Real Time Strategies. Best Free PC games without micropayments
Table of Contents
0 A. D.
- Developer: Wildfire Games
- Genre: RTS
0 A. D. is another example of a game created by fans of a particular genre who – not being entirely satisfied with professional productions – decided to take matters into their own hands. In this case, this is not an attempt to faithfully recreate one particular title. Instead, the authors have developed a new historical RTS that is modeled on the Age of Empires series but does not follow its mechanics faithfully.
The game allows you to take command of one of eight ancient civilizations. As in the games from Ensemble Studio, the emphasis here was not only on warfare but also on economic elements, offering an extensive economic model and many options for developing cities. The design has been improved for several years. During this time the game received rich content and very good balancing. In addition, the authors recently abandoned two-dimensional graphics and switched to a 3D engine.
StarCraft Arcade
- Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
- Genre: Real Time Strategy
Under the name StarCraft Arcade, there is a special version of the StarCraft IIengine available for free and used by fans to create their own mods.
The tools developed by Blizzard Entertainment are powerful and allow users to do much more than simply create simple maps. Editors provide so much freedom that in practice, StarCraft Arcade offers thousands of new games, often belonging to a completely different genre than RTS.
For example, in Dwarven Combat, six-person battles can be fought, in which each player controls a single drunken dwarf on a small arena, while Archers is a top-down online shooter with interesting bow mechanics. StarCraft Arcade offers a lot of fan-made content, and catching up on this thicket is facilitated by a handy sorting system that allows you to quickly find the best and most popular modifications.
STARCRAFT CLASSIC
Blizzard also made the first part of StarCraft available for free. At the same time, a remastered and paid version was released, but the original also holds up well and allows you to feel those emotions again. The game is available on the developer's official website.
Allegiance
- Creator: Microsoft Studios
- Genre: hybrid of a space simulator and an RTS
Released in 2000 by Microsoft, Allegiance is a classic example of a work ahead of its time that was not well received and as a result its creators quickly abandoned it. In this case, however, the publisher was merciful and made the code available to a group of fans who released it as a free game and have since developed the project and kept its servers alive.
Allegiance combines a space simulator with RTS mechanics. The game offers multiplayer starship clashes. Each side has a commander who plays battles as in classic strategies. The commander must stockpile raw materials, buy upgrades and units, and issue orders to subordinates. The workers are controlled by artificial intelligence, while all combat units are controlled by other players, for whom the game plays out like an action game.
Despite being seventeen years after the release, Allegiance remains one of the best hybrids of its kind, and even in this category it is unique due to its focus on space battles. No wonder, then, that fans are keeping the project alive with such stubbornness.
