English
Gamereactor
articles

The Golden Age of Strategy is Now

Much like its preferred platform, the PC, the strategy genre has been pronounced dead by many. They were wrong... dead wrong.

Subscribe to our newsletter here!

* Required field
HQ

For many the mid-to-late-90s were the golden age of strategy games. We saw the rise of Blizzard's Warcraft and Starcraft. Command & Conquer was in full swing. While the Civilization series started in the early 90s, what many consider the best instalment landed in 1996 and was followed by Alpha Centauri three years later. Homeworld also arrived in 1999. Prior to that there was Total Annihilation and Ages of Empires. The year 2000 saw the first Europa Universalis and the first Total War game released.

But the rise of consoles, perhaps most notably the PlayStation 2, saw the genre somewhat ignored. If anyone would have said that eight years would pass between Warcraft III and Starcraft II back in 1999, they would have been considered insane. Of course, World of Warcraft had something to do with it, but larger publishers like EA, who once ruled the genre thanks to Westwood, struggled. And while certain publishers, like THQ and later Sega, stepped in to fill that void, there was a sense that strategy games were something of the past. That's not to say there weren't great games, as there most definitely was, but it wasn't until Steam grew to be a major player that things really changed.

This takes us to today, and it can be argued that we just experienced the best year ever when it comes to strategy games, and that it has been something that we've been building up towards. Veteran studios given the resources to grow; an audience that is mature and expanding at the same time; publishers who have grasped the market and adapted to a new digital world; young and ambitious indies who approach the genre in new ways. There's plenty of reasons to remain optimistic as we seem to be smack in the middle of a second golden age.

The Golden Age of Strategy is Now
Xcom 2 from Firaxis was one of many brilliant strategy games released in 2016.
This is an ad:

If you're a relatively young gamer it may be difficult to imagine that Halo was once being developed as a real-time strategy title. That's right, the Bungie-developed original could have been a strategy game and not the console defining first-person shooter that helped Microsoft gain a foothold with the original Xbox. How different things could have been. But back in the late 90s it wasn't that strange that a developer was toying with two such different concepts for the same title. If the chips would have fallen differently Bungie could have taken a very different path than the one they're currently on. Halo did go on to get its strategy take with Ensemble Studios' Halo Wars, a game that worked surprisingly well on console (2009, Xbox 360), but one that also spoke volumes about the state of the genre. First of all, it only saw release on console, secondly it was to be the final game from genre giants Ensemble Studios, a studio that rose to fame with the Age of Empires franchise.

Another studio that was instrumental in the rise of the genre was Westwood. Often cited as the perfect example of EA's tendency to buy up and ruin talented developers (that's one way to view it, anyway), Westwood had a good run from 1986 until its closure in 2003, just five years after being acquired by EA. Often credited with establishing the RTS genre with Dune II (1992), Westwood had a great run in the mid-to-late-90s, creating Command & Conquer (1995), Red Alert (1996), the often forgotten adventure gem Blade Runner (1997), and C&C: Tiberian Sun (1999). The studio was never focused entirely on strategy, even if that was their strength, and perhaps that ambition to do everything was their undoing. Their last two games released as Westwood were a shooter, Command & Conquer: Renegade, and a sci-fi MMORPG called Earth & Beyond. Both released in 2002, and both were costly failures for EA. Part of Westwood was tucked into EA Los Angeles, and the Command & Conquer franchise survived even if its current status following the cancelled free-to-play reboot is unknown. Many former Westwood employees went on to form Petroglyph, who have been keeping it traditional in recent years with the likes of Grey Goo and 8-Bit Armies.

Back in 2000 there was one studio who went about things slightly differently. Scaling back on base management, Massive Entertainment found some success with Ground Control, its sequel, and later on the technically impressive World in Conflict. The studio was a force to be reckoned with in the real-time strategy space, but as Vivendi became Activision Blizzard the studio was put up for sale. Unlike a lot of similar stories this was to be something positive and new owners Ubisoft invested massively (pun intended), growing it to where it is approaching 400 employees. But following the release of Soviet Assault (an expansion to World in Conflict), the studio's focus has not been on strategy. It was likely a rational decision from Ubisoft as there was no need for another strategy-focused studio (they've also got Blue Byte, another genre giant, under their wing) and so Massive would focus on technology (Uplay), multiplayer, and ultimately they would release their big project, The Division.

The Golden Age of Strategy is Now
World in Conflict was a visual tour de force for its time, and perhaps it represents a section of the genre that could do with a revival.
This is an ad:

So far, we've focused a lot on the past and what could have been. But clearly, we are enjoying one of the best eras in strategy games right here and now. 2016 was a massive year for the genre. Firaxis brought out two massively successful and highly different games. Xcom 2 built on the foundation of their first reboot and offered an incredibly satisfying turn-based experience. Civilization VI once again tweaked and reinvented the age-old concept and made us lose sleep yet again. Paradox Interactive, brought out not one but two grand strategy titles, the long awaited World War II-themed Hearts of Iron IV, and their first non-historical title, Stellaris, which took the studio's distinctive style and let it play out on a galactic scale. Speaking of first non-historical titles, The Creative Assembly gave us Total War: Warhammer, and showed us that their particular brand of strategy, that blends a strategic mapview with massive real-time strategy encounters, works just as well with fantasy.

For those who enjoy a more Japanese take on strategy there was Fire Emblem: Fates on 3DS, and Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII landed on PC and PS4. This year also saw a new Homeworld released, Deserts of Kharak, perhaps not the Homeworld III many were expecting, but still a good game in its own right (the license is now owned by Gearbox, whereas the original's creators, Relic, are working on Dawn of War 3). There were many other strong genre games like Battlefleet Gothic Armada, The Banner Saga 2, Offworld Trading Company, and Ashes of the Singularity. At the tail end of the year we got Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, an entry in an often overlooked and mainly tactical subgenre of strategy games. These are just some of the highlights.

One thing to consider when speaking of strategy games is that they're often considered difficult to approach. Yet if you look at the mobile scene, there is absolutely no evidence of that. Many of the top grossing titles on Android and iOS are strategy-focused. Whether they're being promoted by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Liam Neeson, Kate Upton, or simply bank on the gameplay, strategy is an integral part of many successful mobile titles and a natural fit given the device, the business model, and the audience. In many ways these strategy games prime players for another type of strategy experience at home in front of their computers. Strategy on the go is far from something new, though. The Advanced Wars series and the strategy-RPG Fire Emblem found themselves more adapted to portable play, even if their origins are stationary.

Another angle to consider is the MOBA genre. The original DotA, a Warcraft III mod, would later make way for League of Legends, Dota 2, Heroes of the Storm, Smite and many, many others. Surely many RTS players migrated to this arena, but it should also be considered that these days MOBAs are also an introduction for younger players into deep and strategic gameplay. If you're playing League of Legends, perhaps you'd be interested in the genre that once gave birth to MOBAs? The Westwood alumni over Petroglyph even tried to merge the genres with the ill-fated Victory Command, but alas it wasn't to be.

The Golden Age of Strategy is Now
Heroes of the Storm isn't just a game populated by many strategy heroes, it also represents a genre born out of the real-time strategy genre.

It's easy to overlook the biggest of them all, Blizzard Entertainment, when speaking of the new golden of age of strategy. After all, their departure from the genre for so many years coincided with the dark years, but it is also hard to imagine the rebirth without the Starcraft II trilogy. Proving that strategy games still deserve top billing in magazines and websites, while taking off as an esport, Starcraft II is a massive milestone in the genre. Perhaps now that the trilogy has concluded we'll see more straight forward real-time strategy titles emerging, hopefully that also means Blizzard themselves will finally give us Warcraft IV.

We tend to look to the big studios to continue to drive this golden age of strategy, but equally important for variation and width within the genre are new companies and indies. One such example is Amplitude Studios, which was established in 2011 by former Ubisoft employees. The French studio went on to create Endless Space, a 4X space title that is getting a sequel soon, and also Endless Legend, which could be seen as a fantasy take on Civ. They take narrative very seriously, something that shows in their games, and they employ highly asymmetric design; neither element is unique, but together with a community-driven approach to game development (Games2Gether), where players are invited to help guide development early on and where they also open themselves up to feedback and input from peers, when put together it makes for a studio that comes together as unique. They're now part of Sega's growing stable of strategy-focused studios, which also includes Relic (Company of Heroes) and The Creative Assembly (Total War), and some would like to put Sports Interactive (Football Manager) in with them as well. This sort of concentration of strategy talent is unheard of and defies conventional logic (spread your risks, don't compete with yourself), but the potential for cross pollination and synergies is great.

But Amplitude aren't the only new players on the scene. One of this year's standout titles was Darkest Dungeon, made by Red Hook Studios. Stoic, established by former Bioware staffers, brought us The Banner Saga, a fresh take on the strategy-RPG, and we got the sequel last year with the third game in the trilogy currently in the works. Frozen Synapse, by British Mode 7 Games, may be mainly a tactical game, but its execution back in 2011 helped spur on the things we're seeing today and its sequel is due out soon. Monaco devs Pocketwatch Games are working on a console-friendly title called Tooth and Tail. There are also examples of established designers going indie to deliver the strategy game of their dreams, like Soren Johnson's non-violent RTS Offworld Trading Company (which landed this year), and Jon Shafer's upcoming At the Gates (that's hopefully due out next year).

The Golden Age of Strategy is Now
Jon Shafer was the lead designer of Civ V and went on to found his own company to reinvent the concept with At the Gates. Poor health has delayed the game, but hopefully it will make it out in 2017.

Looking back a few years, smaller studios that went into self-publishing have managed to become very successful. Two such examples are Paradox Interactive and Stardock Entertainment. One known for their historical grand strategy titles, the other for their 4X space exploration titles. Neither was a prime candidate to be picked up by a larger entity a decade ago, so instead both of them went into publishing. While they've both taken very different roads, they have both managed to grow and deliver strong internally produced games as well as helping fund third-party efforts. Paradox found success in many genres, whereas Stardock mainly kept to strategy. Both companies were highly successful in 2016, with Paradox continuing to ride the success of Cities Skylines while launching two major internally developed games in Stellaris and Hearts of Iron IV. Meanwhile Stardock brought out two third-party titles that were successful in Offworld Trading Company and Ashes of the Singularity, while their own Galactic Civilizations III was launched in 2015 and continues to be supported.

Looking ahead it's difficult to imagine a year that will top 2016 in terms of width and quality, but that's not to say that 2017 looks dull from a strategy perspective. Not at all. We've already covered some of them. The Creative Assembly looks set to deliver something special once more with Halo Wars 2 (which is coming to something of a full circle with both this and the original releasing on PC this year). We also hope to hear more about the studio's plans for the team that gave us Total War: Attilla in 2015, and what their next historical title is all about.

Relic Entertainment, one of the greats during latter part of the first golden era with the likes of Homeworld, and later with the seminal Company of Heroes, is making its return to Warhammer 40,000 with the long awaited Dawn of War 3. Amplitude's Endless Space 2 will see full release having launched into Early Access in 2016, and it's a similar story for the promising Ultimate General: Civil War from Game-Labs. We should see the return of BattleTech courtesy of Harebrained Schemes. It would seem likely that it will be a slower year for the likes of Paradox Interactive, Firaxis and Stardock given their output in 2016, but we expect to hear about the next big grand strategy title from Paradox, potentially an expansion for Civilization VI, and who knows what Stardock could be cooking up. And we really hope this is the year that Warcraft IV is unveiled. Then again, for all we know it may very well be another decade before Blizzard does that, potentially signalling the next golden age.

The Golden Age of Strategy is Now
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos saw release in 2002, with its expansion The Frozen Throne arriving in 2003. Could we see a new entry in the seminal RTS franchise sometime soon?


Loading next content