RTS Games I've Played
RTS games are categorized by a primary gameplay loop of making split-second decisions to achieve your goal; pausing may be possible. I've played 39 games in this genre so far.
Each game is scored on my 4-point rating system.
⬅️ You can also go back to all genres
Dungeon Warfare 2
Great tower variety and a system that really rewards and encourages experimentation (by being able to respec at any time for free). Your power level really ramps up as you get more skills and items. Enemy variety is generally interesting and forces you to think on your feet a bit rather than doing the same things every time. Great on iPad.
Against the Storm
Fun game, if a little repetitive. Getting deep into number-go-up systems isn't usually what I go for, so I liked its simplified approach (it's usually easy to see how goods flow and what workers are doing). Meeting objectives was satisfying and the high-tension moments were engaging. But, the upgrades are mostly about tweaking production numbers, so they didn't feel super noticeable or rewarding. There's also no story/campaign. So while it's infinitely replayable, I feel like I had my fun with it and don't need to keep going (despite how many metagame upgrades I left unlocked).
Kingdom Rush Vengeance
Pretty fun! I don't love the amount of micro it requires, but the customizable tower loadouts and upgrades are improved from previous games. Story is cute and there's lots of little easter eggs to find.
Aegis Defenders
Great in co-op. Puzzles were good and combat was satisfying. Good upgrade system too. And a story! Really has it all- just don't play it solo.
Pikmin 3
Did a lot right - engaging gameplay, good RTS implementation, decent puzzles, achievements, fun to explore. There's a ton of content here and yet it didn't overstay its welcome. The boss fights were _fine_, but that my only, very minor, complaint.
Kingdom Rush Frontiers
Good expansion of the first game. Pretty interesting towers. Persistent heroes were cool too, though it was a little more static for the way I was playing the game. Didn't beat the last level because the boss started destroying my towers and that's just a dumb mechanic.
Kingdom Rush
Neat little game. Simplistic, but fun. Meta upgrades are a nice touch, and there's a decent tower variety.
Frostpunk
Very cool game. Good UI, great atmosphere, a ton of content and options. Beat the main story on the third try- knowing what's coming really helps guide decisions. Super fun though, and i'm glad there are a lot of map options.
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
The best of the SC2 campaigns. Army customization rewards experimentation and there's a lot of good mission variety, plus a great story. Just the complete package.
SpellForce 3
Certainly an interesting game. I liked the combination of the RTS and RPG genres, but I don't feel like it quite clicked. The RTS was ok, but big battles felt a little random. I liked the territory setup and worker mechanics. I didn't love that RPG elements happened during RTS battles. Also, the equipment system never quite panned out. Definitely a cool concept though, but it didn't quite stick the landing.
Outlanders
Cute little base building RTS. I like that they streamlined and simplified it, but the lack of control was frustrating at times. Trying to tell people not to eat a certain food i'm stockpiling, for instance. Cute little game, but not one I need to spend a ton of time with.
Dungeons 3
Cute, but repetitive. Humor was hit or miss. RTS part felt sluggish. Dungeon making was fun, but there didn't feel like there were a lot of strategic decisions to make. I'm glad it had a campaign though!
Heat Signature
Very neat concept! I liked the idea of the "build your own story", but those I don't find as compelling. It felt very good to run around and smash heads in. Decent variety in mission conditions, but they were a little samey at some point. I liked the vibe and inventory system. The difficulty curve is what turned me off a bit - it was tough to kill or avoid protected dudes. But, I liked a lot of what it did and I imagine I'll revist it at some point.
StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void
The story was decent and the missions got a little samey, but were fun. Some emotional payoff, though probably the least of any of the trilogy. Odd difficulty curve - prologue and epilogue missions were much harder than the campaign itself. Had a decent time though.
Mindustry
Neat concept with fun TD gameplay. The factorio distillation is good. Graphics are a little samey for different building blocks, but it's not too bad. Still has the core issue of having dudes destroy meticulously built structures is frustrating. The campaign design is interesting, where excess materials are carried over for tech tree stuff is a cool concept. But, it's frustrating to lose a level and have just wasted your time. I like the root concept though!
StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm
Pretty fun campaign! There are two main missions: "build a base and overrun them" and "control a few units with abilities in a hallway". I liked the latter in older games, but they felt a little easy and therefore boring. Two had cool design, but the others were only ok. Neither mode quite excelled and normal mode was too easy (but hard was too hard). Story was decent. I liked the WoL campaign better, but this certainly had its moments. WoL had a better meta game and a better supporting cast. I think my rating is also influcenced by liking the zerg the least of all the SC races, but still. Felt a little repetitive, but the environments were varied and cool.
The DioField Chronicle
An interesting concept whose execution screams "budgetary problems". The story is paced terribly with no sense of direction and hardly any arc. The characters are all joyless and mostly generic. Gameplay is interesting at first, but never goes anywhere; there aren't enough abilities to keep things fresh. It's also the same few enemies and environments the whole game, which gets pretty stale.
Iron Harvest
Cool idea, good story execution, but lackluster combat and non-existent tech tree. Battles were too chaotic for me to micro well. Controlling groups around cover was really tough. Squad setup was interesting, but I didn't love it. Controls felt kludgy. Story was surprising good though (what little I saw of it, anyway)! And the destructible environments were very cool for an RTS.
Don't Bug Me!
Neat concept. Cool UI. But, the mini map was frustrating and it felt like I couldn’t make informed decisions. Really frustrating to not be able to clearly see what enemy types were coming.
Crusader Kings III
A staggeringly complex game. I can see how others like it, but it's not for me. There's too much going on and it got pretty repetitious even in the short time I played it. There's certainly an impessive scope though!
Holy Potatoes! A Spy Story?!
Simplistic. Cute writing, but feels like a freeware game without any micro-transactions. Sounds good on paper, but ends up being sort of boring and hard to track what I should be doing with each character. They get stronger, but that doesn’t clearly translate into any actual benefit. I thought I was strong but kept failing a mission for unclear reasons, so I decided to be done.
Surviving Mars
UI was sluggish. Straightforward gameplay, though not too hard. Neat way to do resource management, though a little cumbersome (sort of like Factirio logistic networks). The mystery I played (AI) was fine, but underwhelming. I don't personally love games where I need to micromanage human needs. I liked that there was no combat though! But, if there were a little more automation it might have been better. It was a pain to expanse bases.
Cities: Skylines
I don't actually own this, there's a free weekend. It's a neat game, but I didn't get very far into it. I have similar reactions to other sim games. Seems like you buy a building, wait for the bars to go up or down, then react and do it some more. I like the idea of the traffic sim, but didn't really get there. The lack of tutorial didn't help a ton, certainly. It would be nice to start in a traffic land, but I didn't dig in far enough to tell.
Grim Dawn
This is historically a genre a like a lot, but I couldn't get into this too much. Beating up dudes is cool, but the core gameplay of managing inventory on the hunt for a progressively larger sword gets old in the absence of a great story (not just "things are grim"). That said, the writing was good and the classes seem well thought out.
