It won’t be easy to find a person who does not enjoy Real-time strategy games. Apart from the guaranteed fun and control you have, the best part is that the web offers scores of quality strategy games to enjoy. And one such awesome strategy game is Age of Empires.
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About Age of Empires
As the name suggests, Age of Empires (AoE) is based on historical events, personalities, and spin-offs focusing on mythology. Yeah, this one has spin-offs and is one of the best Real-time Strategy Series! It is THAT popular. A real-time strategy video game, AoE, was developed by Ensemble Studios. The initial offering was Age of Empires (1997), and so far, the developers have released eight games.
AoE is based on historical events in Asia, Africa, and Europe right from the Stone Ages down to the Iron Age. Where the game follows the formation and spread of the Roman Empire, its sequel, Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings, followed the events during the Middle Ages in Europe; it focuses on the expansion of the settlements in history and the conquest of Mexico by the Spanish. The subsequent sequels explore the early modern period during the decline of the European colonization of the Americas and Asian countries.
The latest installment, Age of Empires Online, is a free-to-play online game that utilizes Games for Windows Live. Having sold more than 25 million copies, AoE is a commercial success that speaks loudly of strategy-based games’ potential and popularity.
So, if you have had your fill of AoE, then we have painstakingly created a list of new Real-Time Strategy (RTS) video games. And if you are an adventurous player searching for a unique experience, then this is the definitive list for you!
Here are 18 Interesting Games Like Age of Empires You Can Play in 2021
BEST AGE OF EMPIRES ALTERNATIVES FOR PC
1. SID MEIER’S: CIVILIZATION VI (SMC)
Civilization VI is all about learning new ways to connect with the world, expanding and advancing your Empire and culture while competing against some of the greatest leaders in history. What’s the objective? Building a civilization that will last for ages.
You will get to see the might of your Empire spread across the land. Become an architect, building your cities to your liking, and utilize the landscape to your advantage. You can unlock boosts, advance quickly and explore new cultures. You learn to interact with the cultures you met and forge alliances and go through strategic negotiations. You expand your units according to the “one unit per tile” format, and you can upgrade to anti-tank support and develop strong “Corps.” Along with multiplayer modes, you have the chance to compete with your friends (or cooperate) and go through a wide range of situations.
2. TROPICO 6
This construction simulation game was developed by Limbic Entertainment and released in March 2019. Like other games in the series, the player becomes “El Presidente,” the head of Tropico – a Caribbean island nation. You will find four eras: Colonial, World Wars, Cold War, and modern. Tropico 6 gives its players an archipelago of smaller islands to build bridges to connect their islands with other islands. The game has “fully simulated” people who may rise against the leader due to wrong governance policies. You may customize El Presidente and the presidential palace.
3. BAD NORTH
This RTS game has two game modes – a normal and a hard one. The primary objective is to defend your kingdom from the Viking invaders who murdered the monarch. Guide the islanders for evacuation, which could be tricky as the Vikings may attack from any corner. Protect your people from the Viking invaders and their fiery brands to earn coins. Gold leads to upgrades and power-up defenses of your commanders.
4. STARCRAFT 2
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is an RTS video game developed and released by Blizzard Entertainment in 2010. The science-fiction game focuses on three species: Humans (the Terrans), a super-species of life forms (the Zerg), and an advanced species with psionic powers (the Protoss).
The events in Starcraft happen to take place after four years of 1998’s Brood War. The game focuses on Jim Raynor as he fights against the autocratic Terran Dominion alongside his insurgent group. You will find spanking band new and familiar characters of the original game.
What you will in store for you are engaging gameplay, new features, and amazing storytelling. You want to try out the game which sold the fastest-selling RTS game, and what’s more? The game has been free-to-play since 2017.
5. RISE OF NATIONS
Featuring 18 civilizations playable across eight different eras of the history of the world, the RTS video game Rise of Nations was developed by Big Huge Games and released in May 2003. Its expansion and the re-release was as Rise of Nations: Extended Edition, published on June 12, 2014, for Steam.
In the extended version by SkyBox Labs, you will notice changes in graphics such as updated textures, water, and lighting. Steamworks integration adds cloud saves, achievements, Steam Trading Cards, Twitch integration.
RON’s gameplay focuses on the idea of “territory” and allows players to construct buildings and defend them. By building fortified cities and obtaining resources, you can expand the nation’s borders. You may play any country at any age, and you don’t have to worry about the nation’s actual history. You have to work on the four end-conditions – capture, territorial superiority, wonder, or score victory.
Create a balance between economy, offense, defense with your skills as a General and troops’ knowledge.
6. WARCRAFT III – REFORGED
Remastered on WarCraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, Warcraft III: Reforged is an RTS video game released on January 28, 2020. It contains new graphics, campaign gameplay-settings, and the latest Battle.net features.
Warcraft-III consists of three difficulty settings, including the “story mode” for newcomers. The “hard mode” setting prevents the player from using cheat codes. You must create a home base, forage for resources from the forests and gold mines, improve building designs, train your economic and military groups, expand borders, and fulfill the endgame of removing the enemies from the map. You will also have day and night cycles, which add strategy to the game. Warcraft is a classic RTS game, and you must give it a shot at least once.
7. STRONGHOLD CRUSADER II
Part of the Stronghold series, this real-time-strategy video game was created by Firefly Studios and published on September 23, 2014.
This sequel to Stronghold: Crusader adds a unique tweak to the original gameplay by concentrating on clash and, above all – the ability to replay. The developers certainly recaptured the intense and addictive gameplay that brought players in droves toward the original Crusader. The new features that you can expect are the visuals, environmental threats, a new battle interface, units AI characters, and real-time physics.
8. AGE OF WONDERS SERIES
Age of Wonders: Planetfall is an RTS video game, the fifth in the Age of Wonders series with a sci-fi setting. The cataclysm has caused a deathblow to Star Union, which was an intergalactic human administration. Groups rise for dominance to battle it out, and in their quest to create a new future for humans, they discover the reason for Union’s collapse.
With six factions and their different gameplay and units, you will have a blast working on managing resources. You may play as Amazon, which is an all-female-human faction with dinosaurs as their steeds. Kir’ko is a section of insectoids using melee as their primary offensive form. You become a commander of either of these factions,explore the planet, participate in diplomacy, authorize covert operations and declare war.
9. AGE OF MYTHOLOGY
Published by Microsoft Games, Age of Mythology (AoM) is an RTS video game released on October 30, 2002. Harnessing the AoE series’s popularity, AOM focuses on Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology and legends. You will naturally find a lot of similarities between AOE and AOM. But this one has more fun to offer with its mythological heroes and monsters. Rise against the God of Sea, Poseidon, and hunt the one-eyed Cyclops. Defeat your enemies who rise against Atlantis while building cities, towns, and units. Play a General training their troops and become a legend. You will guide your units through four Ages – Archaic Age, Classical Age, Heroic Age, and Mythic Age.
What better way to play than fighting as a God! Be the vengeful Zeus, the mighty Ra, or the AllFather Odin himself.
10. ABYSS OF EMPIRES: THE MYTHOLOGY
Abyss of Empires: The Mythology is a real-time massively multiplayer online game (MMO) that gives you the opportunity to expand your Empire, plan out battles, and become the greatest emperor! Save your Empire from others and build an empire that lasts for ages.
Real-time Global Warfare Online communication and clash with players across the globe and interact in real-time translation. What’s the best part is you get to construct a beautiful castle that is yours. Team up with allies and attack your enemies, loot resources, earn the throne. This game is a treat with realistic scenes, amazing graphics, and unique buildings with larger than life heroes.
11. Northgard
Northgard is very similar to Age of Empires with Vikings in them! This history-themed RTS video game where you grow a small town into a bustling fortified civilization that holds its own against raids and other Vikings groups. Be ready for some strong rivalry among players! Find resources and expand your Empire on a map with discrete regions brimming with treasure, enemies, and resources. Plan your expansion well as each region needs more food to not run out of resources and stockpiles.
12. COMMAND AND CONQUER: TIBERIUM ALLIANCES
Tiberium Alliances is an online multiplayer RTS video game. Establish your base on the world map to protect yourself from enemy attacks. You may advance by constructing, gathering resources, and combat. The resources that you will use in the game range from:
- crystals (produce infantry, upgrade military base)
- credit (transferring Tiberium and crystals between bases)
- research points (use them with Tiberium to research new units and structures for advancing your base)
- power (base construction and upgrades for military units)
- Tiberium (used for constructing the base)
You must select a permanent faction – GDI (traditional military ranks), Nod faction (religious extremists).
13. EMPIRE EARTH
Another series of RTS video games, Empire Earth (EE), has been developed by Stainless Steel Studios and Mad Doc Software. Similar to AoE, the series of EE games use the Titan and Titan 2.0 engine.
In gameplay similar to the other video games in the list, you gather resources, raise citizens, construct buildings, defend them and go on to conquer other civilizations. Spanning 500,000 years of human history, the game is clubbed into 14 epochs beginning from the prehistoric age right up to the nano age.
14. THE SETTLERS ONLINE
Also known as The Settlers Online: Castle Empire, this video game is inspired by The Settlers. Offering the same premise, to earn XP, you have to build your city, conquer the enemy camps, and complete quests to level up and unlock new soldier units, buildings, and mines.
15. HOMEWORLD: DESERTS OF KHARAK
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak is an RTS video game released on January 20, 2016. Set on Kharak – a dying and desert planet, the Kushan people (Hiigaran) are in the home-in-exile, 106 years before Homeworld events. The Kushans clash with other civilizations regularly for survival and resources. It all changes when an object (Jaraci Object) gets detected in the Great Banded Desert. This “primary anomaly” forces the Kushan Coalition of the Northern Kiithid to mount an expedition.
The game has a new sci-fi story that expands the Homeworld universe by introducing an ancient technology that would aid in returning to space. The determined Rachel S’Jet and her band of dedicated sub-commanders are opposed by the religious fanatics every step of the way.
16. TOTAL WAR: WARHAMMER II
A turn-based strategy series with real-time elements, Total War: Warhammer II is part of a series, and it is a sequel to Total War: Warhammer (2016). Set in the fictional universe of Warhammer. You will need a Steam account to play the game, which requires you to move armies, develop settlements, and engage in either warfare or diplomacy with AI-controlled factions. Armies battle in real-time and has a custom mode for a battle to build real-time wars and online multiplayer battles.
17. COSSACKS SERIES
Cossacks: European Wars is a series of games set in 17th-18th centuries Europe featuring 16 playable countries with their unique architecture, technology, and unlimited unit numbers. You need to accumulate six essential resources (gold, food, iron, stone, wood, and coal) for your military triumphs. Once you have constructed mines over the chosen area, you may obtain gold, iron, and coal. Send peasants into the mines, cultivate food and use the fishing boats. It would be best if you had conventional means to gather wood and stone from specific areas. You must keep up your flow of resources well-stocked; else, your people and military units may suffer, and you do not want a mutiny against you.
18. EMPIRE
At the beginning of Empire, a map game gets generated based on a square grid. It will have several islands, several cities, and you will have to control a city at the beginning of the game. Another point to note is that though you will see the immediate area around the city is visible, everything else will be in darkness.
Enjoy raising armies, aircraft, and also ships. Armies get produced rapidly by the cities while they take their time in generating other units. You will be able to move your units within a one-square radius around the chosen unit. You may launch attacks on cities you encounter and strategize to let them handle each unit’s production.
BEST ANDROID GAMES SIMILAR TO AGE OF EMPIRES
DomiNations
Dominations is an MMO game where you create a base – Defensive, Economy, and Army. The gameplay pattern includes building military Barracks, a Town Centre, and many wonders of the world. Once you have trained your troops, you may search for enemies and collect resources and medals. You may choose to play from several nations – British, French, Chinese, Greek, German, Korean, or Japanese; and play across 15 ages while expanding your base with expansion packs.
Forge of Empires
FoE’s primary objective is to increase your base, create your city, and evolve right from the Stone Age to an asteroid belt Colonization. Your city will have houses where you earn coins, raise your citizenry, and develop buildings for supplies. You can research technologies to unlock buildings, get more space to build, and many other bonuses. Special buildings may be obtained for either special events or Daily Challenges.
Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade
In true RTS gameplay fashion, Rise of Kingdoms allows you to create a civilization, mount epic battles, and prove yourself to be a worthy leader. In the Real-Time Battles which happen on the map, you may enter or exit at your convenience, help allies under attack with troops, or launch an attack on a city in an MMO strategy battle royale. All the action happens on a huge map, with rivers, mountain ranges, and passes acting as natural obstructions.
World of Empires 2
With new and improved animations and other upgraded features, WoE offers an unmatched MMO RTS gameplay experience. Raise armies to battle it out for the territory, create futuristic cyborgs, drones, and future weapons and create an Energy Shield to protect your people. Build and move cities on oceans, I mean, how cool is that? And terraform to your heart’s content.
FAQs
Are there any games like Age of Empires?
Yes! As the list suggests, there are excellent MMO RTS video game alternatives to Age of Empires.
Which Game is Most Similar to Age of Empires?
Age of Mythology is the most similar to Age of Empires, offering you a chance to immerse yourself in Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology and legends.
Is Northgard like Age of Empires?
In a similar RTS gameplay vein, Northgrad is more like Age of Empires but with Vikings.
Which is the best civilization in Age of Empires 3?
Though any civilizations and the gameplay experience they offer depends on how well you plan out your strategy, Ottomans do ace the game in terms of exciting features like rushing civilization, fast fortress technique, produce free villagers, military units, and bombards.
Is civilization 6 similar to the Age of Empires?
Both are equally good! However, the Age of Empires (a traditional 4X of Explore, Expand, Exploit, and Exterminate) has more depth with regards to building the economy, city development, combat, and war strategies more than Civilization.
Is the Age of Wonders like the Age of Empires?
Age of Empires is an RTS game, while Age of Wonders is a turn-based game. A standalone game that does not require much else. You can buy two expansions in Age of Wonders III.
All-in-all, You Must Try These RTS Games Similar to Age Of Empires
Our list is loaded with some of the best RTS games of all time. You can go through a plethora of unique features, gameplay elements, and experience. The list offers games that helped revive the interest in RTS games. So if Age of Empires was your go-to strategy game, then try any of these games at the earliest for guaranteed fun and adventure.