16 Games Like Halo Wars
Our selection of RTS games like Halo Wars offers other sci-fi themed strategy games for various platforms where you'll command futuristic units across space.
Halo Wars is an epic real time strategy video game based on the popular first person sci-fi shooter that launched on the Xbox 360 during 2009 and was one of the few RTS experiences on the console platform at the time. Opting to take the franchise back decades before the original Halo game players will command the human war machines in a desperate battle for survival and eventually conquest over the Covenant forces.
Players command their troops with a birds eye view of the battlefield in order to squash the varied alien Covenant units. As a console game the experience of Halo Wars aimed to be as streamlined as possible and did so by putting the focus on combat action rather than resource management. Combined with a well-balanced challenge that relied on a traditional rock-paper-scissors philosophy and simplified controls designed for a controller the game was a success across Halo and non-Halo fans alike.
This collection of games like Halo Wars focuses on strategy experiences in a science fiction setting with particular emphasis on those that mix plenty of action into a strategic framework and are available on consoles.
Iron Marines
The developers of Kingdom Rush have taken their impressive development of mobile strategy into the realms of science fiction with Iron Marines. Set deep into the galaxy you’ll experience real time strategy, up-gradable units, heroes to join your team and just a dab of humour. Taking place on three different planets there are a total of 21 core missions available in Iron Marines which will also slowly grow your fleet of available units. Each of these missions comes with a varied objective a...[Read Review]
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds takes the popular science fiction Star Wars franchise into the real time strategy (RTS) game genre. With the same engine as the popular Age of Empires franchise (AoE 1 and 2) the adventure has many similarities in design and overall gameplay feel to that strategy series. Released in 2001 Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds was followed by an expansion pack a year later (Clone Campaigns) which add an additional two factions and new campaign content. Campaigns are t...[Read Review]
R.U.S.E.
R.U.S.E. is a multi-platform real time strategy game set deep within World War II as Germany finds itself invaded on all sides by the forces of the Allies. Opting to be a strategy game focused on countering and the use of intelligence it’s different to other RTS titles you may have played previously and is appropriately named after the number of ruses that you’ll employ as part of your strategy to fool or bluff your opponent. In the single player offering the game explores a single s...[Read Review]
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II
The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II is set in the LOTR universe and offers a real time strategy experience for Windows and the Xbox 360. A genre rarely explored by film and media franchises this strategy adventure gives players the option to explore both a good and evil campaign as you experience the fantasy game world from both sides of the conflict. With similar core mechanics to the past game in the Battle for Middle-earth series you’ll find a challenge that is compara...[Read Review]
Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War
Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War combines deep military strategy with a science fiction setting from the popular universe of Warhammer. Based on the tabletop games it has obvious appeal to fans of the Warhammer 40k physical tabletop war game but it is still an attractive real time strategy experience for newcomers to the franchise thanks to the robust mechanics and impressive campaign underneath the sci-fi skin. After the success of the original base game three expansion packs were released to expand ...[Read Review]
StarCraft 2
StarCraft 2 is a 2010 real time strategy title which expands the Blizzard franchise with new single player campaigns and multiplayer content once again focused around the three races of Terran, Zerg and Protoss. Originally a paid experience released in three parts the base Wings of Liberty adventure and the corresponding multiplayer features went free to play in late 2017. The single player campaign content related to Zerg (Heart of the Swarm) and Progress (Legacy of the Void) are still paid exp...[Read Review]
Warfare Incorporated
Warfare Incorporated is an older real time strategy game that originally released in 2003 for a range of operating software including Palm OS. With the advent of mobile devices the game was eventually ported over to iOS (discontinued) and Android devices to carry over the legacy of the game while also releasing as an open sourced version called Hostile Takeover (available on GitHub). Warfare Incorporated is set far into the future where the world has been reduced to two super corporations fighti...[Read Review]
Age of Empires II
Age of Empires II belongs to the hugely success AoE series of real time strategy games and is arguably the most well known and widely praised from the franchise that continues to be relevant today. Originally launched in 1999 the game saw a revival with a 2013 HD remake and a 2019 definitive edition with a number of expansion packs along the way building on the game content and modernising the graphics. With single player campaigns primarily set around the Middle Ages players have dozens of play...[Read Review]
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 continues the highly popular real time strategy series with a 2008 game available on all major platforms that once again expands the franchise with new challenges and strategies. In a similar fashion to the previous Red Alert games you’ll get to experience an alternative reality with a different spin on World War II within a real time strategy framework and a high quality campaign design which includes co-operative stories for all factions. Fans of previous Red...[Read Review]
Star Wars: Empire at War
Star Wars: Empire at War puts you straight into the centre of a galactic war while giving you real time strategic control over the battles taking place across the galaxy. Depicting the struggle of the Rebels and the Empire the game is loosely set between the events of Episode III and Episode IV in the Star Wars plot line. This era provides Star Wars: Empire at War sufficient foundation to work with based on the Death Star construction while also ensuring that there is plenty of creative freedom ...[Read Review]
Tom Clancy’s EndWar
Tom Clancy’s EndWar achieves what few games before it have managed by offering a high quality real time strategy experience on a console. Primarily achieving this through voice commands EndWar is a both a unique and fun strategy title from a familiar franchise. Alongside these console offerings (released in 2008) the title was also released on Steam in 2009. For these Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (and Xbox One) platforms the game is all about the real time commands that you issue to...[Read Review]
Supreme Commander 2
Supreme Commander 2 is the second game in the Supreme Commander series of real time strategy games that explore modern and futuristic warfare with a focus on vehicle combat. The game takes place in a futuristic setting and is available on Windows, Mac and Xbox 360 with backward compatibility available for Xbox One. Supreme Commander 2 takes you through three different campaigns as you command the United Earth Federation, the Illuminate and the Cybran in battle. Each of these campaigns has their ...[Read Review]
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars is a science fiction real time strategy game published in 2007 by Electronic Arts and joins the broad number of games within the C&C franchise with a number of changes to the core formula. For this adventure players will explore a futuristic 2047 with a story that continues to explore the Global Defence Initiative (GDI), Brotherhood of Nod and a new alien faction known as the Scrin. Designed to serve as a sequel to the 1999 Tiberian Sun title it’s...[Read Review]
Supreme Commander
Supreme Commander is a real time strategy title that was been born out of the success of Total Annihilation, an exceedingly popular 1997 strategy game. Centred around mechanical units known as Armoured Command Units (ACU) it’s a futuristic war like adventure. In this future setting humanity has also reached a point of space travel which makes it possible to jump across the galaxy quickly through an invention known as the quantum gateway. With the ability to travel the stars the United Eart...[Read Review]
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance is a stand alone expansion to the original Supreme Commander title, this standalone approach was used in order to alter gameplay features, add additional units and improve performance over the original release. Set in the same futuristic setting where humans have achieved space travel through the use of quantum tunnels, capable of sending ships from one side of the galaxy to the other near instantaneously. This has in turn led to many human colonies across the ...[Read Review]
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos is a real time tactics title that draws from the Warhammer universe for inspiration. Launched in late 2006 an expansion by the name of Battle March was released two years later and accompanied with an Xbox 360 version. Set in Warhammer Old World the game follows the Empire mostly as they rebuild and recover a year after the Great War that was waged against the forces of Chaos. While the Choas warbands have been scattered they still persist with constant raids again the i...[Read Review]