Strategy games are well known for their infamous complexity, rewarding players who want to spend a lot of time thinking about the optimal move and overcoming fearsome odds. However, the real-time strategy game not only demands deep thinking but deep thinking on a timer, ramping up the pressure and making some of these games tricky to get to grips with.

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Whether it’s old-school classics that require lots of player inputs or games with an overwhelming amount of interlocking mechanics, there are plenty of real-time strategy games with steep learning curves to conquer.

8

Warcraft 3

Birth of A Lich King

Systems

Platform(s)

Microsoft Windows, macOS

Released

July 3, 2002

Though the world of Azeroth is primarily known through World of Warcraft these days, old-school PC gamers know that its pre-genitor series, Warcraft is one of the best-regarded real-time strategy game franchises ever made, with Warcraft 3 often topping lists as one of the best real-time strategy games ever made.

While the story of Warcraft 3 is justifiably lauded (and is a great introduction to the world’s most important and powerful NPCs), on more complex difficulties, Warcraft 3 can be pretty demanding, requiring a full understanding of the game’s central army composition and resource generation mechanics combined with fast movement and even faster decision-making.

7

Total War: Shogun 2

Sengoku Sensation

Systems

The Total War games have earned a justified reputation for being one of the easier places to hop into the real-time strategy game genre. However, the games vastly differ on how easy they are to get to grips with. Where Total War: Warhammer 3 is an excellent place for beginners to start, Total War: Shogun 2 is the opposite.

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As a sequel to Creative Assembly’s first entry into the Total War series, Shogun increases the complexity, difficulty, and player demands on quick reactions in each real-time battle segment. The overworld is also demanding, with some starts putting the player severely behind. It’s a great game, but one that requires commitment to get to grips with.

6

Age of Empires 2

The GOAT

Systems

Released

November 14, 2019

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

On its surface, Age of Empires 2 isn’t a difficult game, as it’s likely the first experience of many gamers of real-time strategy games, so it’s simultaneously great for beginners. However, while the skill floor is low, the skill ceiling is absolutely massive, proven by the game’s thriving e-sports scene.

In the game, players must build a town, economy, soldiers, and defences while scouting the map and planning ideal terrain for engagement with rival players, all doing the exact same, all at the exact same time. Speed is key to get ahead, which means only the fastest gamers excel at the highest levels of Age of Empires 2 gameplay.

5

Stellaris

Interstellar Dominion

Released

May 9, 2016

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

Paradox Games are well known for simulating the historical past, but Stellaris was a bold move into the sci-fi future, where global conquest grows to a galaxy-wide scale. Necessarily, that means the mechanics start to get complicated to, overwhelming many new players, especially with mountains of great DLC adding further complexity.

Not only do players need to manage their planets, their pops, their many resources, and the diplomacy, but speed is tantamount to success in Stellaris, particularly in the early game when players need to stake claims on solar systems at key choke points. Players who aren’t fast enough will find themselves in a worse position for the rest of the game, making it tricky for new players to get to grips with.

4

Homeworld Remastered Collection

The OG Returns

Systems

Released

February 25, 2015

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

Originally released in 1999 and 2003, the original Homeworld and Homeworld 2 are legendary in real-time strategy circles, with many gamers considering them the peak of real-time strategy games, particularly in a dynamic 3D space.

However, they’re also very complex. Players need to not only think about their fleet compositions, but also navigating them in fully realized 3D space, while keeping track of each unit in the flurry of combat afterwards. Experienced players have no problem, but new players inevitably find the 3D pathfinding tricky to work with, requiring a significant time investment to truly feel comfortable.

3

Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

Original Sin

Released

June 12, 2012

Developer(s)

Stardock Entertainment

Publisher(s)

Stardock Entertainment

Some real-time strategy games, particularly those that have 4X elements, look immediately overwhelming from a single glance. This is, unfortunately, the case of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion, with a UI that almost looks like an air-traffic controller console rather than a video game.

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The interesting thing is that the actual game of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion isn’t super difficult to understand, but its complicated presentation makes it difficult for newcomers to get on board, and there are massive pools of mechanical depth that lie under the surface, firmly blocking casual players from ever reaching the skill of the more experienced.

2

Hearts of Iron 4

The World At War

OpenCritic

Top Critic Rating:
83/100


Critics Recommend:
81%

For a long while, Hearts of Iron 4 has become the prototypical example of a game that requires a hundred hours to reach merely being bad at. This WW2 simulator from Paradox is not for the faint of heart, with almost a decade worth of expansions and new mechanics that make even advancing a day forward in the simulation a risky proposition.

While it takes a long time to understand the many interlocking mechanics of Hearts of Iron 4, a great game awaits behind the military, politics, and economy simulator. It’s just a shame that new players will likely never be able to push past the mental bloat from the first ten hours and experience the joy of trying to work through the game’s hardest starting countries.

1

StarCraft 2

The Pinnacle of the Genre

StarCraft 2 is not a complicated game, at least at first. For casual players, playing through the campaign is actually simple, and the story can be enjoyed by most any gamer without issues alongside a throng of brilliant custom campaigns. However, that all changes whenever a newbie picks up the multiplayer mode.

StarCraft 2 is infamous for its ludicrously high skill ceiling, with players throwing out hundreds, if not thousands of commands a minute, min-maxing their bases to tailor-make misery for the newbie player just trying to find their feet. At a certain point, StarCraft 2 becomes a game based on reflexes and physical speed rather than mental acuity, making the long road to being even slightly competitive in StarCraft 2 multiplayer a long one indeed.

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