RTS Comeback in 2015?

[Wietlol]

Hi all.

I just watched some vids about the upcoming games in 2015 and it actually seems that the RTS genre is being revived after all.

Since 2006, RTS games didn't really improve that much from the earlier RTS games and people (including me) left to play other games.

In 2015, there are some interesting RTS games that I will definately get my hands on and play it until I find out that it either sucks or revives the genre.

The first game that was mentioned is Grand Ages: Medieval.
This game seems to be a 8-player rts game with massive landscape with very realistic gameplay.
As far as I can see, it only needs walls and good units and this will be amazing.

Another game that caught my eye is Act of Aggression.
This really much looks like Generals-2015 with a very good and broad combat system.

One that looks pretty similar is Blitzcrieg 3.
This WW2 game gives me the exact same expectations as Act of Aggression but one of these 2 will probably be way better than the other one.

The last one that I thought is worthy of mentioning is Etherium.
For every SupCom player, this game could be the saviour of your days.
3 similar factions with similar units and similar resources... I won't be surprised if Chris Taylor would have made it... but he didn't -_-

Tell me your favorite large scaled RTS games or the upcoming ones that might be interesting to look at.

 

[TaShadan]

I played the Etherium closed beta and i was pretty disappointed. The general idea behind it was nice but the execution was really bad.

Blitzkrieg 3 looks pretty good but the multiplayer (which is no real multiplayer) sucks.

I am really excited about Act of Agression. I hope it will be good!

 

[Wietlol]

@TaShadan
That sounds disappointing.
The thing I want most in RTS games is skill based multiplayer matches where city building is equally important as battle tactics. Also extreme realistic and detailed battles and stuff will make my dream come true... none of the existing RTS games actually does that.
Cossacks, Stronghold 2 and Supreme Commander combined can make a game that really fits those requirements (hopefully Grand Ages: Medieval can be added to that list) but the combination is never made... properly.

still no sword (and sorcery) style games on your list

I prefer large scaled battles/maps/armies and good city building and combat.
Warcraft 3 for example doesn't fit with any of those:
Large maps/armies/battles ? shouldn't even ask.
Good city building? I miss walls and strategic structures.
Good combat? discussable but for me I can't see why horses can't just trample units or why a unit is not crushed when a boulder of the size of that unit is thrown at him or how a unit is not damaged because of a missile that is targeted at the unit behind him.
Simple logics mate

Even though it is not an RTS... it is still mentioned in RTS lists.
Might & Magic Heroes VII might be a bit more for you and sounds like WC4... in normal games at least. "This turn based fantasy strategy combines resource and town management with RPG elements." I just hate the sound of turn based... give me skill based games or just don't make shit at all.
But for other people... yea you can play it.

 

[LordDz]

Try the Men of War series. You have both large scale battles and battles on squad level.
Get Men of War 1 for the campaign and Men of War: Assault Squad 2 for multiplayer.
The voice acting is really bad in the early levels but it gets better
It features heavy destruction of the terrain, almost all objects can be destroyed and you can drive tanks through buildings, because hell why not.
And the campaign can be played in co-op.
Men of War Campaign

Men of War: Assault Squad 2 Multiplayer

Yes I'm a fanboi of this game.

 

[Wietlol]

It looks like it is an Role Playing Strategy.
It looks fun but I don't see base building and Imo there is too much effort in a few units to actually be able to control a full army. (Let's say 1,000 units.)

 

[rulerofiron99]

If Grand Ages: Medieval is anything like its predecessor, Grand Ages: Rome, it's nothing to be excited about. GA:R was an utterly rubbish game.

Blitzkrieg 3 will probably be the best out of the lot.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

too bad so many games use steam these days as that force me to buy multiple copies of each game and run them on multiple steam accounts just to play with people. (valve does allow users to have multiple accounts though.)

 

[Dr Super Good]

D3D12 (part of DirectX 12) looks set to start another RTS generation. Specifically it will address the graphic side of RTS allowing for quality previously not possible.

Currently a major problem with RTS games is the nature of graphics used is very demanding (especially as it is semi-sandbox in some respect). RTS games are very demanding on the CPU and to improve graphics significant CPU time has to be used inside the GPU driver stack which eats away at performance. D3D12 will fix this for newer computer systems by significantly reducing the CPU time spent in the driver stack as well as allowing scaling which was not previously possible.

The end result is the freed up CPU time allows for more complicated RTS games while the better scaling allows for better visuals. Hence the potential for a new RTS revolution, especially since such RTS games can be ported easily to consoles like Xbox One now which have high penetration and sufficient performance to attract casuals.