I of the Enemy
RTS
RTS With the Focus on Strategy
Over the years, conventional RTS games have gotten prettier and prettier, until today you can have hundreds of screaming Romans running across the screen in a scene that looks like something out of Cecil B. DeMille.
Kind of amazing, really--expect that, with rare exceptions, not much has changed in terms of the actual gameplay. It's still build, turtle, rush.
What if, instead of concentrating on improving the graphics, you took the "S" in "RTS" seriously, stripped away the resource extraction and tech tree, and looked for ways to create diverse strategic challenges with each level and thoughtful use of combined arms?
Trash
RTS
The Independent RTS Game for Serious RTS Gamers
Trash is pretty much a two-man project--but in looking at it, you might well assume that it was a triple-A title from three or four years ago. That is, no, it doesn't have the huge number of units on the field that we see in big-studio titles now, nor models with as much detail, but it still looks pretty damned good.
And beyond that, it is intelligently designed, with a slew of clever ideas that informs you at once that these guys have played every RTS title in creation, and are intent on creating a game that goes one better.