My article on the best turn-based games to play if you love the XCOM series was quite the major hit, with people flocking to it in search of some amazing alternatives to one of their favorite games of all time. I then thought: What other game series do people remember fondly and often go looking for a similar experience? And the answer came instantly: Age of Empires 2. A true RTS classic, and one of the most recognizable strategy games of all time, that’s still one of the most played games in 2026.
With all of that being said, and if you’ve been on the lookout for a game just like that, then join me as we dive into the best real-time strategy games to play if you love Age of Empires 2!
15 – Cossacks: Back to War
I wanted to start this article by highlighting one of my all-time favorite real-time strategy games, which I was fortunate enough to play during its heyday, and a few years after Age of Empires 2 came out. Starting off where Age of Empires 2 left off, during the peak of the Age of Sail, between the 16th and 18th centuries. While the base formula is exactly the same: Set-up your town, gather resources, and evolve throught the centuries, Cossacks: Back to War brings a whole new scale to the RTS genre, allowing for thousands of units on screen, and givng the player the chance to organize them into regiments, opening a whole new breath of formations and fine-tuning of control, especially during a time when a battle could be won by whomever brought the largest amount of guns to bear. It’s a fascinating time period where lances, muskets, cannons, bows, and cavalry all co-existed.
14 – Tempest Rising
Released just last year, Tempest Rising is one of the best modern RTS games to see the light of day. While it’s closer to something like Command & Conquer: Generals, I don’t think most of you will disagree that there’s a high chance of overlapping interests between those who loved Generals and those who fancy Age of Empires. As someone who played both, I can testify to that. Tempest Rising follows the same set of rules of fast-paced base-building, tight unit control, and even faster combat. Being faithful to those who came before, Tempest Rising has 2 large campaigns where the player commands the GDF (Global Defense Force) or the Tempest Dynasty, with these being the main attraction of the game, in my opinion. You can play skirmishes and multiplayer, if you want, but the single-player aspect takes the cake. Add to that some really crazy unit design and fantastic graphics, and Tempest Rising will keep you hooked for a while.
14 – Warcraft III: Reforged
Arguably, one of the two RTS games that can rival Age of Empires 2 in terms of popularity, Warcraft III is a certified classic that brought plenty of innovations to the genre of strategy, by introducing and giving grand-stage to hero units who could be micro-managed by the player to devastating effect, but also to give the player a unit that could have some characther, and wasn’t just another soldier in a doomstack of 99 other soldiers. This revolution went on to spawn the biggest MMOs in History, with World of Warcraft and DotA. While the Reforged edition isn’t the most beloved by players, if you’re jumping into the RTS genre, it’s a lot easier to buy and have it running on your PC if you just go with that, instead of the 2002 original.
12 – Total War: Rome II
While it might look strange to see Total War: Rome II in this list, please hear me out. Do you love strategy games? Of course you do, that’s why you’re here. Do you love History? That’s a non-zero chance you do, that’s why you love Age of Empires 2! Do you love the Roman Empire? Yes, because everybody does. So what if I told you that Rome 2 puts all that together to make one of the best strategy games ever made? Sure, it doesn’t have the classic RTS formula of base-building and resource gathering, trading that for a grand-map, turn-based campaign setting, but the real-time battles more than make up for that. Despite a rough launch, Rome 2 was fixed and patched to become one of the best games in the whole Total War series, and now ranks as one of the fan-favorites.
11 – Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
Of all the games on this list, few others manage to be as close to the original Age of Empires 2 as Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds, and that’s because it was built using the Genie engine from AoE and AoE 2, and a Star Wars skin was slapped on top. And you know what? It’s amazing! Oh, and it was also developed by Ensemble Studio, the studio from AoE. Now it’s remembered mostly as a cult classic, but it was quite a commercial hit, with nearly half a million copies sold. The game even featured hero units like Darth Vader and flying units as well. A later Clone Campaigns added the CIS and the Galactic Republic as playable factions, as well as a 2 new campaigns. The game goes on sale multiple times a year on Steam, so make sure you grab it! The game also has that pre-rendered look to it that I cannot help but love. Install the Expanding Fronts mod to get the best experience possible!
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