Best RTS Games on Steam
Real-time strategy games about commanding units, bases, resources, and battles.
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1Hearts of Iron IV - Victory is at your fingertips! Your ability to lead your nation is your supreme weapon, the strategy game Hearts of Iron IV lets you take command of any nation in World War II; the most engaging conflict in world history.
Jun 6, 2016
In this game, you can…
- stage a surprise airborne invasion that takes an enemy capital before your own sea landing even leaves port.
- start as tiny Bolivia and snowball from beating one neighbor into grinding down half a continent, then gearing up to fight Brazil.
- oust Stalin in a civil war, reunite China as a warlord, or put another Napoleon on France's throne in the same game.
- manually switch combat plans mid-battle multiple times to change how a fight plays out instead of just watching it resolve.
- drive a tank army straight through a country that has no anti-tank and rip the front so wide it looks like someone took a bite out of the map.
- race the clock in a WW1 mod: stabilize a collapsing front, rush 1918 fighters to wipe the enemy air force, then snake an armored car into Paris seconds before the USA joins.
- turn a small nation into an industrial powerhouse through years of buildup, then flip the switch into rapid conquest the moment you're ready.
2Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - 42 Civilizations, 229 Campaign Missions, Singleplayer, Co-Op, Multiplayer, In-Game Editor, Mods, Cross-play...It is good to be the king.
Nov 14, 2019
In this game, you can…
- watch a monk convert your knights mid-fight, and they instantly switch sides.
- tell AI teammates what units to train, where to build, and what target to attack.
- play voice-acted historical campaigns like Saladin or Joan of Arc, and even run some of those missions in co-op.
- auto-explore the map with your scout.
- collapse buildings into rubble when they're destroyed, instead of just disappearing.
- queue unit production and technologies at the same time, so upgrades don't pause your momentum.
- skip the early setup and jump straight into fighting with a mode that starts after the opening minutes.
- race a campaign mission timer by destroying every castle in a city in under 30 minutes.
3Crusader Kings III - Love, fight, scheme, and claim greatness. Determine your noble house’s legacy in the sprawling grand strategy of Crusader Kings III. Death is only the beginning as you guide your dynasty’s bloodline in the rich and larger-than-life simulation of the Middle Ages.
Sep 1, 2020
In this game, you can…
- make the pope your vassal, imprison him over a feast insult, seize Rome, force-convert him, and banish him.
- create a custom religion with rules like forced nudity or ritual cannibalism, then use conversion to control and humiliate rivals.
- start as a two-year-old empress, face near-total revolt, then grow into a famous conqueror and reformer.
- play a dynasty where you die, then keep ruling as your heir.
- lose your wife to concubinage, rescue her decades later, then adopt a feral "wolf-boy" and raise him into a kingdom-building heir.
- turn a rumor into a chain of spying, blackmail, secret murders, and a land-claim war that drags the whole realm into marching armies.
- breed a "perfect heir" through dynasty genetics until your family tree becomes strategically useful and completely tangled.
- revoke an empire's election laws with a single decision, then deal with powerful nobles resisting the change and testing your rule.
4Frostpunk - Frostpunk is the first society survival game. As the ruler of the last city on Earth, it is your duty to manage both its citizens and infrastructure. What decisions will you make to ensure your society's survival? What will you do when pushed to breaking point? Who will you become in the process?
Apr 24, 2018
In this game, you can…
- replace whole work crews with automatons that work all night and don't care about the cold.
- sign laws that let you put children to work in mines, kitchens, and coal piles to keep the city alive.
- build watchtowers, propaganda centers, and prisons, then run the city on fear when hope and warmth stop working.
- build a city in rings around a single coal generator.
- push the generator into overdrive as the cold keeps dropping, and gamble on upgrades before it fails.
- send scouts into the frozen wasteland for survivors and supplies, knowing the storm can wipe them out mid-trip.
- let refugees in wave after wave, then decide who gets left outside to die when space and food run out.
5Total War: WARHAMMER II - The forces of Lustria await your command. Choose your Legendary Lord, expand your armies, forge alliances in a strategic turn-based campaign, and unleash the might of your monstrous forces in fast-paced real-time battles.
Sep 28, 2017
In this game, you can…
- get ambushed, eat a tactical nuke minutes into the fight, then rebuild your entire battle line mid-chaos and still win.
- lead an army of thousands of rats with poison bombs, lightning cannons, and rapid-fire guns that can erase units fast.
- play on a stitched-together mega-map where every race from both games is in one campaign with wildly different starting situations.
- race other empires to complete world-shaking rituals, then hold off enemy counterattacks long enough to finish yours.
- set up a chokepoint defense where one perfect position and timed spells lets you beat multiple elite armies at once.
- send a single hero into the front line to fight whole groups alone, then swing the battle with healing or devastating magic.
- slam cavalry into a line hard enough to rip it open, then follow up with hydras, dragons, and phoenixes to finish the collapse.
- pull 10,000 gold from a shipwreck, drop it straight into new buildings, then use the upgrade to launch your next conquest.
6Kenshi - A free-roaming squad based RPG. Focusing on open-ended sandbox gameplay features rather than a linear story. Be a trader, a thief, a rebel, a warlord, an adventurer, a farmer, a slave, or just food for the cannibals. Train your men up from puny victims to master warriors.
Dec 6, 2018
In this game, you can…
- throw someone into acid to melt their legs off, then install bionic scout legs so they can outrun everyone and steal dinosaur eggs.
- leave a shop door open, watch a camel wander in, and trigger a chain fight where shopkeepers, guards, and caravans brawl across town.
- get enslaved for stealing food, train lockpicking and stealth at night, free other slaves, and sprint into the wilderness with guards chasing you.
- get beaten unconscious by bandits, wake up, and come back tougher because taking hits raises your durability.
- lose an arm or leg, crawl across the desert to safety, then replace it with a metal limb and come back faster and stronger.
- start as an escaped slave, build a drug-running business, hire an army, and turn your grudge into a full war against a government.
- turn prison time into training by repeatedly breaking out, getting caught, healing up, and leveling skills from inside a cage.
- build a base with one bad gap, then watch bandits and cannibals pile into your storage building together while you scramble to survive the pileup.
7Age of Empires II (Retired) - Age of Empires II has been re-imagined in high definition. With the release of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition, this product will not be updated further.
Apr 9, 2013
In this game, you can…
- convert enemy soldiers so they instantly switch sides mid-battle.
- raise the population cap to 500 and flood the map with armies big enough to change your entire battle plan.
- win without conquering everyone by guarding a king, collecting relics, or building and defending a wonder.
- mass monks behind walls, upgrade them into tanky converters, then march out stealing whole armies while they chant.
- watch monks on both sides convert the same troops back and forth until someone breaks the stalemate with a surprise demolition squad.
- set up two markets far apart and generate more gold from trade just because the route is longer.
- fire a mangonel shot into a clump of archers and flatten them all at once.
- play campaigns as famous historical leaders like Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, or Joan of Arc.
8Dyson Sphere Program - Build the most efficient intergalactic factory in space simulation strategy game Dyson Sphere Program! Harness the power of stars, collect resources, plan and design production lines and develop your interstellar factory from a small space workshop to a galaxy-wide industrial empire.
Jan 20, 2021
In this game, you can…
- lift off a planet and fly to another one with no loading screens.
- launch parts into space and watch a Dyson Sphere grow around a star, layer by layer, until it's visible from the ground.
- set up drones and ships that automatically move parts between planets while you build elsewhere.
- cover an entire planet in factories, then move on to build whole specialized production planets in the same system.
- wrap a belt line all the way around a planet's equator and let it feed projects on the far side.
- build solar panel rings and then fill orbit with thousands of solar sails.
- unlock warp travel and jump to other star systems, visit a black hole, then return with rare resources.
- save a factory layout as a blueprint and stamp the same module down across planet after planet.
9Crusader Kings II - Explore one of the defining periods in world history in an experience crafted by the masters of Grand Strategy.
Feb 14, 2012
In this game, you can…
- use intrigue to install your brother as an anti-pope, go to war with the pope, and make your brother the official pope for Catholics
- seduce queens and empresses across multiple realms, then spread bastards so widely that another player can end up as your kid
- build a secret Odin cult, drag your spouse into it, get in a tavern brawl while disguised, then die crusading for Christianity while secretly pagan
- start as a powerful emperor or a lowly count in 1066–1453, and if you die without a viable heir, your run just ends
- lose one throne in a succession war, then inherit a completely different kingdom through your family line
- marry into a rival dynasty, line up your heir to inherit, and watch two kingdoms unify automatically when the right person dies
- plot a duke's murder with help from his spouse, spark the civil war you wanted, and steer the chaos toward your firstborn inheriting
- murder the king of France, marry his widow, and have a son with her who gains the claim you need to take the throne
- raid across Europe from a tiny island ruler, kill hundreds of thousands, hoard mercenaries and gold, then trigger a coalition dogpile that wipes your empire in two years
10Total War: SHOGUN 2 - Total War: SHOGUN 2 is the perfect mix of real-time and turn-based strategy gaming for newcomers and veterans alike.
Mar 15, 2011
In this game, you can…
- import British marines through a single foreign-trade port, buy an ironclad, and mow down elite samurai with Gatling guns and cannons.
- grow powerful enough that allies and vassals flip on you, then fight off a coordinated dogpile ordered by the Shogun himself.
- recruit a new general from the rank and file when leaderless troops win battles, promoting a regular soldier into command.
- pivot your clan from sword charges to rifles, factories, and a new emperor after getting shredded by modern gun lines.
- bait an army into a trap with one division, encircle it with gun units, wipe it out in volleys, then upgrade to bigger guns when armored samurai appear.
- watch a trained ninja assassination play out as a cutscene gamble that can succeed cleanly or fail in a spectacular botch.
- climb castle walls with any unit, push through multiple inner tiers, and turn a siege into a chaotic all-hands fortress storm.
- fight battles where weather, thunder, petals, and war drums all keep going while armies clash and enemies try to sneak through forests.
