STAR WARS™ Rebellion
This is and will remain one of my favourite games of all time, I still play it now and the game time I have logged is a fraction as I’ve only had the it in my steam library for a 3-4mths, I’ve been playing it for years.
It costs less than a pint of beer, infact you could buy a copy for you and a mate for the price of a pint.
Is it for everyone, no.
People who want modern graphics, walk away. (for the old skool SW fans, you’ll see some unique artwork.)
People who want fast paced, walk away.
People who think their Jedi are going to be a super weapon, walk away.
– Real player with 224.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Singleplayer Classic Games.
Star Wars: Rebellion is a classic grand strategy game that’s almost as old as I am, and it shows. A word of warning; many of the negative reviews here (rightfully) deal with issues regarding graphics and loading the game, which can be resolved with a bit of tweaking.
I played this game to death as a kid, even though a lot of my success in it was the result of endless hours of trial and error; the learning curve is perhaps the steepest in video game history, there’s no tutorial, and everything that’s thrown at you can be overwhelming even for people who are familiar with grand strategy titles (a PDF scan of the old instruction booklet can be found in the folders, though). Likewise, while the graphics might have been cutting-edge in 1998, they’re… lackluster nowadays.
– Real player with 161.3 hrs in game
Tyrannis
This is a brilliant example of the kind of wonderfully niche games that steam makes possible. The mechanics are simple and (mostly) intuitive. The AI is surprisingly clever and will catch you off guard if your not careful, and the lore and aesthetics are excellent, Well worth the price.
Only two points of criticism:
First, some of the terms and concepts aren’t properly explained, Raiding (which I think just means when rebels attack though I’m not sure) is one, coalition building is another. I cant figure out how to chose who is in my coalition and it makes the endgame a bit frustrating.
– Real player with 17.9 hrs in game
An absolutely kickass game with a lot of potential. Not only is the gameplay great, but the story and all of the intel reports are top class. Since this was made by a TNO dev, it has a distinct TNO-type vibe to it that I absolutely love.
– Real player with 15.4 hrs in game
Crusader Kings Complete
The Grandness of Paradox Grand Strategy titles is not a misnomer. Shame the grandeur tends to also come with a small helping of bugginess. Crusader Kings 1 is perhaps the poster child for that. The title was initially developed by an outside studio, with a similar style to Europa Universalis but in the Middle Ages with a focus on families instead of nation states. Unfortunately, the outside studio kind of screwed some things up. Even with all the fixes eventually given to the title, there are still random quirks that don’t work like they should.
– Real player with 389.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Singleplayer Historical Games.
Crusader Kings in many ways is a biographer’s wet dream. It has mechanics of Europa Universalis 2, the warfare, the economics, the diplomacy but unlike that grand strategy epic, this grand strategy epic portrays you not as some nameless entity ruling your nation through the ages but as the head of a noble medieval family, your faith not tied into the success of the nation you rule but the rulers themselves.
You start the game by picking which family to control, you can start off as a great King yes but you can also choose to play as a powerful Duke or even an impoverished Count. You then set about forging alliances, mostly through marriage, produce offspring that can one day take over the mantle of leadership and assert your claim to various noble titles. As you grow in power and influence new challenges will arise. Conquer too quickly and others will see you as a warmonger, your vassals may grow too powerful and seek to claim your titles for themselves and should you have too many children they may differ over who should rule when you are dead.
– Real player with 259.8 hrs in game
Dawn of China: Rise of Qin
Good game and with future updates, It could become a better game. You shoud introduce a “save game” feature as soon as possible.
– Real player with 151.4 hrs in game
i admit I enjoyed the game when I first tried it, but a complete lack of support and updates after a couple of years, make me understand that teh devs have abandoned the game. Anyone who reads this I recommend you not to purchase and stay away even if the devs start communicating because that is not proof that they will actually do something and bettwe send you money on games like Oriental Empires
– Real player with 15.6 hrs in game
NOBUNAGA’S AMBITION: Sphere of Influence
Writing a review for Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere Of Influence is going to be tough the game is truly amazing. please dont let my hour’s make you think differently of my review, I played this game quite a bit offline when I had no net where I played it at times, anyway lets get down to business!
Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere Of Influence is an historical strategy simulator game, where its based of of the warring states of feudal Japan the Sengoku era that was between 1467-1615 when the last of the Toyotomi oposing the Tokugawa shogunate was finally defeated.
– Real player with 154.8 hrs in game
As someone who was just a wee lad playing on his NES when the first Nobunaga’s Ambition hit the US, I was definitely turned on when they announced the 30th anniversary edition. The story of the Warring States Period is a crazy part of world history, not just Japanese history, and SOI adds infinitely more flair and backstory to this than previous editions of the game.
The game’s combat has some similar elements to Total War: Shogun, but there’s more art to it and fewer technical options available for directing your armies… The personalities in this game are more important, and your generals and their special talents can make or break you in a tough situation. The game has stronger RPG elements in developing their individual traits that can turn them into some serious powerhouses on the battlefield.
– Real player with 106.4 hrs in game
Victoria I Complete
WOW. That is all I can use to describe this game. The depth, the strategy, the CHALLENGE! It’s basically a strategy gamer and/or history lover’s dream!
Fancy playing as the supreme power of the UK? No problem. Watch your colonial empire grow, take on the French for Africa, and crush the Chinese in the Opium Wars.
Or how about Prussia? Fight of the pesky Austrians and French and unify the glory that is the German Empire.
Looking for a bit more, “FREEDOM”!?!? Play the Yanks and have them whip Mexico into submission over Texas, emancipate the crap out of the Confederate States of America, and “liberate” Cuba from the control of the Spanish.
– Real player with 1013.5 hrs in game
I first got this game on disc when it came out in 2003 as Victoria: An Empire Under the Sun. From the first, I was intrigued and entranced by the workings of this game. I liked the fact that back then, it was one of the first comprehensive strategic World War I simulations you could find that was somewhat realistic. But war isn’t the only thing cool about this game. You can start as any country beginning in 1836 going through 1920. Like all Paradox games, you have research tracks and trajectories to go on, and depending on the country and the track you take, it can lead to some interesting outcomes. There is a budget you have to balance, but if you don’t, you can borrow in increments of 1,000 pounds from the theoretical bank. Borrow too much and you’ll go broke because you can’t afford the interest within your daily expenses. Part of the research investment, of course, is military development, and you have to keep up with your neighbors if you don’t want your military units to get their butts' kicked. A necessary part of the game is trade. You have to build factories, staff them, promote and educate people, convert them to necessary positions, then buy and sell the goods your country needs on the open world market. This early version of building factories and staffing them in Victoria I is inferior to that designed by Paradox for Victoria II. It’s difficult at times to manage. One aspect of the game that you really have no control over is public opinion, although the game instructions imply you do so by the amount you tax people and by how you use them within the economy. You are also supposed to be able to placate public opinion by spending on social services and a developing modern day safety net. Trust me, it doesn’t placate public opinion. If the AI has decided the people of your country are upset at you and are on the way toward revolting, they are going to ultimately revolt until you change the type of government you have to one more liberal and democratic. I guess this is probably faithful to historical dialectic. Regardless, this is an excellent game if you are looking to learn about how 19th century politics worked and how the Imperial powers managed their empires up and until World War I.
– Real player with 487.1 hrs in game
Alea Jacta Est
Alea Jacta Est (hence AJE) simulates Roman-era warfare at a strategic level, and it is probably the best one on Steam.
As any good strategy game, AJE is a game of informations, and its brilliance shines the most in how these informations are acquired: unlike other “arcade” games (e.g. Rome Total War 1/2) the map does not show true data, but just a patchwork of rumors, whose reliabililty depends on factors under the player’s control (e.g. own army composition, scouting), factors out of control (e.g. subordinates' skill, or lack of it), and enemy’s actions.
– Real player with 153.2 hrs in game
Sooner or later, when playing Rome Total War, you start getting this uncomfortable feeling that what you’re doing on the strategic map is just a stage prop for pixel soldiers to run around in pretty period costumes.
Alea Jacta Est, though very nice to look at, is not about eye candy.
Instead, it gives you a very detailed strategic and operational view of what the opposing sides were dealing with. When battles or skirmishes take place they are resolved abstractly, though the abstraction gives a pretty detailed depiction of the tactical characteristics that were likely to be in play.
– Real player with 85.7 hrs in game
Imperator: Rome
its good now, actually. i hope that someday they look back on this title and add some more content.
– Real player with 610.3 hrs in game
I spend few hours in this game and I’m glad that I bought it (but on bargin for ~20€). There is a lot more microeconmic mechanic than other games, like EU4 or Stellaris have, so it is even harder to maintain big empires (witch is good thing becouse big empires don’t last forever). Of course Imperator has some issues, but even EU4 after 8 years still has and it’s not like this bugs makes this game unplayable. I hope Paradox will realase new updates or DLCs soon (maybe after They realase Victoria 3) becouse this game have a lot of potencial.
– Real player with 449.0 hrs in game
Imperialism: Fate of India
I do not think this is operable on the Mac, I do not recommend this game.
Failed to get into the game.
Os high sierra 10.13
Tried re-install, failed to enter program, and refuses to stop running.
O/S mojave
When reprogrammed in 64 bit then it may work on Mac.
– Real player with 251.7 hrs in game
First things first:
Remember: The game is a low-budget-game in early-access!
There is no reason to offend or slander the developer. Although the game isn’t finished yet, the developer already fixed some serious bugs and released some patches. Feel free to report bugs in the discussions, the developer actually reacts to it. Be constructive, be polite.
“Imperialism: Fate of India” is a strategy game set in India 1805.
Pick one of the 34 countries and try to conquer the whole subcontinent.
Build troops and equip your provinces with infrastructural buildings to get money.
– Real player with 26.5 hrs in game
Medieval II: Total War™ Kingdoms
WARNING: ABOUT THE GAME’S DISAPPEARANCE FROM YOUR LIBRARY
The game is not gone from your library, they simply merged it with Medieval II. To find it follow these steps:
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Install Medieval II
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Go to your steam game library
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Right click on Medieval II
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Below the “Play Game” option there should be 4 new options with the Kingdoms campaigns.
And now, after that prologue, LET THE REVIEW BEGIN!
Kingdoms is the expansion pack (yeah, not DLC, for 20 bucks you can buy actual, sturdy, nearly endless content) of Medieval II: Total War.
– Real player with 384.3 hrs in game
Don’t let my playtime fool you, i’ve played this game for over a decade ever since 2006 and probably sunk thousands of hours into this game on disc. This game features a combination of RTS (while in battles) and TBS (displayed on the campaign map), you move your armies around on a fully 3D map authentic to the terrain of Europe and Asia, Risk style.
There are many troop types from Horse Archers to Knights to Longbowmen even Elephants and Native American braves! this game is a perfect example of a well crafted Total War game. Yes it is old, even on max graphics a graphics snob might brush this game off right away but this game captures the atmosphere, lifestyle, turbulance and religious strife of the Middle Ages wonderfully.
– Real player with 237.0 hrs in game