20 Games Like Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness(1995)

Wage war in the North and assume command of the most storied civilizations in all of Middle-earth history - the Elven and Dwarven armies - or fight on the side of Evil with heroes and creatures that have never been seen in The Lord of the Rings films. Defend or overtake never before seen lands such as Dol Guldur, The Misty Mountains, and Mirkwood as you unleash powerful new weapons and abilities, such as summoning dragons.

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is the first game in the Warcraft series developed by Blizzard Entertainment. The Orcish hordes are summoned through the dark portal to the peaceful human Kingdom of Azeroth. When the two races meet each other, a terrible war ensues. Only one race can dominate the land.

Players can choose to play as either the Humans or the Orcs. There are 12 scenarios for each race with mostly a single objective: destroy the enemy.

As with most RTS games of the same era, a lot of time is spent collecting resources and building structures to make/upgrade different types of units.

Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos is an RTS made by Blizzard Entertainment. Take control of either the Humans, the Orcs, the Night Elves or the Undead, all with different unit types and heroes with unique abilities.Play the story driven single player campaign, go online to play default- or custom maps against people around the world or create your own maps with the map creation tool.

StarCraft is a strategic game set in a Galaxy far away on multiple planets. Its style and balance between the three antagonistic species it features is unique and appealed to millions.

In a world beyond imagination...

In their immeasurable greed and constant thirst for power, the thirteen most powerful Mages of all time doomed the land, hurling it into an endless spiral of chaos and despair. Entire countries were wiped out in the blink of an eye when the devastating power of the Elements was unleashed – Elements summoned by dark rituals. Continents shattered like glass, the pieces strewn about like leaves in the wind. Huge armies, bound by the the power of ancient runes, brought war and destruction to the lands that survived the initial onslaught. All that was left were a few islands, connected by magic portals.

Now, only a few years after the end of the Convocation, evil is back – stronger and more powerful than ever before – to finish what was started.

Yet there is still hope. The prophecies tell of a human. A human damned to immortality, bound forever by the power of the blood runes…

Soon, the time will come when the power of one may change the destiny of many. For better or for worse...

Summary of the most important features:

Innovative game design: The unique mixture of RTS and RPG elements offers a brand new game experience.
High degree of identification with the hero-avatar, whose skills and strengths can be improved by the player
Click’n’Fight: This revolutionary control system guarantees instant action, the best possible overview and completely new tactical possibilities in battle
6 races – Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Dark Elves, Orcs and Trolls – that can be used simultaneously (!) to build settlements and fight battles
More than 30 different enemy races, from cowardly goblins to powerful demons and dragons
A multitude of spells, divided into different categories of magic (white, black, elemental, etc.)
Persistant game world with continuous, gripping storyline and myriad sub-quests
Awe-inspiring 3D graphics with zoom levels from isometric to 1st-Person-views

The quest to destroy the One Ring continues in the first real-time strategy game based on The Lord of the Rings saga. Massive battles erupt as the forces of light and darkness fight for control of Middle-earth. The more units you destroy, the more experience and visual enhancements you earn. Play as the forces of good and valiantly fight for the ring's destruction or play as the forces of evil to claim control over Middle-earth forever.

Diablo is an isometric strategy RPG and one of the most well-known examples of the action-RPG subgenre. Although some of the game mechanics resemble a typical RPG, all actions are done in real-time just like in an action game. The player have to kill hordes of monsters through randomized dungeon levels in order to gain experience points, gold and a variety of equipment to bolster the hero's monster-killing potency.

Age of Mythology is a real-time strategy game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. Drawing inspiration from Greek, Egyptian, and Norse mythology rather than historical events, it diverges from the Age of Empires series while sharing familiar gameplay elements. The campaign follows Arkantos, an Atlantean admiral embarking on a journey through the lands of the game's three cultures, hunting for a cyclops who is in league with Poseidon against Atlantis.

Anno 1404 is a city-building and economic simulation game with real-time strategy elements. Released in 2009, it was developed by Related Designs, produced by Blue Byte, and published by Ubisoft. Though the game centers on a series of fictional events, the overall concept of the storyline is based upon real life aspects of medieval and renaissance history such as the Crusades, advancements in gothic architecture, construction of cathedrals, and hanseatic trade involving the rise of patrician merchants and early forms of capitalism.

The Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based tactical strategy game with a high fantasy theme.

Build up a great army, gradually turning raw recruits into hardened veterans. In later games, recall your toughest warriors and form a deadly host whom none can stand against! Choose units from a large pool of specialists, and hand-pick a force with the right strengths to fight well on different terrains against all manner of opposition.
Wesnoth has many different sagas waiting to be played. Fight to regain the throne of Wesnoth, of which you are the legitimate heir... step into the boots of a young officer sent to guard a not-so-sleepy frontier outpost... lead a brutal quest to unite the orcish tribes... vanquish a horde of undead warriors unleashed by a foul necromancer, who also happens to have taken your brother hostage... guide a band of elvish survivors in an epic quest to find a new home... get revenge on the orcs by using the foul art of necromancy...
There are at least two hundred unit types, sixteen races, six major factions, and hundreds of years of history. The world of Wesnoth is absolutely huge and only limited by your creativity — make your own custom units, create your own maps, and write your own scenarios or even full-blown campaigns. You can also challenge up to eight friends—or strangers—and fight in epic multiplayer fantasy battles.

Travel to an alternate universe where dark experiments have permanently altered time. Or have they? Soviet tanks crush city after city while Allied cruisers shell bases. Spies lurk, landmines await, and strange new technologies aid both sides in the struggle for ultimate control. In this parallel reality, the mighty Soviet Empire has begun to “liberate” all of Europe. Cities fall and countries collapse before the overwhelming might of the Red Storm. The Allies are scrambling to meet the onslaught, but they have been caught by surprise. Red Alert puts the fate of the world in your hands!

Combining the deep tactical elements of turn-based strategy games with the rapid gameplay of real-time strategy, Rise of Nations puts you in command of one of 18 civilizations over the course of thousands of years of history.

For a millennium, three opposing forces of humanity--the Cybran Nation, the Aeon Illuminate and the United Earth Federation--have fought a bitter and bloody war over conflicting and unwavering systems of belief. There is no room for compromise. No room for mercy. No room for anything but the complete eradication of anyone with opposing belief systems. Labeled the Infinite War, this horrific conflict has shattered a once peaceful galaxy and only served to deepen the hatred and schisms between the three factions. Now, after centuries of struggle, the battle for supremacy has at long last reached a turning point. You are a Supreme Commander, and only you have the power to bring the Infinite War to an end once and for all. Set in the 37th century, Supreme Commander signals the next evolution in the RTS genre by being the first strategy game to deliver a truly strategic and tactical experience

Your destiny awaits you on the battlefield. As a Roman General on a quest to forge an empire, you will be transported back to the dusty battlefields of Egypt, the frozen lands of the Gauls, and finally to the heart of the Empire itself, Italy. Your quest will be no easy task as the lands you seek to conquer are heavily defended by thousands of powerful troops.

Feed you insatiable hunger to rule the empire with this combat-heavy epic adventure Command the forces of 3 civilizations - the disciplined Romans, the ferocious Gauls, and the religiously fanatical Egyptians

Different landscapes play an all-important role in battle. From snow-capped mountains to sandy beaches, the AI will understand varying terrain and its defensive and offensive possibilities

Battle for supremacy online in an intense multiplayer match supporting up to 8 players Master the art of war in over 20 single player missions requiring vastly different strategies

Command & Conquer: Generals puts your trigger finger on the pulse of modern warfare. Choose your powerful General to control massive armies of bleeding-edge military weaponry across a globe teetering on the brink of Armageddon.

Command one of three unique sides, each with customisable high-tech arsenals ready to deliver unprecedented firepower on land or in the skies. Annihilate the opposition in the 27-mission single-player campaign or dish out the damage in global multiplayer mayhem. Prepare your forces, Commander…it’s time to engage in the next generation of real-time strategy - Command & Conquer Generals.

Stronghold is a historic real-time strategy game developed by Firefly Studios. While the game focuses primarily on conquest and expansion through military pursuits, Stronghold does provide space for economic strategy and development: there is both an economic and a military campaign to be played and both are discussed in the game manual. The game takes place in Medieval Britain around the time of AD 1066, though, since there is sometimes no time limit, scenarios can continue to hundreds of years beyond this date.

Stronghold: Crusader is the successor to Firefly Studios's 2001 game Stronghold.

Crusader has much in common with the original Stronghold, but differs from its predecessor in the fact that the game is no longer set in a pseudo-Europe, instead being set in the Middle East during the Crusades. The game features a multitude of new Arabian units that can be purchased in a new building, the mercenary post. Though the Arabian troops do not require any weapons to produce, they are rather expensive. The game was also released as Stronghold Warchest. This version was a compendium of Stronghold and an enhanced version of Stronghold: Crusader, containing additional characters and an additional Crusader Trail.

Stronghold Warchest was only released in limited number of countries (i. e. USA or Poland), meaning players in the rest of the world have never encountered the second Crusader Trail, or second set of characters. This changed when an updated version of Stronghold Crusader, Stronghold: Crusader Extreme was released in early 2008.

RPG and sequel to The Witcher 2 (2011), The Witcher 3 follows witcher Geralt of Rivia as he seeks out his former lover and his young subject while intermingling with the political workings of the wartorn Northern Kingdoms. Geralt has to fight monsters and deal with people of all sorts in order to solve complex problems and settle contentious disputes, each ranging from the personal to the world-changing.

Dota 2 is a multiplayer online battle arena video game and the stand-alone sequel to the Defense of the Ancients (DotA) mod. With regular updates that ensure a constant evolution of gameplay, features, and heroes, Dota 2 has taken on a life of its own.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is a role-playing game and the third main game in the Dragon Age series. It is set in the Thedas continent, the same fantasy world as the two previous games. It consist of two large countries: Ferelden (from Dragon Age: Origins) and Orlais, as well as the land inbetween.

True to the spirit of the series the character can be customized for appearance, sex, class and race. The available races are dwarf, elf, human, and Qunari and the classes are mage, rogue, and warrior with three specializations each. To grow the Inquisition experience needs to be earned by completing quests, which allows the player to further define allegiances and pursue romances.

A custom party can be defined and each member benefits from experience as it opens up access to better weapons and more abilities. Power points open up new areas and Inquisition points define the influence over the region; each new level provides a perk that benefits the entire Inquisition.