Introduction

Every piece of media we come across will influence us in some way, shape, or form. Some will come and go, rushing past us and leaving only fleeting memories; others will disappear almost completely after enough time has passed. There are, however, those rare few encounters that alter the course of our lives forever, and whose influence is still felt today, no matter how much time has passed. I wanted to take the opportunity to let you all in a bit more on my personal history with video games, and talk to you about how these games have had a major influence on my life, and how transformative -and formative- they were. I’m doing this chronologically, I think, and not by order of preference or importance.

Age of Empires II

There’s only one way this list could start, and that’s with Age of Empires II. This game came out a year prior to me getting my first PC, and I was but a small lad back then, not even 10 years of age. What an introduction that was to PC gaming, right? It felt like playing games on PC was my natural destination and where all my interests would lie going forward, and so it was from that moment onward. Age of Empires II became my favorite game, and still kind of is in 2026. These days I have a bit more agency in deciding which games I can play, as in the early 2000s I was limited to whatever my father brought home. Even so, more than 2 and a half decades later, this gem is still one of the most defining RTS games not just for me, but for millions of people around the world.

In 2026, the influence of Age of Empires II is possibly even larger than it was when it first came out, with the Definitive Edition still being one of the most played RTS titles online. A more negative man could stand here and say that things would only go downhill from here, but I don’t believe that.

Red Alert 2

The reason why I don’t believe that is because beneath my copy of Age of Empires II lay yet another peculiar-looking thing: a red cover, with a bald stern man sporting a futuristic monocle in his right eye. It was Red Alert 2. Now that I’m thinking about it, I do feel like I was kind of destined to write about strategy games, because what are the chances that your introduction to PC gaming doesn’t come with a weird pre-installed title, but with two of the most well-known and beloved RTS classics in the history of gaming?

Here’s a fun story for you. As a kid, I was kind of afraid of playing Red Alert 2 because it looked a lot more complex than Age of Empires 2, so it took me a while to get the courage to insert the disk and start trying it out. Once I did, I blazed through the campaign and spent hundreds (or thousands) of hours playing skirmish mode, obviously turtling in my base, because, of course, I did that.

Total War: Rome

For the next entry, I was mentally arguing with myself if I was going to put Empire Earth here or not, but decided to go with Total War: Rome. Empire Earth was a game I played until exhaustion, but the reason was rather simple: It was similar to Age of Empires 2 and Red Alert 2, but it was now 3D, and it had even more stuff! So, of course, 10-year-old me loved it.

I ultimately decided to go with Rome: Total War because by the time I played it, I was getting a lot more into history and had recently started to delve a ton into History books and documentaries, and the more I did, the more I realized that Age of Empires 2 wasn’t really replicating whatever it was I was reading about. Rome: Total War, because of its scale and battle mechanics (such as routing, a lack of visible HP bars for each soldier, and battle formations), was my first contact with a “realistic” historical title. I loved it, and I remember spending my drawing classes on Friday afternoons designing battle plans to later in the evening, or during the weekend, to put them into practice.

Civilization II

In this list, I’m going to be completely honest with you, so I’ll say this: The first dozen times I played Civilization II, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing! I was introduced to this game by my cousin, and he lent me his copy for a couple of weeks (or months), and I just booted up the same scenario time and time again. That scenario, I now know, is the World War 2 scenario. The reason why I played it? Because there were some skying units I thought looked cool. That’s it. It’s funny how small things like these become engraved in our memory, isn’t it? Of course, I then went on to learn more about the title through trial and error and eventually came to realize what I was doing.

It was this initial confusion and falling in çove with a single scenario I played over and over again (and I don’t even recall ever playing any other scenario) that led my cousin and me to buy Civilization III and play it, even if we found it to be way too confusing and different at first. Later down the line, this also led to the acquisition of Civilization IV, which became one of my favorite co-op games to play in hotseat mode. Oh, those were the times indeed.

Company of Heroes

By the time Company of Heroes came out, I was already knee-deep into everything World War 2: Documentaries, books, magazines, historical records, movies, series, and of course video games. It all started with Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, which I played after watching Saving Private Ryan with my father. Then I played Call of Duty, then Codename: Panzers, and an amazing little title, now forgotten, called World War II: Frontline Command.

The same thing that happened with Age of Empires and Rome also happened with these aforementioned games and Company of Heroes. For the first time ever, I felt like I was actually playing a game that was realistic. I know that there were a lot of other games that were super realistic by the time Company of Heroes came out, but remember that digital distribution wasn’t a widespread thing back then, and I didn’t have internet at home.

When I played the demo for Company of Heroes and saw soldiers firing at each other and… missing! They also took cover, firefights were longer, and tanks required realistic tactics to be taken down; it felt like a revolutionary experience, and it was. It’s no wonder that CoH is still considered to be one of the best RTS games ever made.

Men of War

After I was done with Company of Heroes as my go-to World War 2 title, I scoured around for new experiences, and even got around to playing titles like War Leaders and Order of War; do you remember those? I’m sure most of you have no idea what these games even were. I even played around with R.U.S.E., which I found to be so obtuse, and nothing of it made sense.

This desperation to find a new World War 2 title that captured my interest lasted for a number of years until one day, when I played Men of War. I don’t recall how I came across it, and why I bought it, but I know I did, and I was glad. Let’s just say that what followed me after booting the first Men of War was a love affair that lasted through all titles until Assault Squad 2. The reason why? Well, the exact same thing that made Company of Heroes so interesting to me. Men of War felt like a natural evolution of Company of Heroes, with more detail on every aspect of gameplay. Soldiers, weapons, and vehicles behaved exactly like you expect them to in real life. Each individual soldier could be controlled, and every available building, wall, rock, tree, barrel, fence, or what-have-you offered cover, so everything felt a lot more natural and less gamified.

My favorite games in the series were the first Men of War, the Red Tide standalone expansion that came in 2009, and then Condemned Heroes in 2012. While I enjoyed my time with Vietnam and Assault Squad 1 and 2, they never really managed to capture the single-player aspect that made Men of War so memorable for me.

Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy

This one is going to be the weirdest entry in this list by a mile. Combat Mission: Combat Mission isn’t here because I initially fell in love with it, or because I particularly enjoyed playing it when I first booted it up. You see, after I was done with Men of War, my craving for an even more realistic game arose. By this time, playing the recently released Company of Heroes 2 felt like going back in time, which really wasn’t what I was looking for. I had also finally started to enjoy some unlimited internet access by the early 2010s, so my research capability rose tenfold. I came across the Combat Mission series, and I don’t even recall how I did it. I know that I got it, played it, and had a sudden realization that this was something truly special. Well, the rest, as you know, is History, and the game has been featured dozens of times on the website and is one of my favorite wargames ever.

Ultimate General: Gettysburg

The American Civil War was never a topic that sparked a ton of interest in me. I have always been an amateur historian who dwells in dusty medieval parchments or World War 2 army manuals. Swords, spears, tanks, and rifles have always interested me more than cannon batteries, muskets, and breastworks. That was until I played Ultimate General: Gettysburg, and the game did its best to dispel the notion that these battles were long and boring slogs of lines of infantry just firing at each other until someone charged or routed. Gettysburg showed me that there’s a ton of movement, back and forth, flanking, and a lot of other considerations to take into account. It’s one of those times when a game had me going back into the History books to read more about what happened than the other way around.

Hearts of Iron IV

Hearts of Iron IV was not the first time I had given Paradox’s grand strategic scuffles a go. In fact, long before some of these games on the list, I had tried to give Hearts of Iron III a test drive, but failed miserably to understand what was going on. You see, despite my brilliant command experience at the tactical level, ambushing Tigers, setting up machine-gun positions, and mortar-spotting didn’t necessarily translate into the strategy affairs of Hearts of Iron III. I had no knowledge of military organization, long-term planning, or even what to take into account. I decided to leave the series on hold for the time being.

When Hearts of Iron IV was released, I got it on day one, and it was one of the best decisions I have ever made, and it’s one of the reasons this website even exists in the first place. It was the perfect entryway for grand World War 2 games, and it was a perfect stepping stone for other monster wargames we have spoken about here before.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

We have finally arrived at the game I last played that totally transformed me as a gamer. Yes, I know, I played XCOM a lot later than most other gamers, but I did, and the game has since become one of the gold standards to which all other turn-based strategy titles are compared and measured. Well, those that make sense, of course, but the changes Enemy Unknown brought to the genre were so widely adopted and became so ubiquitous that it’s hard to find a game that doesn’t share some essence of its DNA.

Until I played XCOM, the turn-based strategy genre was something I saw mostly as a second-rate option to the more frantic and enjoyable RTS. Now my opinion has changed to the other end of the spectrum, and turn-based strategy games are right up there with RTS as well.

Conclusion

Now that you’ve read all about the games that made me who I am as a gamer, and as a person overall. Each game in this list transformed my perception of what games can do and how they can transform you and your outlook on gaming. What about you, fellow player and reader? Do you have any games that you remember that changed the way you play and the way you look at gaming?

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