Historical video games and the RTS genre have quite often gone hand-in-hand for the simple reason that they tend to work quite well together. Real-time strategy games are one of the oldest genres in the industry, and today we’re going to be discussing the history behind the genre, and just how it grew to where it now is today.
1970s - Invasion for the Magnavox Odyssey
Every video game involves some level of strategy. From fighting games to shooters, all titles require the player to use their brain and strategize to end victorious. But out of all genres, the strategy genre is undoubtedly the one that requires a heavy focus on using your brain. The genre is often touted as one of the most complex and difficult, which stems from the earliest forms of the genre - table-top board games. It’s from these physical experiences that the digital version pulled its core concept.
The video game that most regard as the very first historical real-time strategy title is 1972’s Invasion on the Magnavox Odyssey. The game featured gameplay very reminiscent of the classic board game Risk and was set within a fantasy world where players must battle their opponents and capture their respective castles using physical cards as a part of gameplay. Though the game did not feature real-world locations and countries, it was heavily inspired by real warfare and history.
1980s - The Birth of a Genre
As technology advanced, future games became more capable of providing players with more complex gaming experiences, and as a result, the RTS genre really started to emerge. Computer Bismarck, which was developed by Strategic Simulations Inc., was released for the Apple II in 1980. The game allowed players to recreate the German battleship Bismarck’s final battle in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II. Another title that helped to further the RTS genre was Nobunaga’s Ambition, which was released on Japanese PCs in 1986 and later for consoles in all territories. The game was a war simulation game set during the Sengoku period of Japanese history and featured quite a complex combat system.
But the title that truly feels responsible for creating the gameplay that most would associate with modern real-time strategy games is that of the 1989 title Herzog Zwei. The title features gameplay that paved the way for modern-day RTS games, featuring a top-down player perspective, resource management system, and strategic battles that play out in real-time – all tried-and-true RTS game staples. Ironically, the game which inspired computer RTS games was never released on PC, and was instead released for the Sega Genesis.
1990s to Early 2000s - Breaking into the Mainstream
Things really got interesting in the 1990s. Whereas the 1980ss saw the creation of real-time strategy, 1991 was when the genre was refined. Right at the start of the decade, MicroProse released their very first installation in the Civilization franchise, a series that is regarded nowadays as one of the greatest historical RTS series of all time.
And later on throughout the decade, some of the biggest RTS franchises – including Command and Conquer in 1995, Age of Empires in 1997, and Total War in 2000 – released to huge widespread critical and commercial success. The RTS game genre exploded, with gamers young and old absolutely falling in love with the strategic gameplay that these franchises are now known for.
Technological Advancements Through the Years
As video games advanced through the years, so did technology as a whole. That meant the Internet was starting to become more and more accessible to consumers, and more and more video games started to include online modes in their games. One of the very first RTS games to feature multiplayer was Civilization in a 1995 re-released version of it called CivNet,
In addition to online multiplayer, more and more games also started receiving add-on expansions, which were released on separate discs and had to be installed into the base game. Age of Empires received the expansion Age of Empires: Rise of Rome one year after its initial release, while Command and Conquer received The Covert Operations expansion, and so on. Expansions became a staple of RTS gaming throughout the mid-’90s, as they gave additional content to users while allowing the developers to make more money off their games without making entirely new games, which saved resources.
RTS Games Today
RTS games only became further complex through the 2000s, thanks to the improved computing power of home PCs. Franchises like Age of Empires and Total War greatly benefitted from this, with their visuals greatly improving in future installments. Another major improvement made thanks to improved tech is the fact that newer historical RTSgames are capable of packing in more history within games – whereas small file sizes limited games in the 1980s ad 1990s, there is no such limit in modern RTS games. Developers are now capable of featuring as much historical detail as they wish, with the historical scope becoming much larger than before.
Another huge upgrade seen in modern historical RTS games is that of post-launch game content. Thanks to the Internet, maybe developers have been able to keep their game alive years after its initial launch with downloadable content, both in the form of paid and free updates. And thanks to games now being readily available to be purchased and downloaded all through online stores, additional content was now more convenient than ever. Some older titles have even benefitted from this; Age of Empires III, which was initially released way back in 2006, just received brand-new content last month with the addition of the United States.
It’s truly amazing to see how far historical real-time strategy games have come, with the genre being one of the oldest and most beloved in all of gaming. And it really makes us question what will be next for the genre, with more and more games releasing every year and expanding on an already incredibly complex and varied gameplay style.
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(This article is credited to Ben Price. For as long as he can remember, Ben has always loved playing, discussing, and writing about video games. Since receiving his B.A. in English, he now writes about them for a living.)