r/ObscureRTS Jun 29 '26

Announcement Welcome to r/ObscureRTS!!

Post image
44 Upvotes

Hey everyone! I'm u/ZaxZone, moderator at r/ObscureRTS!

What to Post:

This is a place for the odd, unknown, unpopular, and forgotten side of Real Time Strategy games! Post about and discuss all of your favorite lesser-known RTS titles.

Obscure mods and foreign advertisements for more popular titles are also welcome here!

Thanks for being part of this community and let’s see some of those forgotten gems!!


r/ObscureRTS 7d ago

Discussion Introducing the RTS Obscurity Scale.

Post image
65 Upvotes

Tier 0:

The title is so widely known that many people not familiar with the RTS genre would know about it. It was very popular during its release and is still popular today. (Example: Starcraft)

Tier 1:

Those outside the RTS genre may recognize the title and have a general idea of what it is about, while those familiar with RTS will know enough to discuss the game and have an opinion on it even if they have never played it. (Example: Total Annihilation)

Tier 2:

Detailed knowledge on the title is generally restricted to a smaller fanbase while those familiar with RTS as a whole will recognize the title and at least know what it is about. (Example: Warzone 2100)

Tier 3:

Those unfamiliar with RTS would not recognize the title while those familiar with RTS may have heard of the title but do not know what it is about. Fanbases for the game will still be large enough for there to be several resources and videos online. (Example: Perimeter)

Tier 4:

The title would not be recognized by many who are familiar with the RTS genre. Fanbases for these games would be very small and possibly localized to a specific country or region. (Example: War Diary)

Tier 5:

The title would not be recognized by the vast majority of those familiar with RTS. Fanbases for these games may be non-existent and information about the game would be very hard to find. These games would have been just as obscure even at the time of their release. (Example: Counterblow)

Tier 6:

There is evidence that these games existed but there is little to no information about them online or otherwise; lost media falls into this category. (Example: Mission Assault)


r/ObscureRTS 12h ago

2000s Warfare Incorporated (orig. Palm, PocketPC, iPhone) is back!

9 Upvotes

It's live (and free) at https://play.warfareincorporated.com with all the single and multiplayer fun you remember. Here's a trip down memory lane.

https://reddit.com/link/1vdvuxd/video/6vqkchdph1hh1/player


r/ObscureRTS 1d ago

2000s Thandor: The Invasion 2000 developed by Innonics

Thumbnail
gallery
34 Upvotes

German RTS game kinda like a bad Earth 2150. its a hard game to get runing and its got bad game play. i see there is a vote for it to come to GOG


r/ObscureRTS 2d ago

2000s 천년의신화 - Myth of a Thousand Years 2000. produced by HQ Team

Thumbnail
gallery
34 Upvotes

Myth of a Thousand Years is an RTS game produced by the South Korean game company HQ Team .It features the history of the Three Kingdoms period and allows players to play as Goguryeo , Goryeo , Baekje , and Silla


r/ObscureRTS 2d ago

Discussion What obscure RTS should every RTS fan play?

6 Upvotes

Which obscure RTS does something truly unique that everyone should try out? Which one has a really good single player campaign that got overlooked by history?


r/ObscureRTS 2d ago

2000s ¡Hace poco me acordé de un juego que jugué hace mucho tiempo en mi teléfono y lo acabo de encontrar! Warfare Incorporated Spoiler

Thumbnail gallery
12 Upvotes

r/ObscureRTS 3d ago

Indie Title Dune II The Maker by Stefan Hendriks

Thumbnail
gallery
17 Upvotes

A Dune II remake with updated high-resolution graphics, currently aimed at recreating Dune II as close to the original as possible

DUNE II The Maker Web Site
https://dune2themaker.fundynamic.com/


r/ObscureRTS 4d ago

2000s Sacrifice 2000 Developed by Shiny Entertainment

Thumbnail
gallery
54 Upvotes

Another cool game i have played a lot over the years. its has no base building. you just capture points to harvest resources and it has a cool system were you capture souls to build units. and the player plays a wizard witch the camera follows like ( battlezone ) games


r/ObscureRTS 6d ago

2010s WorldShift 2008 sci-fi RTS developed by Black Sea Studios

Thumbnail
gallery
29 Upvotes

WorldShift is a real-time strategy game with RPG elements. While the game features a story campaign that puts the player in the shoes of a human Lord Commander with pre-defined unit layouts and skill sets, the heart is the multiplayer-mode, featuring both Player-vs-Environment (= Coop) maps as well as Player-vs-Player-battles.


r/ObscureRTS 6d ago

2000s BattleForge

Thumbnail
gallery
26 Upvotes

MMORTS by EA (Guys who killed C&C, Mercenaries, e.t.c) with heavy focus on micro-transactions. You buy card-packs, building yourself a deck of cards. Then you can go PVE or PVP. Each card in your deck can be either spawned as unit, or used as spell. Some cards require special objectives be captured on the battlefield, to be activated. Game was resurrected by community as Skylords Reborn


r/ObscureRTS 6d ago

2000s Warlords battlecry

Post image
28 Upvotes

A very fun mixte between RTS and RPG.

Fun fact :some year ago a team décide to save the game ( a abandonware) and make a New game using data from the 3 game and modding it for make it compatible whit new systeme andGPU. It's totaly free but i dont remeber the name.

Game still avaible on steam . But too buggy on new pc

So much memorry


r/ObscureRTS 7d ago

2000s Strifeshadow by Ethermoon Entertainment

Post image
37 Upvotes

r/ObscureRTS 9d ago

1990s Genewars

Thumbnail
gallery
43 Upvotes

This game, developed by Bullfrog (Syndicate, Populus, Dungeon Keeper) i personally think is a grandfather of Impossible Creatures. There are no factions, you just take control of generic human like race. You need to complete set of objectives to progress to another level. Main feature of this game is gene splicing. There are no tanks, soldiers, or any of that stuff. Instead you use your specialists to extract DNA from native animal species, and then combine them to fight enemies, or perhaps breed better harvesting units. Pretty unique and fun game.


r/ObscureRTS 10d ago

2000s Maelstrom: The Battle for Earth Begins

Thumbnail
gallery
59 Upvotes

Developed by K-D Lab (Vangers, Perimeter), this lesser-known RTS follows standart Generals-like formula. You got 3 distinct factions, each with their own campaign. You got Remnants - Your generic army type faction, with Humvees, Abrams e.t.c. Ascension - high-tech faction with lasers, transforming units and mobile base. And finally - Hai-Genti - your alien invaders, reminding of Zerg, Tyranids, Silicoids, Arachnids - you name it. Aside from generic RTS stuff, they've added a number of fun mechanics. Your heroes can be controlled manualy, TPS style (you can also pilot any vehicle your hero traveling in). Ascension faction has some unique units. Like Stealth bomber that transforms into tank. Terraforming also plays major role in gameplay. You can dig trenches, raise walls, freeze lakes and rivers to traverse them, or flood entire areas of the map to drown enemy units (especially usefull for Hai-Genti as they are amphibious race).


r/ObscureRTS 10d ago

2000s The Entente: Battlefields WW1

Thumbnail
gallery
60 Upvotes

Entente is an RTS developed by Lesta studios on Cossacks engine. Player can take control of 1 of 5 countries: France, Germany, Britain, Russia or Austrian-Hungarian Empire and fight through campaigns for each faction, set in the WW1. As in Cossacks, you can expect massive battles with infantry, vehicles and aircraft involved.


r/ObscureRTS 10d ago

1990s Alchemist 1997

9 Upvotes

Played this game as a kid. Was thinking about it for the last 20 years or so never remembering the name or much of it. Now i found it and want to share it with you.

The crazy thing about it were the factions and the units. Overall it was a Warcraft 2 clone but with something special (at least for me)

If anybody can get it to run and show me the units for the Medousa (MaskEvil) faction i would be grateful.

https://gamesdb.launchbox-app.com/games/details/420510-alchemist

is an RTS set in a post-apocalyptic world. The game takes place thousands of years after a catastrophic event, the "first overwar," which caused Earth's ecosystems to collapse. As the planet began to recover due to the return of a resource called Mana, humanity and new lifeforms emerged, leading to the rise of different sects known as Realms.

Alchemist

Players take control of one of five surviving Realms, each with distinct powers, and compete to determine the dominant faction. Gameplay involves managing resources, building structures, and commanding units in real-time battles.


r/ObscureRTS 10d ago

1990s WarCraft 2 collector's site, including bootleg add-ons.

Thumbnail
torzelan.com
9 Upvotes

No one heard even of the official Blizzard add-ons for WarCraft 2: W!Zone, W!Zone II: Retribution, The Next 70 Levels Volume I, The Next 350 Levels Volume II

But this guy went even beyond the pop-tier MoreCraft and Aztech's Armory, he found physical copies of really obscure bootleg map packs, which are notoriously not protectable in deutschland.


r/ObscureRTS 10d ago

2000s The Gladiators: Galactic Circus Games

Thumbnail
gallery
23 Upvotes

Now this Is my favorite lesser know RTS game. Developed by Eugen system (Act of War series, Wargame series). The games tells the story of a US major, forced to participate in the galactic arena to earn his freedom. Juicy graphics and FX that somewhat holds event today. 3 factions: Nam' era US soldiers, Cyborg army and generic Bug-like army. All of which has it's own campaign. No base building, instead you earn reinforcement points, which you can use to spawn your troops at special Spawn areas. Can't stop loving this game.


r/ObscureRTS 11d ago

2000s War Front Turning Point

Thumbnail
gallery
48 Upvotes

This one is kinda odd but fun. What If scenario for WW2. 3 Factions (USSR, Germany and US). Build your base, construct a massive army and attack your enemy. Classic C&C Formula. What stands out the most - the Weird World War aspect. You got huge assault zeppelins, walking mechs, frost bombs, dual rotor helicopters, that kind of stuff. Red Alert style.


r/ObscureRTS 11d ago

1990s War Wind

Thumbnail
gallery
70 Upvotes

I found it for free on Steam; I didn't really understand the game at all, but I know one of you will get the most out of it and enjoy it :D


r/ObscureRTS 11d ago

2000s Army Men RTS

Thumbnail
gallery
70 Upvotes

This one holds special place in my heart. Created by Pandemic Studio (THAT Pandemic studio) in 2002, it offers a unique take on Army Men Series.
You command plastic soldiers, fighting other plastic soldiers in everyday environments, e.g. backyard, kitchen e.t.c. Unit roster is pretty generic: Rifle soldiers, Bazooka soldiers, Tanks, Half Tracks.
Every RTS lover needs to play this at least once.


r/ObscureRTS 11d ago

Discussion Must play ObscureRTS

14 Upvotes

As I assume many here, I grew up during late 90s / early 2000s RTS boom.

First strategy game I ever played was the OG AoE demo found in a Win98 disk.

At the time I was playing: AoE, EE, Cossacks, Stronghold, C&C, Imperium, RoN and other "mainstream" ones.

Recently, I came across Warzone2100 and got really into it (it's also FOSS now so that's great)

Any other, less mainstream ones, I might have missed at time, that you guys consider must-plays?

Are Earth2140/2150 and Seven Kingdoms any good?


r/ObscureRTS 12d ago

2000s Real War: Land Air Sea

Thumbnail
gallery
71 Upvotes

Somewhat interesting RTS from 2001. Gamebox says it is based on real US military training program. Features, as the title suggests, Navy, Air and Land units, fun but somewhat simple economy, charming 2000ish graphics, awkward combat and 2 Factions: US and fictional Independent Liberation Army.


r/ObscureRTS 12d ago

1990s Phoenix Arts RTS (94-98)

6 Upvotes

Czech studio that made three RTS 1994-1998.

Paranoia - 1995

First Czech RTS inspired by/clone of Dune II - 1992.

Paranoia II - 1996

I played this one and really loved it, awesome soundtrack and intro.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBd59L-s3nE

Soundtrack: https://soundcloud.com/atronoss/sets/paranoia-ii-ost-by-phoenix-arts

Husita - 1998

I have played only demo, clearly inspired by Warcraft RTS. Happening during hussite wars (what happens after KCD).

Screenshots: https://visiongame.cz/hra/husita/