Rediscovering Lost Legends: 22 more Forgotten Real-Time Strategy Games

1) 22 Forgotten Real-Time Strategy Games - • Rediscovering Lost Leg...
Hi. No matter what anyone says, the 2000s were the golden age for computer games. Such a vast array of genres, high-quality development, and developers weren't afraid to experiment. Games were a unique form of art, not just a commercial product as they are now.
Thanks to your comments on the previous video, I was able to recall many already forgotten but extremely interesting strategies.
Games:
0:00 Pharaoh + Cleopatra 1999
0:27 Earth series
1:11 World in Conflict
1:54 Tzar: The Burden of the Crown
2:38 Universe at War: Earth Assault
3:26 Knights of Honor
4:09 Metal Fatigue
5:02 Nexus: The Jupiter Incident
5:43 Majesty: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim
6:30 Populous 3: The Beginning
7:15 Celtic Kings: Rage of War
8:03 Knights and Merchants
8:58 Original War
10:12 Empires: Dawn of the Modern World
10:52 Supreme Commander
11:53 Maelstrom: The Battle for Earth Begins
12:36 Myth: The Fallen Lords
13:20 Dark Planet: Battle for Natrolis
14:02 Sudden Strike
14:46 Warzone 2100
15:39 Ground Control 2
16:24 Command & Conquer: Generals CC General

[@dennisdavidov782]

If you plan to continue this series here are some more games worth covering: Spellforce 1/2, Emperor: Battle for Dune, Act of War, Nemesis of the Roman Empire, Perimeter, Impossible Creatures, Star Wars: Empire at War, Castle Strike World War III: Black Gold, Men of War, Codename: Panzers 1/2, Blitzkrieg 2, Soldiers: Heroes of World War II, King Arthur: The Role-playing Wargame, Conquest: Frontier Wars, Haegmonia: Legions of Iron, Star Trek: Armada, Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, Dark Reign, KKnD, No Man's Land, Knightshift Total Annihilation, Sacrifice, Seven Kingdoms II, Rise of Legends, Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising, War Front: Turning Point, LoTR: War of the Ring, R.U.S.E Desert Rats vs. Africa Corps, Officers, Order of War, Full Spectrum Warrior, Mechcommander, Soldiers of Anarchy, Star Trek: Starfleet Command III, Z: Steel Soldiers, Rush for Berlin, S.W.I.N.E., Battlezone, Imperial Glory, The King's Crusade, Crusaders: Thy Kingdom Come, Wargame: European Escalation Planetary Annihilation, Ashes of Singularity, Ancestors: Legacy, Iron Harvest.

[@runnre]

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds and Perimeter were part of my childhood, I still have Perimeter installed and working thanks to GOG.

[@t.jmaddog2188]

Dark Reign 2, Hostile Waters and Machines

[@gorasul12]

Many good ones in this list 😁👌

[@Fgstayyy]

Outlive

[@VonGrav]

Mayday: Conflict Earth

[@martinkase6892]

I am so glad you include Knights and Merchants. It is a game which still have vibrant multiplayer community including a great fandom KaM remake installer.

[@orkhepaj]

when will kam 2 come out?

[@Draconiac123]

Used to play this game by a LOT. Such fun mechanics and gameplay.

[@poppers7317]

I played the demo back in the days. It had really strong combat for a building game. Didn't knew that so many people are still playing the game.

[@anurag476]

Tzar and Metal Fatigue being listed makes this a legitimately good compilation

[@MaksimKenzin]

And Majesty

[@notevenclown9304]

I'm so glad i played almost all of these games back in the day, truly a golden age where every new game you found was equally as amazing as the last one and had Love,Work and commitment in its soul! wish i could turn the clock back in 2004

[@Gorbachoph]

We all do

[@seansmith7906]

I'm so glad Universe of War was mentioned It's a really fun game It's really cool how they made civilian structures etc as the game's reaource

[@carnevaron4257]

OMG i remember that Populous 3 and entirely forgot about it ! After 15 years i remember its name once again. Thx buddy

[@rubz1390]

I knew the 90's and 2000s were the golden years of rts games but I didn't know there were so many released.

[@WolvieXXXZandalari]

Thankyou so much... I stumbled upon the part 1 of this and the link led me here. Seeing these old games built into videos made me so happy. Found some Gems I didnt have! Again, your a legend.

[@TheC00lestGuy]

Armies of exigo is arguably the best underrated game in the RTS genre

[@gediminasmorkys3589]

Tzar is definitely not forgotten. This short intro doesn't do it justice though :)

[@aaronburdon221]

I love that friggin game. It's a pain in the ass to beat though. That one fortress al benes is rough because you can't friggin build anything. Basically I had to put my wizard in an outpost and keep him there because a friggin priest would just snipe him out of nowhere. I ended up taking over the small castle to the north of the starting position and building new peasants who COULD build stuff and then I had to fortify against the upcoming onslaught. That mission ALONE probably took me about 2 months to beat because I saved every 2 minutes (almost literally) Once that's taken care of, then it's just taking out the workshops who like to snipe your towers. The last mission though is probably my favorite. I bribed the messiah dude because I thought it'd be funny. I wiped out all the bases on the sides and just left the red base on the top. Then built a shipyard with like 24 peasants on a ship and the messiah dude couldn't kill them all before they got to him to bribe him. It was hilarious.

[@Lalisac934]

I still play tzar from time to time and I love it

[@krystian3584]

Check out tzared!

[@adamnesico]

Wich version do u use?

[@Fenris8800]

Good and almost unique feature about Metal Fatique at 4:09 : The map is divided in underground, surface and orbit. Underground can be reached by elevators build by the drill trucks and u have srsly use the drillers to find caverns with lava4harvest or the enemy underground base...which may also indicates his base on the surface:p Only units of the vehicle factory like tanks (which are small in this game :D ) can operate here. On surface all units (vehicles, Combots and planes) can operate. Orbit can be reached via teleport buildings and units which can fly (planes and modified combots). Flying units ascends directly. Which means you can watch them on surface until the fly srsly out of your screen -> then they appear in orbit at the exact same spot above the surface AND if you fast enough you can also watch them in orbit ascending in circles :D And there different numbers of astroid like plattforms. Which can be used for solar panels (harvesting main ressource slower but endless) or little bases to fight aerial rule. The missions briefing is told by a female K.I. called overseer -> complete voice over. The story is immersive but told about via daily readable only reports of the 3 protagonists (Representing the 3 factions Rimtech, MilAgro and Neuropa). There are a cool render intro and every campaign has its own intro and outro. + a big outro at the end. A cliffhanger which screams SECOND PART!!!! ..wich sadly never appears so far T_T At least Metal Fatigue is avaibale on steam since last year if iam correct (in english). Iam german so i was lucky to find a german patch because we have luckly great voice actors:)

[@xw6050]

Plus the cinematics is absolute banger

[@TheMrYadrian]

I wouldn't say that Supreme Commander is 'forgotten' game. Its community is still supporting multiplayer.

[@toxicpony3381]

Forged Alliance Forever! For the blue of the UEF!

[@DOProductionsNL]

"supporting multiplayer" is a bit of a understatement, FAF's community is thriving, even running paid, real prize money tourneys frequently

[@darkranger116]

great video, actually a list for 'forgotten' games that deserve to be cataloged

[@lalfam3051]

Another list full of games I love. Glad I found your channel. Keep up the good work!

[@nallen1006]

Majesty 1 and 2 are the most underrated rts ever made. Hands down

[@HeathenSWolf]

I will forever remember the tragedy of never having Nexus: The Jupiter Incident 2. Tech demo blew my mind back then.

[@Kreska0]

Nexus was originally developed to be an Imperium Galactica 3, but at some point they decided to make it a standalone game.

[@alexanderthegreat8644]

nexus the jupiter incident 2 was going to be amazing, i was so sad to see it was cancelled. the tech they were showing off looked amazing for the time.

[@EntrailedDeath]

Another forgotten classic, Impossible creatures, not many seem to know about that one

[@dragour8723]

A little game which is hard to find anything on these days is Theocracy, you lead a small Mayan tribe to slowly expand into an empire and then fight the invading Spanish, but each province needs to transfer units through caravans and you can speed up/slow down the world time

[@loftus8660]

Ive always loved how unique that game was, it has such a strong sense of identity. As a kid i remember playing it and enjoying chilling thinking i had all the time in the world, before the spanish would show up and totally wreck my shit 😂

[@dragour8723]

@@loftus8660 I played it soo much that I almost fine tuned the beginning, I take Nine Peeks using the hero Jarakhi alone, then the next region with the least amount of casualties, then the quest location above to get the wonderbows and then abandon the region so the teal guys don't declare war etc XD I got really really into it.. also the ending when you defeat the spanish is really interesting

[@loftus8660]

@@dragour8723 thats awesome! I remember going to play it a few years ago and having loads of trouble getting it to run, maybe its time for me to give it another shot 😊

[@pirat66621]

Absolutely amazing game

[@HaggardTheKing]

Супримка и Генералы не забыты.

[@Triumph633]

I remember playing Populous on the Playstation, it was so awesome!! Stupid firehand guys were do OP!

[@ComissarYarrick]

C&C Generals - it's scary how well this game predicted some themes and events of early XX century. Amazing game, I played it 20 years ago, I play it still to this day ( literaly, I did generals chellenge just yesterday :D ). Oh, and mods are amazing too :D .

[@RavenAdventwings]

I'd hardly call C&C Generals a forgotten game, though. There's still tons of mod support in the indie mod developer side.

[@PowermadNavigator]

1:53 my favorite game of all time. 7:17 another game by the same developer as Tzar or at least they were involved. Subsequent expansions including Carthage really made the game cool, but it is a different approach altogether.

[@boris978]

Haha, I remember playing almost all of these games. Such olden yet golden.

[@BlackburnD]

Огнём и мечом с превью -лучшая игра, Господи, до сих пор играю

[@thorbenmeyer152]

I loved knights and merchants as a kid ❤ Was rlly easy if u got enough bowmans😊

[@yutakeda9979]

Metal Fatigue. My childhood, my beloved!

[@user-ri9gq9ox6k]

Мы докатились до того. что Supreme Commander, которого мы так долго ждали стал забытым.

[@anupew3276]

Was going to comment on previous video, including Majesty as unique indirect control RTS and Earth series that have features that are cited as unique/interesting in 2of other gamesfrom that video (split screen in 2150 like Submarine Titans from the same year and asymetrical base building in 2160 - which Grey Goo used 10 years later) . Anyway: few more noteworthy and interesting/unique RTS: Spellforce (2003), very unique RPG/RTS mix, your units are based on runes you find around during game, also great story. Sacrifice (2000) really unique 3rd person view RTS - battle to control points, recycle souls of fallen units (both yours and those of your fallen enemies) Black and White (2001) sort city builder/god simulator, unique with working mouse gestures (gestures were also at least shown in B&W2 but unfortunately never worked for me) When mentioning G&C generals - there is one more of the Westwood games that is even more forgotten and IMO more interesting - Emperor: Battle for Dune (and dont forget Dune 2 when we are at it, thats also a legend, but that one have mainly historical value) Not sure if qualifies as forgotten, but there are games like Homeword or Sins of a Solar Empire which would fit into a list too (also as far as I am aware both have next addition to the series in development)

[@cristhianferreyra1563]

Celtic kings Is also known as imperium, which It survived and today have 3 Versions and i think a DE.

[@adamnesico]

I loved the first one. Only 2 civs, but had a rpg/rts campaign as enjoyable as Wc3. The next 2 games didn’t had so fun campaigns.

[@cristhianferreyra1563]

@@adamnesico yeah the first one has an amazing campaign.

[@iRiDiKi]

The original Dark Reign, Net Storm and Chaos Island: The Lost World are missing from this list 😢

[@brunopassarelli8993]

Great Video! thank you!

[@balintmagyar3285]

Wow, Universe at War is a totally new info for me :P It seems worth a try!

[@Peregrin3]

Nexus the Jupiter incident was awesome and the mods were insane, another great game was haegemonia legions of iron, which came out in 2004 and to this day has the best ship explosions, the camera would shake as the ship was ripped to pieces by multiple explosions it was awesome.

[@sanyashaihov2721]

Would like to mention game called "The Outforce" it's really unusual space theme rts with actually cool and inventive mechanics for it 2000 year release, one of my favorite rts of all time

[@Knazz97]

My man named dark planet battle for natrolis!!!! Finally, someone remembers this game!!!

[@aaronburdon221]

Tzar could add a few QoL improvements (auto-heal and auto-repair come to mind) but it was definitely one of the better older games.

[@dragour8723]

Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War seems kind of basic, town building and resource gathering, but once your heroes become stronger you are able to take control of them in first person view and fight the enemy armies yourself

[@hardballvolle]

The old Starship troopers game where you command a squad off troopers where Soo good

[@69HardKoreaN69]

Have you ever heard of Blitzkrieg? not one your list? That one is real legend

[@hajo431]

One doesn't really need to mention Blitzkrieg, when Sudden Strike is mentioned. Stay with the original. (:

[@Luzarioth]

SupCom is anything but Forgotten, not only is it itself still beloved, there have been many spiritual successors like Planetary Annihilation or the Upcomming Beyong All Reason. What really deserves more love is Populous 3 !

[@jenssabai9885]

I love Metall Fatigue.. the ideal with own configured Roboter is genius 😍

[@klapsigaarenbasgitaar1931]

Shout out to Myth; The Fallen Lords. Loved that game! As you say, this game was really about tactics and you had to be really clever about it. Some missions just seemed totally impossible but because you had to make do with what you had you had to figure it out and it was so fulfilling when you actually managed in the end.

[@drarsen33]

Generals was great. Played it with my friends all the time. One of better strategy games of that era and in general. Knights of honour was also great. It was first game where I saw new factions emerging or destroyed reappearing which blew my mind.

[@SerCommander]

4:09 I remember playing this game but forgot the name. Thanks. Its quite enjoyable from what I remember - aside from ocassional crashing

[@beltar2]

"Supreme commander" series is played for now. "World in Conflict" was big enough release to noticed by everybody and well known even now.

[@eLCeBe23]

Alien Nations, Dark Colony, Beasts N Bumpkins, 7th Legion - anyone remember? 😊

[@WarbossR0kt00fSant0s]

This is what modern gaming forgets: innovation.

[@johnmiller8975]

Damn all I have is Tzar & Populous (goes down rabbit hole) Thx Image!

[@stormystrifevodchannel9689]

Also another interesting game worth a slight mention imo is Joint Task Force or JTF. IT boasts modern military RTS gameplay in which you can manually control units at a moment's notice with (apparently) things like terrain deformation.

[@andygonzalez9812]

You forgot about submarine titans. Only because the entire game was played underwater. I've never seen the sort again

[@sneakysimian]

Anyone remember Machines: Wired for War? (its like a 1999 game, so probably not, ha). The quirk in that RTS was that you could control any of the units in FPS view.

[@Awset]

Played most of these :) Celtic Kings have also several more editions/expansions up to I think 8 factions

[@Szederp]

Populous 3? Oooooooooooooooooooh......... Myth: The Fallen Lords narration before the levels? OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!!

[@bigedwerd]

I'm always nostalgic for Machines: Wired for War. It plays like most 3d strategy games, but you can take control of any of your own units in a first person mode. You can use this for reconnaissance, guerilla tactics or just to be part of the action.

[@vazzeg]

I don't know if it is RTS or not, when I was a kid almost anything that wasn't a shooter or platformer, I called it RTS, but I loved Warhammer: Dark Omen. That game was absolutely amazing.

[@alexanderbrown-jb6ll]

War Commander is another good one I used to play when I was younger

[@DraconiusDragora]

Three other forgotten strategy games is Dominion Storm over Gift 3, Cyberstorm 2 Corporate Wars, and KKND

[@logikure7306]

A truly forgotten game ia knights and mercants since it isnt even mentioned in videos like this.

[@KoWoTun]

C&C Generals is definitely not forgotten!!

[@raptor253]

We need Sudden Strike Remastered. Now. I played it since the demo in 2000 and still play it today (last time yesterday). Still the best non base building RTS I ever played. SS2 was okay, especially with Ressource Wars, but the rest was way behind Sudden Strike Forever.

[@TGHoly]

Metal Fatigue mech melee combat animation really ahead of it time some how all RTS that come later still have melee unit face tanking against their opponent with static preset animation.

[@Axehilt]

Ground Control 2 was a good one, due to being one of very few RTSes where artillery shot extremely long distances. It continued the first game's tradition of great graphics, gameplay, and sound design, though it failed to innovate much on what it already had. C&C:Generals I'm a little surprised to see on the list at all, as it's one of the more remembered older RTses. And for good reason, since it played better than most contemporary RTSes around that time with distinct Generals, memorable troops/vehicles, and good gameplay depth (at least after the patch which made most Generals viable; I think 1-2 of them were still pretty bad). 2000s were definitely great for gaming, but for RTSes in particular it's weird to call it a golden age since there were so many clones and shallow RTSes spammed onto the market at that time trying to capitalize on Starcraft's success.

[@Vrangsynn]

I highly recommend the upgraded/revamped versions of Celtic Kings and Tzar released in Spain by FX Interactive. Tzar: Anthology, the ultimate version released, includes The Burden of the Crown and 4 new fully voiced campaigns: El Cid and the Reconquista, Excalibur and King Arthur, Gengis Khan and the Domains of Magic. Celtic Kings: Rage of War got released in Spain as Imperivm: La Guerra de las Galias. Its sequel Celtic Kings II: The Punic Wars, or Nemesis of the Roman Empire, released as Imperivm II: La conquista de Hispania. The third game Imperivm III: Great Battles of Rome. And then the re-release in HD in Steam and available in English, Imperivm RTC HD Edition Great Battles of Rome, which is the third game and everything combined.

[@user-tm7us7wd8i]

You forgot about "war commander (2001)" and "army man" series, "Real war", "Lords of the Everquest", " Kohan: Immortal Sovereigns", "Civilizations at war". Supreme commander still alive, but have a 1-2k people daily online in "Forget alliance forever" client.

[@Dalipsingh111111]

Another great RTS would be "Rise and Fall - Civilisations at War". Set in Ancient Times you controll Rome, Egypt or Greece. Large Armies, spectacular Naval Battles and you can play Heroes like Alexander or Cleopatra in 3rd Person at any time during your own battles.

[@juanmanuelruizromero7989]

I played Tzar in a cybercafe in 2001, been loking for that game from time to time but i was clueless bout the name till today, thanks. I found some good games looking for it like stronghold anyway. Hope its runs in windows 10 lol

[@thomaspostma1468]

Hey Knights and Merchants is very much alive, its an old man, granted, but just today I played it with a couple of friends haha

[@clintonwilcox6211]

Great videos! Could you touch on total annihilation and kknd 2 if you make another?

[@Booonzop]

I really loved earth games, it had great setting and story

[@eddzyeddzy6158]

O.R.B: Off-World Resource Base very forgotten. Depending on how you classify them, The original Army men I and II games before the console sequels went crazy. Star Trek Armada I &II .

[@dragour8723]

Impossible Creatures allows you to create unique animals from two separate animal dna and then use them to fight enemy factions, it was fun making a light flying mortar bug so the enemy couldn't catch them

[@NniemandweiterR]

You know you're getting old when SubCom shows up in a list of forgotten RTS. Well, and Empires, dawn on the new age, that was my childhood.

[@DustinBarlow8P]

Armies of Exigo?! A better game than Warcraft III. You play as an Human Empire fighting agianst beastmen, only to suddenly find out a Lovecraftian monster race had arrived on your world hundreds of years ago, into a cavern deep underground where they spent 100 years growing their population and are now an massive invading force. Eeally fun game.

[@Janisurai]

metal fatigue was epic, populous 3 looks interesting. Loving AoE 2 DE atm though

[@laszlomolnar5744]

You've made a very good list, I think only Supreme Commander shoudn't be here, I don't know many RTS player, who don't know it. Also in Warzone 2100 you can control any of your units in TPS mode :D

[@mVpSlayer]

❤ Earth 2150. Amazing game mechanics. My and my friends had a lot of LAN parties playing this. I think I have to make a trip to my parents basement and search for the install CD😂

[@housenkakobilka3619]

tzar burden of the crown is the best strategy ever!

[@GamerbyDesign]

My man was right about the 2000s

[@Genesis50000]

The last game I bought for PC on disc was Original War and I still have the disc's somewhere same with Command & Conquer Generals though I grew up playing all the Command & Conquer games with C&C4 being a straight up insult. in Original War it isn't that the Russians discover what the US is doing but instead Arab Mercs from the American/the Modern World timeline show up later to stop you in both Campaigns, the Russians in game come from the alternate universe where the USSR still exists due to the US and its time traveling shenanigans. Edit: Warzone 2100 is a game I remember playing as a young kind maybe 6 or so and I could never figure out what it was when the old family PC died so thanks for helping me find it again.

[@gorasul12]

Hehe played many of these to but also a few interesting ones to look up, Universe at War was a sweet games with much possebilities, to bad no more was done with it 😞

[@huberttarnowski4980]

Great !!!

[@azarot_542]

There are rarely mentioned the fantasy real-time strategies with RPG elements Dragonshard(2005), Lords of Everquest(2003), Warhammer Mark of Shaos(2006)

[@apexpredator8395]

Seven Kingdom1-2,Wargames,Real War,7th Legion.M.A.X,Ground Control,Imposible Creatures.

[@ZaarIvo]

Original war is one of the best strategy games ever released.

[@FirstnameLastname-py3bc]

Dare I say to recommend: Cultures, Cultures 2 and onwards specifically It's like Knights and Merchants micromanagement down to wherever units wear boots or no, but much more refined and easy to handle (naturalistically), highly recommend

[@FulmineNero]

Hell yeah. I love Cultures. One of the best building games of all times imo.

[@FirstnameLastname-py3bc]

@@FulmineNero Yeah, only modern survivalist strategy games come in same level like Dawn of Man and Frostpunk, nothing been in-between imo

[@theShantai]

Dude, when i was a kid i would play celtic kings (imperivm in spanish) for hours... They even released a 3rd game with a lot of civs like Egypt, Cartague, Germany etc...

[@piotr.glowing6097]

Knights and Merchants is still develope by community in Remake version

[@ukaszw.5461]

Super strategy games for me is: Cezar III, Cossacs II, Legion oder Spartan, Starmageddon, Pretorian.

[@sebasstion]

For another part of forgotten RTS games I'll recommend Dark Reign series :D Game of my childhood

[@VieneLea]

No my favourite, Submarine Titans? Truly forgotten gem :(

[@skullowner3999]

My favorite games Metal Fatigue, Ground Control 2, Earth series, Supreme Commander, Warzone 2100, and one that is not on the video or a list is Krush Kill 'N Destroy Xtreme (KKND)

[@foojam2002]

I've also enjoyed Primitive Wars, good old strategy from Wizard Soft.

[@MarcinKolekson]

PS - The Original War plot is slightly different. The US found a time machine in Syberia and research found out the existence of a mineral they called Siberyte, they went back in time and managed to move the Syberyte into Alaska. This created an alternate universe where Russians discovered Alaska first (which is the same as in our world) and took a time machine for research where they found out the US made the greatest heist of all time stealing all Alaskite from Syberia (Yeah, Russians call it like that). This created a world where two timelines intersect with each other that's why the US and Russians fight against each other in prehistory. Additionally, there is an additional faction - Arabic mercenaries who move back in time to destroy all Syberite and make Oil great again, but due to deadlines developers had to drop the 3rd campaign.

[@MarcinKolekson]

It's a short version - play for yourself as its a great game. A timeless classic

[@nazin.s]

Knights of Honor is not forgotten, a year ago they made the 2nd part of the game, KoH 2: Sovereign, which is based on the original game but with many new features

[@Aldaris01]

I'm disappointed that you don't even mention Warlords Battlecry III. Best RTS game I've ever played

[@wikirexmax]

There is still an active multiplayer community for World in Conflict and an even bigger one for Supreme Commander.

[@dragour8723]

War Wind is a very old rts based on humans settling on alien planets and the different factions are very unique

[@Marckus87]

Nexus and C&C Generals are two great games, I wore them out.