RTS renaissance

[Skatan]

I'm an old RTS lover, but I admit I haven't played much the last decade or two. But I've noticed there seems to be a sort of renaissance for RTS games coming up now with several games that look like they want to invoke the old style from the golden days of RTS.

My personal favorite of the new ones is D.O.R.F. which looks to be true to form. It just screams Westwood studios all over! The rock music, the graphics, the factions - everything looks fantastic.


Another one that looks very gritty and cool is Dust Front. Not true to the old formula exactly, but interesting nonetheless. The battles looks very cool, the atmosphere is super-gritty. Haven't watched a lot of game play footage yet but it's on my radar now.


Tempest Rising is another one that looks great! Haven't tried it yet, but it's also in the wishlist now. This one is already released. Haven't heard much chatter about it just generally, but it has good reviews it seems. Would love to try out on a "LAN" with some buddies, an event I manage to do once per 10 years on average

 

[Antimatter]

Interesting. I'd say that for the majority of gaming, the RTS genre is still in a "crisis" of ideas, and it's pretty niche. AoE IV released 4.5 years ago, but never gained the same popularity AoE II still has. It seems the indie scene is where these games are now mostly on.

The last "strategy"-like game I played (excluding TBS) is Against the Storm, which has real-time management elements with roguelite elements. I also played Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition at release and even managed to beat it on the hardest AI level. It was nice to get back in time and recall some approaches (and adjust others as the AI improved). But I remember the game required me to focus very hard, like every second mattered (probably due to the difficulty setting), and every time the match ended, I felt some relief.

Or maybe I just played AoE II and Starcraft too much in my teenage days that I still don't feel ready to come back to the genre. A bit similar to how I feel the Baldur's Gate fatigue.

That said, I looked at the Steam pages you listed, and they look very solid.