The Last Express Gold Edition
I think this may well be the greatest game ever made. Yes, the controls are clunky as all get out. Yes, for people used to today’s games the ultra-high-tech-for-1997-digital-rotoscoping technique looks extremely antiquated. Yes, you’re dropped into the game with no idea what to do, and you’re going to fail. A lot. But at the same time “The Last Express” includes:
- Probably the best-developed characters in any adventure game I’ve yet played (the weakest is arguably Robert Cath, who the player controls, but even he has an intriguing and irritatingly-largely-unrevealed-due-to-lack-of-a-sequel backstory). By the end of the game you know what they want and what makes most of them tick, and since certain bad things are more or less guaranteed to happen to a number of them the result is the equivalent of an emotional shovel to the face.
– Real player with 16.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Real-Time Story Rich Games.
Ahead of its time but stuck in the past
First read about this game way back when it came out, in a magazine I still have, where the reviewer was left in complete awe because of unique design for an adventure game. Ever since it occupied a small cluster of neurons in the back of my head, waiting for me to play it and its moment to shine. I should say I never played the original so my review will only address this 2013 port, with some inferior exceptions others have noticed.
It plays like Myst, from 1st person perspective with static scenes as you move around, but is set in realistic environment of an vintage luxury passenger train called Orient Express. The whole game takes place in the same 4-5 vagon carts with beautifully rendered backgrounds. You move by clicking edges of screen with mouse cursor that contextually changes functions to forward, backward and left or right turn, with interaction prompts for opening doors and object/NPC interaction.
– Real player with 9.8 hrs in game
Tactics of World War I
Tactics of World War I puts you in the role of a military leader on the Western Front. Lead your men through some of the fiercest battles in history. But only if you plan your attacks thoroughly, and react smartly and quickly to your enemies actions you will succeed.
Two Single-Player Campaigns
The game features two single-player campaigns set on the Western Front. A German campaign about the invention of the famous “Sturmtruppen”, an elite infantry unit founded to overcome the stalemate of trench warfare. And a British campaign dealing with the deployment of the very first tanks to the battlefield.
The campaigns extent over the entire conflict from 1914 to 1918, including decisive battles such as the Battle of Flirey or the Battle of Passchendaele.
Realistic Small Unit Tactics
Tactics of World War I focuses on the tactical aspects of the battle like cover, suppressive fire, and flanking maneuvers. Resulting in a fast-paced gameplay loop accompanied by truly innovative, streamlined controls.
With more than half a dozen individual units per faction, from light infantry to heavy weapons, such as mortars or tanks, Tactics of World War One provides you with a variety of tactics.
Read More: Best Real-Time Strategy Games.
Iron Harvest
Reminds me a lot of Company of Heros except not as many unit options or customizable skills.
– Real player with 61.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Real-Time Strategy Games.
I would recommend Iron Harvest. the campaign is good for an RTS (not starcraft 2 level of story) but compared with more recent RTS' it’s up there and not just a tutorial for multiplayer. gameplay is similar to the Company of Heroes if you like that style, there are four factions (1 dlc faction) to play as, with the mechs I think being a game highlight with unique designs, styles and gameplay for their factions. voice work is good with an option for a ‘native’ language rather than overriding polish, russian and german characters under one language.
– Real player with 49.7 hrs in game
Airships: Conquer the Skies
-All statements are relevant as of 1/31/21. No guarantees are made for future versions of Airships!-
Let me start off by saying that I am utterly and hopelessly addicted to this game.
Ever since I bought Airships (Or ACTS, as I’ll be using) back in late 2018, I fell in love with it. The game’s kept giving, the developer has remained true to his word and an amazing gentleman, and the community (Especially on the Discord) continues to grow and develop in wondrous ways. As I don’t expect you to go through my various paragraphs of gushing, I’ll put the TL;DR statement here:
– Real player with 424.1 hrs in game
Pretty cool game for those who like relatively free-form building, designing units to deal damage and mitigate it for themselves. Especially if you’re into diesel- and/or steampunk.
The things you have to account for and balance out in a unit’s design are quite numerous and varied; Everything costs something and everything weighs something. A ship’s maximum altitude - which is very important -is determined by its weight vs. lift, for example. This is probably the strongest part of the game.
So in combat, you’ll be witnessing how those designs fare against the NPC (or enemy player) units; Did you actually give your ship enough coal to stay aloft through the average battle? Oh, it turns out this one has a massive structural weakness and will be cut in half by one or two rockets. Great job!
– Real player with 82.3 hrs in game