestly never imagined Sins of a Solar Empire would ever get a sequel, and for those who remember that the Vasari faction were running from a really powerful unknown enemy, they're even planning to add a 4th faction which many are speculating will be this unknown enemy. Really looking forward to how the game will turn out!
We are living the indis golden age era thanks to the rise of pc gaming and steam platform patronage.. On the other hand we are witnessing the demise of AAA games… PC golden age =RTS golden age.
Wow i didnt know theres rlly cool up and coming rts games from smaller devs! Thanks Andy for giving the spotlight to them and this caused me to wishlist Age of Respair.
Old strategy games are kept alive with Amazing modding communities just look at all the great mods still being updated for Dawn Of War and Empire At War.
Well that was a great summary at the end and I totally agree, it is similar with total war with so many playing the older historical titles because although the new ones still have "new" feature people prefer the older games as they are better balanced and tend to be more fun. Another game that was not technically rts, cities skylines 2, has usually less player than cities skylines 1 due to it being a low fps graphically improved clone of cs1 with less features (from dlc content). Hopefully with the new age system in civ 7, although many won't like it, and with towns aswell Civ7 is showing some new innovation however some of this has already been done in other similar games like humankind, etc.
I recently dug up Dawn of War 2 which then reminded me of the CoH series. But one could argue that they are more tactical than strategy especially Dawn of War 2.
The amount of RTS I enjoyed as a kid is insane, I started with WC2 when I was like 6-7 years old! I will never forget what WC3 did for me, including their custom maps.
Basically, we're in the Renaissance era of the RTS genre. New indie developers are popping up and creating their RTS games with new concepts and mechanics that was never thought of during the Golden age. Im not sure if the RTS genre will return to its former glory. But we've definetely ressurected the genre thanks to these creative devs
More upcoming RTS games (based mostly on my Steam account wishlist): Beyond All Reason, Sanctuary: Shattered Sun and Industrial Annihilation that are new Total Annihilation-likes Global Conflagration which is a mix of CnC Generals, Etherium (from the developer of Battlefleet Gothic Armada games) and Company of Heroes Barkhan, a callback to Dune 2000 without the license troubles from the Herbert Estate Falling Frontier which is a mix of Planetary Annihilation and Sins of a Solar Empire Ratten Reich that is currently in Early Access version D.O.R.F. that is a mix of KKnD and CnC Red Alert 2 Red Chaos: The Strict Order Tempest Rising. That is all.
Command & Conquer didn't die out, EA killed it by strangling every aspect of it and throwing it into the trash when their suit morons decided "Hey man, this is doing good money, but we could do shittier different games and make EVEN MORE MONEY".
My first RTS game I played was warcraft 2 after that I was hocked. I am so glad they made a remake. But saddle, we will probably never get a battle for middle earth or dune 2000 or emperor battle for dune remake due to licensing issues. But EA should try to give us a command and conquer generals remake. I also think someone should buy the studio that made the empire earth games and give us a remake too.
Same of the games you mentionned have very small dedicated communities and they are usually very reluctant to change and have very strong nostalagia. That's the reason why lots of them are not switching to the new games.
@@LegendofNelda the archetypes of these games are, let’s say: RTS: Warcraft, Age of Empires , C&C GS: Paradox games, Total War 4X: Civilization The important thing is though that a lot of these share similarities, so a grand strategy game can be both RTS and 4X technically (EU4), for example, but it is very rare for a game labeled «RTS» as a selling point to be a grand strategy game. Grand strategy games tend to be much deeper and all-encompassing top-down games.
The fundamental problem with so many recent rts games is that they all wanna be the next Starcraft. So they massively invest in the pro scene right off the bat before there’s a real dedicated playerbase that actually has fun with the game
I'm more of a Total War player when it comes to RTS but for the past 5 months I've been playing Crusader Kings 2 and I plan to transition into Europa Universalis 4 sometime soon. Specifically for Total War I got Medieval 2 for free through their website and initially I hated it because it was janky and I couldn't get it to full screen but once I was able to play full screen and work with the pathfinding I was playing a game that showed you mechanics that are in future titles but you wouldn't notice such as how armour and shield blocking works and the importance of keeping rebels and enemy armies out of your lands due to destruction. To your point on older games having more people play them, I notice this *a lot* with Napoleon: Total War which is my favourite title in the series. Even without the chat the multiplayer scene is still loaded in the day. Creative Assembly also updated the sound design because of a bug that would not make some sounds work. In fact, I was just checking Steam Charts and Empire has more players currently than Three Kingdoms. The latest title in my Steam library is Thrones of Britannia but I have Troy on Epic Games (free). I'll patiently wait for all three Warhammer games to be 75% off before buying.
Ironically Empire at War is growing due to petroglyphs support of the modding community and teams of dedicated modders. No matter what your playstyle there is a mod for you. It does make me wish for a new engine or innovative gameplay loop though, there is a limit to what modders can achieve with single core processing and the jank it creates fan be jarring sometimes
Its the time of the Remasters... most of them cheap AAA productions wanting to cash on nostalgia. AoE4, Homeworld 3, CoH3 were the only ones who released full fledged games. The rest were indie games.
i noticed that you didnt talk about RTS games set in the more modern era and smaller titles. Some examples we have the upcoming game broken arrow that has its 2nd open beta up and running right now and then warno. when it comes to smaller titles we have like gates of hell ostfront or ultimate admiral: dreadnoughts. also i would love to see a video around mods to empire at war.
We are "old" people, the RTS from the old days remind us our youth. 15 years ago the game were not better (age 4 has better mechanics than age 2), but I was neither working neither paying bills.
@@bnjmndrf1055 that’s correct of course, but the point stands in that AOE4 actually isn’t that different from AOE2 at its core, nor in most of its design. I just wish it had been more ambitious and dared to step outside of the boundaries it created for itself all those years ago
@AndysTake sure but Black Ops 6 is not very different from the last call of duty I played before it (which is Modern Warfare 2, the first one long time ago). For age 4 the main issue where the broken siege balance at launch, so lot of people stop playing the game and never come back. The fact that in standard game (the ranked type game) you can win by holding sacred points, or destroying enemy landmark, or holding a wonder correct a big design flow of age2. Same with the ability to trade with Gaia market reinvented the endgame issues. The main reason why age 2 DE is more popular is nostalgia, another one an esport scene highly motivated (the star from age 2 like Hera, Daut, Viper went back to age 2 because after the first tournament the top age 4 player where mainly StarCraft 2 players) with no interest to move to a newer game (more risk, and less money), and higher cashprize (funny stuff the highest cash price are mainly due to Microsoft sponsorship)
No there are not cheaper to make, otherwhise we would have less remake. Another proof is that RTS is one of the genre that has indies do the least because it is hard to make.
nice video, but in regards to the resurgance of the rts ganre could have netioned titles like Stormgate, ZeroSpace, Battle Ace, Immortal Gates of Pyre and Tempest Rising as some of the most prominent titles leading the resurgance movement, not to mention dozens of smaller project that have flooded steam in the last year or two. RTS players are eating good in 2024. Ohh... Warcraft 3 Reforged 2.0 and WC1&2 Remasters also dropped 2 days ago soo there's that too
Hehe, there i learned our age difference 😂, for me the 3s came later. I grew up with AoE 1+2, red alert and Warcraft 2. Not to badmouth the later entries though. Uhh, and Homeworld!
@@AndysTake it may be me getting a bit older, but I would say that AoE2 was the best. They had buildings that fit in size compared to units. SO much atmosphere and charm, and some great campaigns. Plus, the intro was superb. I was younger for AoE and Warcraft 2, so it's mostly nostalgia speaking there. But I recall the music as really good, and for a young nerd it was heaven ;) I recall having a crush on Tanya from the first Red Alert.
Why was it abandoned* Well because of 3 things, the era of everyone chasing cod/fps game money, which led to more and more focus moving away from rts games to fps/rpg type of games. Meanwhile RTs genre got taken over by the multiplayer/esports cult people, every rts game even the smaller ones that came out was judged based on its balance/co-op/multiplayer/esports potential, this is partially because of starcraft 2 massive name and both companys and fans chasing that. And finally monetization, fps/rpg games are more easily cut up for DLC/skins/microtransactions, where rts games cant be.
When AoE3 came out in 2005, my mind was blown. It has the best artillery in any Age game, period. It has the most flavour, depth, customizability, immersion, and personality. It quickly became everything I ever wanted out of an RTS, and that holds true to this day. You can tell ES poured their heart out making the game. It isn't without flaws, and DE has fixed some of them, but man, is it a joy to play. Sad it doesn't get the respect it deserves.
@@DuVtrell agreed, those visuals were mind blowing too!
Yep little kid me was blown away, was the first AoE for me, really only played Warcraft III and StarCraft before that. Also Empire at War.
I remember the cannons vividly, as the ragdolls were funny AF. I remember a couple times where physics were kinda fked and some bodies were sent flying across the map. Even did some mapmaking.
Some people didn't like the shipments thing, but I did. It helped you to invest more into a certain nation, and some even allowed for unique ways to play. ..... Or you just get factories and pump out heavy cannons lol.
It got overshadowed by AOE2, which is one of the greatest.
When it was released, it was too good for its time and brought average grade gaming PCs to their knees that people avoid playing water maps. I remember the demo almost killed my laptop in sea battle. Today I have to say out of the remasters, AoE 3 is the one that got the most orphaned treatment. They only add new civs for basic inclusivity sake but not much else. Unlike 2 which got that plus they kept upgrading the old content to balance the new additions. I wish they actually pay more attention to 3 just like they do with 2 and 4.
What year you were born anyway?
I desperately want a remaster of the battle for middle earth series
you and me both
I think there is an independent group working on that, dont let the name scare you but I think its Battle For Middle-Earth: Reforged
@@PNarbz123 lmao about the name. But sadly I think it’s abandoned? Haven’t been any updates in like forever
I downloaded a version of the game from some page online, but the game speed is tied to the frame rate so the units are very fast and things die extremely quickly. There’s a way to change the files with OS Big editor to lower the frame rate but I’m not sure how to do it.
Age of the ring mod for BFME2:Rotwk brings lots of new stuff, highly recommend
Empire at War still getting the attention it deserves makes me happy. What a stellar game. There's a really active and impressive modding community too! Check out the EaWX mods (Thrawn's Revenge and Fall of the Republic). They're particularly good!
On another note... how did we make it through the first minute with no mention of StarCraft, arguably the GOAT of competitive golden-age RTS.
Kinda weird seeing you talk about Empire at War, I’m a developer of the Awakening of the Rebellion mod and the coming Awakening of the Clone Wars mod
I just came over from XPGamer's while playing Awakening. You all did an awesome job on it. Looking forward to the Clone Wars mod!
you have no idea how excited I am to play a clone wars mod dipped in the Aotr style
Warcraft 3 and Dawn Of War blew my mind as a kid.
I honestly never imagined Sins of a Solar Empire would ever get a sequel, and for those who remember that the Vasari faction were running from a really powerful unknown enemy, they're even planning to add a 4th faction which many are speculating will be this unknown enemy. Really looking forward to how the game will turn out!
We are living the indis golden age era thanks to the rise of pc gaming and steam platform patronage.. On the other hand we are witnessing the demise of AAA games… PC golden age =RTS golden age.
I miss it :(
Wow i didnt know theres rlly cool up and coming rts games from smaller devs! Thanks Andy for giving the spotlight to them and this caused me to wishlist Age of Respair.
@@Exter33 my pleasure!
Old strategy games are kept alive with Amazing modding communities just look at all the great mods still being updated for Dawn Of War and Empire At War.
Well that was a great summary at the end and I totally agree, it is similar with total war with so many playing the older historical titles because although the new ones still have "new" feature people prefer the older games as they are better balanced and tend to be more fun. Another game that was not technically rts, cities skylines 2, has usually less player than cities skylines 1 due to it being a low fps graphically improved clone of cs1 with less features (from dlc content). Hopefully with the new age system in civ 7, although many won't like it, and with towns aswell Civ7 is showing some new innovation however some of this has already been done in other similar games like humankind, etc.
My all time favs are Rise of Nations and HoI 2
I recently dug up Dawn of War 2 which then reminded me of the CoH series. But one could argue that they are more tactical than strategy especially Dawn of War 2.
Andy: ah good old Warcraft 3
Andy: shows footage of the Reforged version instead of the original.
Me: 😐
@@StormKnight1 lol
@AndysTake don't worry you made a informative video nonetheless.
@@StormKnight1 bless 🙏
The amount of RTS I enjoyed as a kid is insane, I started with WC2 when I was like 6-7 years old! I will never forget what WC3 did for me, including their custom maps.
it was such a vibe, dude
We need Battle For Middle Earth 3 !
@@meftov2762 seconded!
RIP Westwood Studios, I lived right down the street from their headquarters in Las Vegas, was so sad when they were bought by EA.
Basically, we're in the Renaissance era of the RTS genre. New indie developers are popping up and creating their RTS games with new concepts and mechanics that was never thought of during the Golden age.
Im not sure if the RTS genre will return to its former glory. But we've definetely ressurected the genre thanks to these creative devs
Hey Andy, keep an eye out for Empire Eternal. That's going to be epic!
I'll check it out!
Born in 99, this was my childhood right here.
I wouldn't say its back perse, but it does seem like it's slowly clawing its way out of the grave like a resurrected zombie.
it's something :)
if petroglyph doesnt make c@c tiberium sun remaster and red alert 2 remaster i will be so sad
More upcoming RTS games (based mostly on my Steam account wishlist):
Beyond All Reason, Sanctuary: Shattered Sun and Industrial Annihilation that are new Total Annihilation-likes
Global Conflagration which is a mix of CnC Generals, Etherium (from the developer of Battlefleet Gothic Armada games) and Company of Heroes
Barkhan, a callback to Dune 2000 without the license troubles from the Herbert Estate
Falling Frontier which is a mix of Planetary Annihilation and Sins of a Solar Empire
Ratten Reich that is currently in Early Access version
D.O.R.F. that is a mix of KKnD and CnC Red Alert 2
Red Chaos: The Strict Order
Tempest Rising. That is all.
Command & Conquer didn't die out, EA killed it by strangling every aspect of it and throwing it into the trash when their suit morons decided "Hey man, this is doing good money, but we could do shittier different games and make EVEN MORE MONEY".
Their mistake was chasing the CoH audience and going after ESports with C&C 4 instead of making another C&C.
I also wish for the Ground Control series to return. The second game ended with a cliffhanger. It deserves a sequel.
My first RTS game I played was warcraft 2 after that I was hocked. I am so glad they made a remake. But saddle, we will probably never get a battle for middle earth or dune 2000 or emperor battle for dune remake due to licensing issues. But EA should try to give us a command and conquer generals remake. I also think someone should buy the studio that made the empire earth games and give us a remake too.
I need a new battle for middle earth so bad, man... a c&c generals remake or just sequel would be awesome too
Same of the games you mentionned have very small dedicated communities and they are usually very reluctant to change and have very strong nostalagia. That's the reason why lots of them are not switching to the new games.
Here early for a video, especially if it means the rebirth of RTS.
@@legionofrome2967 appreciate it :)
Whats the difference between RTS, Grand Strategy and 4x?
@@LegendofNelda the archetypes of these games are, let’s say:
RTS: Warcraft, Age of Empires , C&C
GS: Paradox games, Total War
4X: Civilization
The important thing is though that a lot of these share similarities, so a grand strategy game can be both RTS and 4X technically (EU4), for example, but it is very rare for a game labeled «RTS» as a selling point to be a grand strategy game. Grand strategy games tend to be much deeper and all-encompassing top-down games.
The fundamental problem with so many recent rts games is that they all wanna be the next Starcraft. So they massively invest in the pro scene right off the bat before there’s a real dedicated playerbase that actually has fun with the game
Been playing Warcraft 1 remastered. Still waiting for a C and C type of game with FMVs
I'm more of a Total War player when it comes to RTS but for the past 5 months I've been playing Crusader Kings 2 and I plan to transition into Europa Universalis 4 sometime soon. Specifically for Total War I got Medieval 2 for free through their website and initially I hated it because it was janky and I couldn't get it to full screen but once I was able to play full screen and work with the pathfinding I was playing a game that showed you mechanics that are in future titles but you wouldn't notice such as how armour and shield blocking works and the importance of keeping rebels and enemy armies out of your lands due to destruction.
To your point on older games having more people play them, I notice this *a lot* with Napoleon: Total War which is my favourite title in the series. Even without the chat the multiplayer scene is still loaded in the day. Creative Assembly also updated the sound design because of a bug that would not make some sounds work. In fact, I was just checking Steam Charts and Empire has more players currently than Three Kingdoms. The latest title in my Steam library is Thrones of Britannia but I have Troy on Epic Games (free). I'll patiently wait for all three Warhammer games to be 75% off before buying.
Starship troopers Terran Command is awesome, and with multiple expansions and ongoing development, it’s in great hands
agreed, love the game!
Ironically Empire at War is growing due to petroglyphs support of the modding community and teams of dedicated modders. No matter what your playstyle there is a mod for you. It does make me wish for a new engine or innovative gameplay loop though, there is a limit to what modders can achieve with single core processing and the jank it creates fan be jarring sometimes
Thanks I didn't know about lines wars. Always nice to discovering new thinks! Did you know about Sanctuary the claim successor of supreme commander?
@@skoub3466 I have not, thanks for letting me know!
Man I miss mud and blood 2
Keeping an eye on Tempest Rising myself. At the current moment really enjoying the Empire at War mods though.
true, Tempest Rising is interesting!
Neat video, Andy!
@@freelancershogun thank you!
Talking about C&C:Generals... shows C&C:Red Alert into clips XD
I still play Dawn of War, Empire Earth, C&C:RA & stronghold 1
Its the time of the Remasters... most of them cheap AAA productions wanting to cash on nostalgia. AoE4, Homeworld 3, CoH3 were the only ones who released full fledged games. The rest were indie games.
Who remembers Total Annihilation?
i noticed that you didnt talk about RTS games set in the more modern era and smaller titles. Some examples we have the upcoming game broken arrow that has its 2nd open beta up and running right now and then warno. when it comes to smaller titles we have like gates of hell ostfront or ultimate admiral: dreadnoughts.
also i would love to see a video around mods to empire at war.
Nice take
We are "old" people, the RTS from the old days remind us our youth. 15 years ago the game were not better (age 4 has better mechanics than age 2), but I was neither working neither paying bills.
@@bnjmndrf1055 that’s correct of course, but the point stands in that AOE4 actually isn’t that different from AOE2 at its core, nor in most of its design. I just wish it had been more ambitious and dared to step outside of the boundaries it created for itself all those years ago
@AndysTake sure but Black Ops 6 is not very different from the last call of duty I played before it (which is Modern Warfare 2, the first one long time ago). For age 4 the main issue where the broken siege balance at launch, so lot of people stop playing the game and never come back. The fact that in standard game (the ranked type game) you can win by holding sacred points, or destroying enemy landmark, or holding a wonder correct a big design flow of age2. Same with the ability to trade with Gaia market reinvented the endgame issues. The main reason why age 2 DE is more popular is nostalgia, another one an esport scene highly motivated (the star from age 2 like Hera, Daut, Viper went back to age 2 because after the first tournament the top age 4 player where mainly StarCraft 2 players) with no interest to move to a newer game (more risk, and less money), and higher cashprize (funny stuff the highest cash price are mainly due to Microsoft sponsorship)
RTS games are remarkably cheaper to make than other game genres. This is a leading reason as to both there fall and there rise
No there are not cheaper to make, otherwhise we would have less remake. Another proof is that RTS is one of the genre that has indies do the least because it is hard to make.
Terminator Dark Fate Defiance was pretty good RTS ...
Just give me Halo Wars 3 but make it more like Halo Wars 1
ah totally forgot about halo wars
Checkout Darfall, it's strategy with heavy RPG hero mechanics 😉
Beyond all reason needs a mention
nice video, but in regards to the resurgance of the rts ganre could have netioned titles like Stormgate, ZeroSpace, Battle Ace, Immortal Gates of Pyre and Tempest Rising as some of the most prominent titles leading the resurgance movement, not to mention dozens of smaller project that have flooded steam in the last year or two. RTS players are eating good in 2024. Ohh... Warcraft 3 Reforged 2.0 and WC1&2 Remasters also dropped 2 days ago soo there's that too
Rebirth for sure... but it won't last long. lol
Guess we should enjoy them while it lasts. 😅
Hehe, there i learned our age difference 😂, for me the 3s came later. I grew up with AoE 1+2, red alert and Warcraft 2.
Not to badmouth the later entries though.
Uhh, and Homeworld!
haha! fun, and how did you find the 1 and 2s compared to the 3s?
@@AndysTake it may be me getting a bit older, but I would say that AoE2 was the best. They had buildings that fit in size compared to units. SO much atmosphere and charm, and some great campaigns. Plus, the intro was superb.
I was younger for AoE and Warcraft 2, so it's mostly nostalgia speaking there. But I recall the music as really good, and for a young nerd it was heaven ;)
I recall having a crush on Tanya from the first Red Alert.
and is for this i like play wars of liberty mod for aoe3
the reason we don't get new rts's is because they don't know how to monetize them.
excluding MS/XBOX (DLCs of Age of Empires 2 DE and 3 DE) and SEGA (DLCs of Total War games and Company of Heroes 2 and 3)
yup, very easy to monetize them as long as you bring out more content like this
RTS kinda died when EA destroyed Command and Conquer serries
you forgot stronghold on list
Dyson sphere program though .......
You forgot empire earth 1/2
soemthing happened elon musk burst onto the scene and greed took over. plus the obsession with multiplayer games was a problem.
C&C Generals. Yet you showed Red Alert 2
What's the game name 3:04
Company of Heroes 3
Dawn of company of heroes?
had a bit of fun with that one
c@c remastered collection my hopefully revive the genre since homeworld 3 well uh sucked
Why is he using footage of AOEIII DE when it would have been better to use the OG in a video like this?
@@MichaelCollins-dl5om easier for me
Why was it abandoned*
Well because of 3 things, the era of everyone chasing cod/fps game money, which led to more and more focus moving away from rts games to fps/rpg type of games.
Meanwhile RTs genre got taken over by the multiplayer/esports cult people, every rts game even the smaller ones that came out was judged based on its balance/co-op/multiplayer/esports potential, this is partially because of starcraft 2 massive name and both companys and fans chasing that.
And finally monetization, fps/rpg games are more easily cut up for DLC/skins/microtransactions, where rts games cant be.