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
@@LTGamingTH-cam 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.
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.
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
i remember that game, it was a departure from the usual total annihilation, which always struck me as a really good attempt to compete with command & conquer directly. i believe total annihilation became supreme commander, eventually. same devs, if i recall correctly. TA: kingdoms was a tough game to win
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!
Always nice to see Knights & Merchants mentioned. Even though I never got far with the campaign I could never get into other Settlers games after having played it.
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
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
@@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"
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 .
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 !
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.
I remember thinking myself so clever for turning a small land bridge into lethal swamp right as an enemy shaman and entire army was trying to cross it.
Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War was another interesting RTS, it blended RTS and 3rd person hero combat/control that made for an interesting gameplay experience for the time.
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 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.
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.)
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
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
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.
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 😅
Tzar, Knights of Honor, Spellforce, Warlords Battlecry, Celtic Kings - so many forgotten gems I had so much fun playing especially Celtic Kings. Also a couple of others I'd recognise instantly but I can't remember their names.
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.
My first rts game which I loved was rise and fall civilization at war. I loved how you can build and control a special controllable champion that fights
Great list, as usual. I remember a few of the older ones, from playing their demos, back when they came in CDs from game magazines. Those were the days.
Three Kingdoms: Fate of the Dragon (2000) - I remember it had some unique features for its time; the first RTS I played where you could place soldiers on a wall, an the walls were huge. Also, the maps were big and you had to option to setup up camp while on the way to attacking the enemy.
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.
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
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
After Rise of Nations came Rise of Legends and its a shame these games are forgotten. Nations is probably my all time favorite RTS, and Legends has been totally forgotten.
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.
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.
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.
Such good games shown! I can never remember the name or too many details of an old RTS game that you had basically hillbilly's with guns, trailer base and commanded those units. I wish i could remember more about it..
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.
Thank you so much, I've played the demo of impossible cratures when it came out one or two lifetimes ago it seems and lately I've been trying to remember it's name, thank you for that
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.
I think you missed another gem from the 90s - Dark Colony. It was an amazing RTS with 2 factions - humans and the grey. It had a pretty unique base building mechanic where you'd have to call down buildings around your pillar to unlock technology tiers & units. You'd harvest gas and had to deploy these moveable harvesters over the gas vents to make money.
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.
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
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!
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
Seriously no Knights & Merchants(1998) was my introduction into the genre and still play it to this day whenever i feel like it.
Knights & Merchants feels more like Seven Kingdoms: Ancient Adversaries. The joy for me was more in the economy.
It's a "forgotten" list, not "best" games list ;)
Earth 2150 (+ Moon Project/Lost Souls) & World War 3 were amazing. Played countless hours against the AI in skirmish mode
2150 was fantastic in sense that you could loose mission but that was not the end of campaign. not many games have that.
earth2140 was better and had better music and prettier graphics
Never player 2140 so idk
@@barbadoskado2769 troll
I am Earth2150 Player,How to contact you ?
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
@@LTGamingTH-cam 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
@@LTGamingTH-camthe best one was the second part. A magical game
Only played the 3rd one, but yes a fun game that combines RTS with RPG elements.
Still played online by some people
Ground Control 2 is one of my favorites with mod that fixes balance, adjust UI and allow you to play as Terran Empire.
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.
Oh man, Haegemonia: Legions of Iron, Sudden Strike 2, Emperor: Battle for Dune, and Warlords Battlecry II 🤌
You forgot Gene wars and Warwind 1&2
Wonderful list but still missing Urban Assault and maybe Seven Kingdoms 2
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.
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
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 😀
There is some similar games. Broken Arrow and Reggiments
Praetorians.. anyone?
Yes
Yes
CORE MEMORY UNLOCKED!!! THANK YOU!!
yes
yes played that
I swear I’ve never seen anyone else ever talk about original war. It’s incredible, was so ahead of its time as well.
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms will forever hold a dear place in my heart. Wish it was more well known
I couldn't believe it wasn't on this list!
i remember that game, it was a departure from the usual total annihilation, which always struck me as a really good attempt to compete with command & conquer directly. i believe total annihilation became supreme commander, eventually. same devs, if i recall correctly. TA: kingdoms was a tough game to win
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!
this is one 'hell of a list' (amazing video) we want more uploads like this!
finally a good oldschool RTS video. this genre will witness a very strong revival in the next 20 years
So happy you mentioned Dark Reign.
I played a lot of KKND and Rise of Nations in the old days. :) Another one I loved was L.E.D. Wars.
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!
This list deserves more forgotten classics like:
Tzar
SpellForce
Knights & Merchants
Praetorians
The Nation
Battle for Middle Earth
Always nice to see Knights & Merchants mentioned. Even though I never got far with the campaign I could never get into other Settlers games after having played it.
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!
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
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
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
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
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"
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
Empire Earth was huge until they royally dropped the ball with 3. EE1 is still one of my all time favorite games
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
I loved how naval combat worked in that game. Also taking a break to control your hero and single-handedly defeat the enemy army was great fun.
when I hear the word underated, Rise and Fall is the first thing that came to my mind, INCREDIBLE RTS game that very few people know about
More underrated or forgotten games like this pleease!
Battle Realms isn't forgotten, still in our hearts
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 !
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.
I remember thinking myself so clever for turning a small land bridge into lethal swamp right as an enemy shaman and entire army was trying to cross it.
Played most of these. Heck, me and my brothers still play RoN to this day. Hardly forgotten.
Glad you mentioned Kohan 2! Been playing it for years and absolutely love it! Highly recommend for everyone!
It's so great! - Tom
Not a single mention for one of the best Warlords battlecry
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
Good to see "Nexus: The Jupiter Incident" recognized. Great game.
Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War was another interesting RTS, it blended RTS and 3rd person hero combat/control that made for an interesting gameplay experience for the time.
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 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.
Bought Impossible Creatures, Nexus & Sacrifice thanks to you. Thank you!
Glad I could help!
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.)
Nice compilation! Theocracy, Dark Colony, also mentionable. It was good to look back some of these. :)
sooooo many great memories! I forgot all about Sacrifice
Thanks for watching mate! I actually made a second vid on RTS games to replay and popped Metal fatigue on that one. - Tom
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!
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
@@LTGamingTH-cam
Absolutely, go for it!!
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.
War breeds would have been a great addition to this list! One of the first RTS I ever played
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
Armies of Exigo, Battle Realms, Sparta, Empire Earth and Ground Control are great!
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.
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.
Tzar, Knights of Honor, Spellforce, Warlords Battlecry, Celtic Kings - so many forgotten gems I had so much fun playing especially Celtic Kings.
Also a couple of others I'd recognise instantly but I can't remember their names.
Thank you for mentioning Sacrifice. Truly an under appreciated game.
Indeed it is! Thanks for watching! - Tom
Metal Fatigue and Thandor the Invasion. My rts childhood
I did a second list with Metal Fatigue on! Great game
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.
This video unlocked so many memories
Glad to hear it!! - Tom
Another good Sci-fi RTS game: "Dark Colony" from 1997.
Second that. It had a nice B-Movie charm. I played it a lot back in the days.
My first rts game which I loved was rise and fall civilization at war. I loved how you can build and control a special controllable champion that fights
Great list, as usual. I remember a few of the older ones, from playing their demos, back when they came in CDs from game magazines. Those were the days.
Battle Realms is a great game, played it all the time as a kid. I’ve never played any other RTS like it
Three Kingdoms: Fate of the Dragon (2000) - I remember it had some unique features for its time; the first RTS I played where you could place soldiers on a wall, an the walls were huge. Also, the maps were big and you had to option to setup up camp while on the way to attacking the enemy.
KKnD was the first game I ever owned. This video has made me finally play it to completion.
War Wind anyone ? Found it very underrated.
I'll check it out!
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.
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.
Total annihilation was one the best games ever made, it has no place on this list.
@@filip4233 Thank you for saying that.
I have one gem old game CD, Outlive. Quite hard but sooo fun
Rise of Nations was such a great game, I fell in love with it immediately when I was a kid. Still play the remaster from time to time.
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
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
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
After Rise of Nations came Rise of Legends and its a shame these games are forgotten. Nations is probably my all time favorite RTS, and Legends has been totally forgotten.
world in conflict is the gem on the list in my opinion
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.
Metal Fatigue and Warzone 2100 were two of my favorites.
Both had fun unit design features.
I loved the rise of nations campaigns being played on risk style maps
Sacrifice: Tim Curry was the voice actor for Stratos
ALso Machines: Wired for War was an awesome game as well with the rts/rps combo.
Great list, you hit on some of may favourites, I would add Warwind.
Thanks man! I will go take a look at this!
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.
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.
Such good games shown! I can never remember the name or too many details of an old RTS game that you had basically hillbilly's with guns, trailer base and commanded those units. I wish i could remember more about it..
Tribal Rage maybe??
@@LTGamingTH-cam that’s it!!! Thank you so much! Been stuck on finding it for so long.
Armies of Exigo, damn got a surge of nostalgia:D
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.
Thank you so much, I've played the demo of impossible cratures when it came out one or two lifetimes ago it seems and lately I've been trying to remember it's name, thank you for that
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.
Theocracy (2000) was one of my favorite.
It's always amazing, they take 20 famous games, among which 12-15 are generally recognized masterpieces - they turn out to be unknown...
Outlive has elements from kknd and dark reign, worth a try. Another one that i had fun times back then was Knights and Merchants also.
Great list, few games on my mind: Dark Colony, Eart 2140/2150/60 series
Great shouts! I feel another list brewing already
Impossible Creatures is my all time favorite! How many wonderful hours spent creating the mixed creatures for this FUNNY game!
Impossible creatures was a childhood game for me. Got a demo disk from a magazine at a gas station when i was a kid
Empire Earth modder, reporting to duty. 🗿
Your service is appreciated sir!
I think you missed another gem from the 90s - Dark Colony. It was an amazing RTS with 2 factions - humans and the grey. It had a pretty unique base building mechanic where you'd have to call down buildings around your pillar to unlock technology tiers & units. You'd harvest gas and had to deploy these moveable harvesters over the gas vents to make money.
Empires Dawn of the Modern World surely deserves a mention
Sacrafise is most incredible game out there. It's pitty that there's no remake of it
It would be amazing 🤩
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.
Love to see Battle Realms here, Game really stood out! Plus: Try some Against Rome or Praetorians! Really fun but under the radar!
You are forgetting THE rts game that started it all, Warwind
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
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