Multiplayer strategy games aren’t quite as popular as they once were. This is easy enough to notice when one of the most played titles in the genre is stillStarCraft 2, from 2010. To be fair,StarCraft 1isn’t that far behind. But it doesn’t end withStarCraft: all the otherpopular online RTS gamesare sequels, remakes, or reimaginings of classic examples of the genre from decades past.
That said, there might not be that many online strategy games fans out there, butthe community is really dedicated. It was fans who kept the multiplayer modes ofAge of Empirealive, until the remakes rekindled the series. Even if the most popular multiplayer strategy games are quite old by now, the community will likely stick around for a while still.
7Beyond All Reason
Ambitious Free RTS Project
Beyond All Reasonis a free, open-source remake of sorts ofTotal Annihilation, a classic RTS from 1997.Beyond All Reasonhas three things going for it. First,the scale is as big as it gets, with some maps supporting up to 8v8 team battles. Second, terrain is extremely important, from elevation to terrain-destroying artillery. And most importantly, it’s free.
Beyond All Reasonisn’t a free-to-play game with optional in-game purchases, but rather an open-source project with no payment options besides donations. It would be impossible for this free game to be so large and technically complex without a dedicated community maintaining and expanding it.
Dominions 5is a rare example of multiplayer-focused 4X strategy games. What’s fascinating is that this 2017 indie game, which looks like an early 2000sTotal Wargame, started as a single-player game. Once a patch added multiplayer support, the RTS community chose it as thede facto best multiplayer 4X game.
What makesDominions 5a great game for multiplayer is that, compared to massive grand strategy games likeCivilizationorTotal War, matches are relatively short. Admittedly, the word “relatively” is doing a lot of work here. Matches last hours, not minutes, but at least they aren’t played over the course of days.
Yes,StarCraft 2is still one of the best competitive multiplayer RTS games. Blizzard’s 2010 strategy game is still one of the most played entries in the genre. Unlike what one would expect from a 14-year-old game that has had a consistent tournament scene all throughout,StarCraft 2is not that hostile to beginners.
For one,StarCraft 2is free to play. The free package includes a campaign, Wings of Liberty, the standard multiplayer mode, and coop mode. By all accounts, the story isn’t great, and as is common for RTS games, the multiplayer is a completely different thing.
Age of Empires 2: Definitive Editionis one of the most beloved strategy games of all time. The game’s community was strong enough to keep multiplayer alive through the years, all the way to the trilogy’s remake. Because of this,Age of Empires 2is currently the game in the series with the biggest active community.
Age of Empires 2: Definitive Editionalso has a large set of great campaigns. While their supposed objective is to teach some of the basic mechanics to new players, most of them only serve to tell a good story. Realistically, like with most RTS games, the campaign and the multiplayer mode might as well be different titles.
Age of Empires 4is the latest title in the classic RTS series and is currently one of the most-played multiplayer games. While the community still seems to prefer theAge of Empires 2remake, especially when it comes to solo play,Age of Empires 4certainly has its fans.
Unlike previous games in the series,Age of Empires 4was built from the ground up for online multiplayer. The game makes it clear by noticeablyreducing the amount of single-player contentcompared to previous games. Still, the multiplayer is alive and well, and it’s muchmore welcoming tobeginners than many older titles.
Company of Heroes 2is a strategy game set in World War II. Even though it was originally released in 2013, it’s still one of the most-played WWII RTS games online. That certainly says a lot about the state of online multiplayer strategy games, but it’s also a testament to how great a match ofCompany of Heroes 2can be.
Company of Heroes 2isn’t the last game in the series, butCompany of Heroes 3was so poorly receivedthat the community seems to have stayed put in the second entry. It helps that the game is a good mix of easy-to-learn and hard to master, and a mix of long-term strategy and single-fight tactics.
TheCommand and Conquer Remastered Collectionincludes the first two games in theCommand and Conquerseries: the original release andRed Alert. The remake comes with improved mod support, better graphics (while still supporting the original in single-player mode) and the first two games’ campaigns.
As for multiplayer,Command and Conquer Remastered Collectionallows players to participate in matches in bothTiberian DawnandRed Alert. Sadly, multiplayer isn’t as popular as with other games, and dividing the fanbase into two games can make things worse. Still, the more dedicated members of the community sometimes organize tournaments that fill the game’s server.
