10 Best RTS Games of 2026

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition takes first place because no other game here gives an RTS player as much to do for the price. Xbox Game Studios sells it on Steam for $34.99 with three expansions, Lords of the West, Dynasties of India and Dawn of the Dukes, already included. The store listing counts 42 civilizations and 229 campaign missions, and the game supports single-player, co-op, online multiplayer with cross-play, an in-game scenario editor and mods. It also runs on modest hardware: the minimum spec asks for 4 GB of RAM, a GT 420 class card and 15 GB of storage, and Steam lists both Windows and macOS. Among English Steam reviewers, 94% of 62,580 are positive, the best share on this list. The downsides are the 16 DLC listed on Steam, which add civilizations at extra cost, and a classic economy and build-order system that takes time to learn if you have never played an Age game.

StarCraft II ranks second because it is the strongest RTS you can play without paying. Blizzard's own page labels it real-time strategy and free to play, and says large parts of the single-player and multiplayer modes are accessible for free, including the first, Terran campaign. You command Terran, Zerg or Protoss, then pick a mode: the story campaign, the ranked multiplayer ladder that Blizzard calls the world's premier real-time-strategy esport, Co-op missions with a partner, or player-made custom games in the Arcade. It runs on Windows and Mac through Battle.net. The limits are commercial and practical: the full Zerg and Protoss campaigns are sold separately, the game is not on Steam, and competitive play rewards fast hands, so players who want a slower pace should look at They Are Billions, which has a pause button.

Age of Mythology: Retold places third by adding mythology to the Age formula at a lower price than either Age of Empires game. The Steam page describes campaigns spanning 50 missions, from Troy to Midgard and Egypt, and four pantheons to choose from: Greek, Norse, Egyptian and Atlantean. Gods give you powers such as lightning storms and earthquakes, and your army mixes humans with myth units such as Centaurs, Trolls and Mummies. Multiplayer is co-op or competitive with cross-platform play, and the Arena of the Gods mode is new to this version. It costs $29.99, and 90% of 10,545 English Steam reviews are positive. The minimum spec needs 8 GB of RAM, 25 GB of storage and an AVX-capable CPU, and the Chinese pantheon from the Immortal Pillars expansion costs extra.

Age of Empires IV is the newest historical game in the series and the right choice for players who want modern visuals with classic Age play. The Steam listing for the Anniversary Edition describes 10 civilizations at launch, from the English to the Chinese and the Delhi Sultanate, plus the Malians and Ottomans and 8 new maps added as free content. A Mod Editor in beta lets you build skirmish and multiplayer maps, missions and tuning packs, and Steam lists cross-platform multiplayer, online co-op and full controller support, including DualSense. It costs $39.99 and 86% of 29,176 English Steam reviews are positive. It ranks behind Age of Empires II because it costs more, has fewer reviews and a lower positive share, and asks for more hardware: 8 GB of RAM, 50 GB of storage and an AVX-capable processor.

Command & Conquer Remastered Collection is the cheapest paid game here and one of the best reviewed. For $19.99, EA sells both Command & Conquer and Red Alert, remastered in 4K by former Westwood Studios team members at Petroglyph, with all 3 expansion packs. You can switch between the original and 4K graphics in solo play, and multiplayer was rebuilt with custom lobbies, 1v1 Quickmatch, leaderboards, replays and observer mode. A Map Editor and Steam Workshop support cover mods, and the package adds over 7 hours of remastered music and a gallery of unreleased footage. Of 18,017 English Steam reviews, 91% are positive. It ranks fifth rather than higher because these are 1990s designs with no new campaigns, so players who want modern unit control and newer systems should look at Tempest Rising.

Northgard is the pick for players who want an RTS that plays more like a settlement builder. Shiro Games puts you in charge of a Viking clan on a newly found continent, where you assign villagers to jobs, store food for harsh winters and expand territory by territory. You can win by conquest, fame, lore or trade, and each clan has its own bonuses. Beyond multiplayer and ranked lobbies, there is a Story mode and a Conquest mode of scenarios that can be played solo or co-op. The Definitive Edition costs $34.99 on Steam, runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and needs only 1 GB of RAM and 1 GB of storage. Of 23,300 English Steam reviews, 84% are positive. Steam lists 12 DLC, and the slower, smaller-scale fights will not satisfy players looking for big army battles.

Tempest Rising is the best new RTS for players who miss the Command & Conquer era. Slipgate Ironworks describes it as a classic base-building RTS set in an alternate modern Earth after a nuclear war, with three factions: the Global Defense Forces, the Tempest Dynasty and the Veti. Two 11-mission campaigns with voiced briefings cover the first two sides, while the Veti are playable in multiplayer and skirmish and their campaign is sold separately. Online play includes 1v1 and 2v2 matchmaking ranked with the Glicko-2 system, and skirmish supports up to 500 units per team. It costs $39.99 and 87% of 5,426 English Steam reviews are positive. Hardware needs are higher than the classics, with a GTX 1060 class card and 45 GB of storage, and the review count is smaller than older picks.

They Are Billions is a different kind of RTS: you build and defend a colony against enormous swarms of the infected instead of facing a rival army. Numantian Games built it around real time with pause, so you can stop the action, place buildings, give army orders and read information, and the studio says the game is about strategy, not how quickly you can execute commands. The New Empire campaign has 48 missions and more than 60 hours of play, Survival mode generates a random world each run, and more than 90 technologies let colonies grow. It costs $29.99, runs on 4 GB of RAM and 4 GB of storage, and 80% of 19,051 English Steam reviews are positive. Steam lists it as single-player only, so look elsewhere for multiplayer.

Total War: WARHAMMER III suits players who care most about battle scale. Creative Assembly pairs a turn-based campaign map with real-time battles, and the Steam page lists seven races, hundreds of units and 10 Legendary Lords, including a Daemon Prince you can customize. Multiplayer includes an 8-player campaign, a 1v1 Domination mode and ranked and custom battles, with LAN and online play. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. The costs are high: $59.99 for the base game, 38 DLC listed on Steam and 120 GB of storage. Only 72% of 58,119 English Steam reviews are positive, and the turn-based campaign layer means it is not a pure RTS, which is why it sits ninth despite its high capability score.

Company of Heroes 3 is the tactical choice: instead of large economies, you manage squads, cover, flanking and line of sight. Relic set it in the Mediterranean, with two campaigns, including a Dynamic Campaign Map across Italy where you move ground, air and naval forces and build supply lines between real-time battles. Four factions are playable in multiplayer and co-op, Full Tactical Pause lets you give orders while the action is stopped, and destructible environments and infantry breaching let you flush enemies out of buildings. It needs Windows, 8 GB of RAM and 40 GB of storage. It ranks last because only 62% of 13,581 English Steam reviews are positive, the lowest share here. Steam showed a temporary discount when we checked, so we list the price as pending; check the current price before buying.