We've living in the post-golden age of RTS games, Command & Conquer, Age of Empires, StarCraft, and many more haven't seen their successors or even superiors yet and likely might never do.
Even StarCraft II is slowly losing it's Esports status as more and more players leave for Brood War's Esport scene, which somehow is still thriving.
I haven't played a "new" RTS game and can't remember one that i'd want to go back to in ages, heck i'm playing Age of Empires II HD on steam, with patches and even new expansions, i wonder why not more companies try to revive old iconic games like that, there's very much a market for it.
The last candidate for any sort of awe for me was Planetary Annihilation, but it lacks of personality, half its techtree was useless, and it's overall scale made it a very uninteresting, clunky, and personality-less experience.
Is it because 3D just doesn't work for RTS games? Warcraft III, Battle for Middle-earth II, prove otherwise. Why are players leaving Starcraft 2 for the first game? Why didn't Age of Empires 3 advance the series and captivate its player base?
A great example might be Red Alert 3, it took the series to places people didn't like, the cartoony artstyle wasn't well received but overall it failed to innovate and move the series forward. It was in a broad sense a 3D Red Alert 2, alot of the designs were the same from the previous game but its lack to pinpoint why the other games worked so well made it lack any sort of longevity.
I wouldn't give any credit to nostalgia, as i think most people -like myself- have played these games for years without any long breaks.
The things we usually associate with RTS games, like a setup period have spread to other games, MOBAs have a setup period now, Battle Royal games like Playerunknown's Battlegrounds do also have a setup period. When rounds are over, everything is reset and you have to setup again, just like RTS games.
I honestly don't mind that much not getting any new RTS games that i need to play. If only my old games aren't dying, Age of Empires 2 HD on Steam with new updates and high resolution support makes it easier to play that game on newer machines.
What about my Red Alert 2, that game hasn't had any support since its release, fan made patches and tools will only last so long.
One day, a new Windows update will come out and i won't be able to play my old games anymore, i'd have to emulate old software and at that point the hassle isn't worth it.
Will the RTS genre ever innovate again or is it all over and gone?
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