16 Games Like StarCraft
Try these space strategy games like Starcraft. Our page features the best games in the genre that let you fight across the stars in science fiction strategy settings.
StarCraft is a long running real time strategy series developed by Blizzard Entertainment. With the original launching in 1998 players had to wait over a decade (2010) for the sequel (StarCraft 2) to be released which was split between 3 games each exploring a campaign of the 3 game races (Terrain, Zerg and Protoss).
Not only is the series well known for its strong story based campaigns it’s also a highly popular competitive game (particularly in South Korea). This popularity in the competitive environment has ensured that the multiplayer scene for both StarCraft games remains strong.
StarCraft 2 was built with many multiplayer features in mind to continue the competitive nature of the first game through in built ranking systems and mechanics. This makes the series perfect for gamers who want a multiplayer RTS experience that won’t die out quickly and constantly has sufficient community to find a versus game.
A big element to the long term success of the series is the finely balanced and unique races (Terran, Zerg and Protoss). Each comes with their own strategies to master and players get the opportunity to play their own individual campaign in the single player portions of both games. In addition to the balanced races units adopt a rock-paper-scissors formula in most situations with each having clear counters.
The games like StarCraft 2 that you’ll find below focus on other real time strategy games with science fiction elements to their story. The titles here also have a focus on balanced and active multiplayer scenes for gamers that want a RTS game to verse other players competitively.
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]
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is one of the highest rated real time strategy games ever and was released in 2002 by Blizzard Entertainment. The game also includes an expansion (Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne) which adds even more gameplay and features. Warcraft III lets players use one of four races (each with their own campaign). These races include humans, orcs, undead and the night elves. Gameplay takes place across a number of locations making the game feel very realistic as you follow the s...[Read Review]
Rise of Nations
Rise of Nations was released back in 2003 but is still considered to be one of the most popular and successful real time strategy games of all time. The game manages to offer vast strategic depth while also being very accessible to players, an achievement that not many RTS games have been able to replicate since. Rise of Nations was developed by Big Huge Games with an expansion pack (Rise of Nations: Thrones and Patriots) and spin-off game (Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends) also being developed ...[Read Review]
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds takes the Star Wars franchise into the RTS game genre. The game uses the same engine as Age of Empires (1 and 2) so it has a very AoE style feel to its gameplay. It was released in 2001 with an expansion (Clone Campaigns) being released a year later, adding two new factions and campaigns. The original game lets you take control of several factions including the Rebels, the Empire, the Gungans, the Wookies, the Trade Federation and the Royal Nabbo. Every faction ...[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]
Empire Earth
Empire Earth (EE) offers a great RTS experience and is the first game in the franchise. The game was developed by Stainless Steel Studios for a late 2011 release with an expansion pack (Art of Conquest) released in 2002 (purchase the Empire Earth Gold Edition to get the original and the expansion). Gameplay in Empire Earth is very similar to that of the popular Age of Empires series, featureing a historical based setting (although eventually takes players to a near futuristic setting). Don’t sim...[Read Review]
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars is a science fiction real time strategy game released in 2007 by Electronic Arts. The game is set in 2047 and continues the story of the Global Defence Initiative, Brotherhood of Nod and the new alien faction of Scrin. If you’ve played a Command & Conquer game before everything will feel familiar and your whole experience will be filled with nostalgic moments. If it’s your first time in the neck of these woods then don’t get discouraged though as the ga...[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 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 fighting for control ...[Read Review]
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 continues the extremely popular real time strategy series with a 2008 game available on all major platforms. 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. Fans of previous Red Alert games will quickly jump right into the setting but it’s also fairly friendly to players without any experience with this series. The game pits the same three factions against each other (So...[Read Review]
Company of Heroes 2
Company of Heroes 2 is the sequel to the original highly popular CoH game. The game was released in June 2013 and offers similar gameplay to the first game. The gameplay has received lots of praise as continuing the success of the series although there has been a large amount of backlash for how the historical aspects and Russia’s involvement in the war have been presented. The game doesn’t focus on the allies like the original game and instead takes the setting towards the eastern front and has...[Read Review]
Empire Earth II
Empire Earth II builds on the popular original and delivers a strong real time strategy experience with plenty of new additions to the epoch based experience that sees you control units from the stone age to the synthetic age. Empire Earth II development was handled by Mad Doc Software who created the expansion pack for the original Empire Earth game so players are in safe hands for this expansion of the series. In Empire Earth II players can complete one of three available campaigns which focus...[Read Review]
Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends
Serving as a spin off title to the popular Rise of Nations title, Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends is a real time strategy game that attempts to blend the worlds of fantasy magic and technology together into one. Despite the change in setting the game stays closely to the original Rise of Nations experience although does shed some of the deeper 4X and turn based elements which purists of the original may hold dear. The game is not just a trimmed down version though and instead uses this space fo...[Read Review]
Sins of a Solar Empire
Sins of a Solar Empire is a sci-fi strategy game with 4X elements that will have you conquering a large universe with military force, economic power or diplomatic negotiations. As the game mostly involves real time strategy it presents an interesting mix between RTS and 4X gameplay. The game is set in the distant future and has you at the very head of a space exploring race that are looking to expand their empire. Players can use one of three races which each have their own backgrounds and speci...[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]
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]