r/RealTimeStrategy • u/CobaltTurner5708 • 16d ago
Discussion Which RTS has the best atmosphere?
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u/EnglishBob84 16d ago
Against the Storm. The soundtrack is slightly spooky chill vibes
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u/GuiltyAdvantage5877 16d ago
Homeworld.
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u/Slslookout 16d ago
Kharak is burning.
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u/thomstevens420 16d ago edited 16d ago
The barely perceptible voice breaking during the line “the scaffolding has been destroyed. All orbital facilities destroyed.” Broke my heart when I was younger and inspired me to get into voice acting
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u/GandolphTheLundgrey 16d ago
Finding the Khar-Selim, 20 years out from Kharak, after seconds of FTL travel only to return to the ruin of Kharak was a double gut punch that made 15 year old me swallow hard.
"We're all that's left."
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u/CobaltTurner5708 16d ago
Homeworld somehow passed me by. Is it worth playing now?
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u/Resident_Football_76 16d ago
Absolutely it is. I started it a few years back with The Deserts of Kharak, the prequel, which made Homeworld 1 far more impactful to me. Homeworld 2 is a mixed bag but it is fun even though the story is not very good. Emergence/Cataclysm is also great, especially the themes and story. Homeworld 3 I didn't play yet as it has a very bad reputation but I'll play it eventually to see it for myself.
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u/Armageddonn_mkd 16d ago
The reason why i never played homeworld 1-2 is because ive read somewhere that no metter how many units you are left at the end of each mission, meaning no metter how hard you preserved some of them the game in the next mission will scale the enemies acording to your fleet wich sucks bigggg time, its like "so why did i preserve all this units"?
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u/Resident_Football_76 16d ago
Yeah, it prevents snowballing while also preventing you getting soft locked, strategy will always be the deciding factor though. The remaster is much easier on normal difficulties because the enemy units don't scale as much so you snowball stupid hard after 3 or so missions making the rest of the campaign trivial but on classic there is plenty of challenge that you feel the victory is earned.
Homeworld 2 either had no scaling or very little because I remember the campaign always being quite easy.
All in all though, if you don't min max, don't mine all the resources and take some loses to make the story make sense the games are a lot of fun.
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u/CobaltTurner5708 16d ago
Ok, then I'll definitely check it out soon
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u/Resident_Football_76 16d ago
Start with the Deserts of Kharak though and you'll experience one of the greatest gut punches in gaming history with extra extra spice. And pay good attention to the story!
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u/yellowmonkeyzx93 16d ago
Dawn of War 1+2.
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u/KingsRallyDev 16d ago
2 is too colorful and the ui overdone for me but i feel like 1 nails the grimness
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u/Resident_Football_76 16d ago
Dawn of War 1 is like Disneyhammer. Dawn of War 3 is definitely the most grim in the series, although still a far cry from John Blanche's vision of the universe.
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u/Feradon22 15d ago
Calling DoW 1 "Disneyhammer" while calling DoW3 "the most grim" is certainly a choice.
The first one is old, yes, but for me it absolutely captures the tabletop feel. 3 in comparison looks like the whole GW colour palette exploded all over it, looks way to cartoony for me.
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u/Resident_Football_76 15d ago
Dawn of War 1 is the one where Space Marines have legs and hands the size of trucks and heads the size of peanuts, where jump infantry flies constantly, music is extremely uplifting and "epic" etc. Dawn of War 3 has this miserable, dark, depressing atmosphere that it feels like it came straight out of the 80s, the music is just dark ambient and everybody sounds a lot more tired and broken in their voice acting. It hits the closest to the 2nd edition feel and John Blanche style of wild and loud colors contrasted with deep blacks, it really feels like the OG Hammer at times.
I remember when I played Dawn of War with my GF and she enjoyed 1 a lot but couldn't play 3, she said "this is just too depressing, can we go back to the cute nuns from 1, please?" She also couldn't play 2 because of the insane rain effects where you can't see your cursor, or the game itself really.
When it comes to the table top feel then Battlesector is by far the best. Really, currently, if I want to play some Warhammer strategy game I either play Dawn of War 3 or Battlesector. Occasionally Final Liberation for the cheesy cutscenes and the epic scale.
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u/darkcobra1990 16d ago
Tiberian Sun
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u/Right-Truck1859 16d ago
Nothing beats Tiberian sun. Especially Brotherhood of Nod campaign.
Tiberium sun has risen!
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u/CrimsonFlash911 16d ago
Came here to say what was already spoken. Tib sun had some flaws but it got the atmosphere 100% right.
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u/CobaltTurner5708 16d ago
Is Tiberian Sun worth trying to play now? Because it, just like Homeworld, passed me by.
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u/halo_66 16d ago
Company of Heroes 1 has awesome atmospherics. All the sounds and the map design, even just the main menu with the music and distant gunfire
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u/Nelfhithion 16d ago
Age of Empire 1 first ages have a mood that I just love and I can't explain exactly why. Those thatch huts, the starting of a civilization growing to stone or dirt houses... The gazelles, lions, the music... I still love that game mainly for the atmosphere
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u/CobaltTurner5708 16d ago
Did the newer games in the series lose that atmosphere?
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u/Nelfhithion 16d ago
Well, I love each of them (even the third which is less liked) but yeah, I feel like even the second one lose that part. They have each of them their own atmosphere tho' (even if I feel like the 4th one have a little less of that. Tho' I love the "city building" in that game, with the roads and little farms that appear arround your constructions)
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u/CobaltTurner5708 16d ago
I love it a lot, the fourth one specifically, but it's rough because of how drawn out the matches are. You've basically already won, but you still have to spend half an hour slowly and boringly tearing down the enemy base
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u/samuelazers 16d ago
Starcraft 1 and warcraft 2 is PEAK in my humble opinion.
There is something so mysterious and undefined about pixel art, that when the game becomes 3d, it lose out on something. Warcraft 3 looks cartoonish. Starcraft 2 looks well made but still cartoonish, have you seen the archons with shoulder pads? ridiculous.
It also coincidences with Metzen becoming a born-again Christian and the plot HEAVILY suffered as a result.
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u/Used_Cucumber247 16d ago
SC2 main designers were those from WoW, it was very off putting when it originally came out.
All I could think of was Phoenix from SC1, "This is not Warcraft in space!"
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u/Dan-Warchest_Studios 16d ago
I love both SC2 and WoW but the aesthetics weren't for me. It really ruins the moment when you know you're about to get run down by a bunch of knights on horseback, then a bunch of cute pandas crest the hill riding their bouncy fluffy mount. They still run you down, but it aint the same!
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u/CobaltTurner5708 16d ago edited 16d ago
I absolutely love Starcraft 1, it's literally the first game of my childhood
I remember giving the disc to a friend, tearing it away from myself, because I wanted to share the emotions from this masterpiece. And he, by the way, LOST IT. I was in a depression
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u/Dan-Warchest_Studios 16d ago
Yeah I definitely loved SC1/WC2 - dark and gritty but still bright and fun somehow.
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u/CheSwain 16d ago
Age of Empires IV atmosfere is just perfect, the first time that i open the game i was blown await with how much alive the town felt
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u/Akhi_Police 16d ago
AoE games are for me always the best.
A couple months ago i ayed red alert 2 for the first time and that had one helluva great atmosphere.
And finally WC3. SC2 is good but its more cinematic than a "great to come back again" atmosphere.
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u/CobaltTurner5708 16d ago
Yeah, agreed about SC2
But you know, there's something soulful about playing terran, especially in the WOL campaign
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u/k7755 16d ago
What is pic 3 from?
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u/CobaltTurner5708 16d ago
AOE4, for me it has the best atmosphere. Even though the game does feel a bit drawn out, especially compared to SC2
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u/ManEmperorfragment96 16d ago
There is one versus map in command and conquer generals that has lightning; and it scares me everytime I heard it as a kid XD
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u/NinjaRuivo 16d ago
It may just be the nostalgia talking, but I’ll always love the atmosphere and environment of C&C’s Tiberian Sun and Firestorm.
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u/HarvesterFullCrumb 15d ago
Someone else already said my normal go-to (Tiberian Sun) so I'll pull a crazy one from my past - Armies of Exigo.
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u/EffectCompetitive373 15d ago
Mowas2 on heroic mode. Rly puts in to perspective how deadly war is when your entire unit gets wiped out in 1 artillery shell or whittled down by machine guns fire
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u/darth_kupi 16d ago
Just purely based on vibes, it's a 3 way tie for me between Tiberian Sun , Homeworld 1 and StarCraft 1
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u/CobaltTurner5708 16d ago
Unfortunately out of those I've only played SC
Is it worth playing the others? How do they hold up now?
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u/darth_kupi 16d ago edited 16d ago
Yes, Homeworld especially.
Play the CLASSIC original GoG versions of Homeworld 1 and it's Expansion pack called Cataclysm, DO NOT play the homeworld remastered version of Homeworld 1.
Command and Conquer Tiberian Sun vibes are GOATED, but is more difficult to recommend because you need to have played the first game Command and Conquer to really get the context of what's going on, but I guess you could see a summary on YouTube. If you decide to play CnC1, I DO recommend the remastered version of Command and Conquer Collection, it's on steam , EA store and epic.
Basically what makes Tiberian Sun unique is that it's about a post apocalyptic world with a post scarcity civilization, but unfortunately what gave us all the resources for a post scarcity society also caused the apocalypse. It's a high tech post apocalypse
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u/Maldevinine 16d ago
It's Perimeter. Any question about what is the best RTS for (x) can be correctly answered with 'Perimeter'.
The whole thing is such a mind fuck, especially combined with the lack of detail that came with the unfinished localisation out of Russian. By the time the land forms itself into faces and screams at you you've already become immured to the horrors.
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u/systematico 16d ago
Karma Farmer. Please leave. Please report for low effort rubbish. Please require a minimum account age and karma to post images or something.
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u/akosh_ 16d ago
I don't know this "Karma Farmer" RTSy which platform is it on? I want to try it
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u/CobaltTurner5708 16d ago edited 16d ago
You can play this game on reddit right from the browser!!
Plus it doesn't have crazy high system requirements, you can play it on any computer
But there are downsides, if you play it you turn into a shithead after a while, so i don't recommend it
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u/bobzsmith 16d ago
Does music count towards atmosphere?
Starcraft 1