Enlarge / A battle between Ragnar Lothbrok and Oda Nobunaga was unlikely to occur, given the roughly 700 years between their existences. But Age of Empires is a limitless canvas. (credit: World's Edge)

Real-time strategy (RTS) games aren't getting many new titles or mainstream attention these days, but that need not be a problem. Age of Empires 2 , one of the best games in the genre—and some would say of all time, period—continues to be playable on modern systems and is even getting new expansions.

Victors and Vanquished , an expansion for Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition , arrives March 14. It adds 19 scenarios to the base game, allowing you to play as, among others, Oda Nobunaga , Charlemagne , and Ragnar Lothbrok . The campaigns are inspired by the deep community around Age of Empires but spiffed up with voice acting, music, bug fixes, and "quality of life improvements." Some new mechanics show up in the scenarios, including population migration, political decisions, assassinations, and more. It's $13 on launch day, works with Xbox Game Pass on PC (where AoE2: DE is included), and it's on sale for preorder at about $11 until launch.

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  Oda Nobunaga's realm in Victors and Vanquished . [credit: World's Edge ]

Developer World's Edge Studios has offered up five expansions for AoE2:DE since its 2019 release, including the Return of Rome DLC in 2023 that shuttled in the civilizations from the original Age of Empires. A big chunk of their inspiration comes from the community. And a huge chunk of that big chunk is Filthydelphia, who had been turning out campaigns like "Kings of West Africa" and "Francis Drake on the Spanish Main" for years. Beyond the maps and army configurations, many of the campaigns contain narrative pieces. "City of Peace" involves a young woman murdered in Madinat al-Salaam, and you, the vizier, must find her murderer. Community scenarios like these make up 14 of the expansion's 19 scenarios.

Enlarge / I'd like to pretend I'd built a settlement this neatly compact and organized—with street grids, even—but alas, this is a provided screenshot. (credit: Hooded Horse)

Back when WarCraft , StarCraft , and other real-time strategy games were all the rage, I could never actually play them against other people. Even playing against the computer, I might only eke out a victory through dumb luck or an opponent's huge mistake.

The problem was, I was never ready to attack until I had my base perfectly in order—until the workers carrying oil or crystals or whatnot had the most efficient route from the mine to the base or until my buildings were arranged for optimal use of the revealed land. I just needed one more little guy, one more tower. OK, maybe two. I'm a turtler's turtler .

Against the Storm , which releases from Early Access on Steam for Windows today, has been a deeply satisfying outlet for this pent-up need to build and prosper—in a delightfully WarCraft -ian manner—without the messy business of war. There is still adversity: an ever-advancing "Impatience" meter, hostile spirits you uncover in the woods, and the typical constraints of resources, supply chains, and worker morale. Plus the rainstorms in the title, which occur both in-level, slowing you down, and at a macro level, washing away your little towns to make you start again.

Enlarge / No bugs, or even weapons beyond a pistol, are seen in Rogue Core's initial screenshots. But you get the sense that it's a more cavern-like, combat-minded experience.

A lot of things can go wrong during a Deep Rock Galactic mission. Deep Rock Galactic: Rogue Core , a new roguelite spinoff from the makers of the cult co-op shoot-and-mine game, suggests that something has gone even more deeply, terribly wrong on Hoxxes IV. Now you, your friends, and a Processor Drone have to figure out what.
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And you'll die—a lot, probably—then try again with new gear and lessons learned, if the title and announcement trailer are anything to go by.

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You can wishlist Rogue Core on Steam now, and the game will launch in Early Access, which is anticipated to last for 18–24 months, in November 2024. Closed alpha tests will be announced on the game’s Steam page and fan Discord . Deep Rock ’s developer, Ghost Ship Games, promises “updates on the game’s direction right from the very earliest stage of development” and will be “adding new features to the game based on feedback and observations of how our community is playing it. Each feature will be tweaked, balanced, and polished as it is added.”
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Mikkel Martin Pedersen, co-founder and game director at Ghost Ship Games, said in a press release that the company intends to keep fans in the loop, as “our process of open development helped Deep Rock Galactic be the game it has become.” The developer also emphasized that support for the original game will continue.
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The game’s teaser trailer provides only a minimum of context for the plot. It’s heavy on the Ridley Scott Alien touches, right down to a Lego brick of a ship coasting toward a planet where the corporation has lost contact with workers who were mining near the planet’s core. Your “Reclaimers” team has to reestablish the dig. That's about all we know for now.

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  A dusty (or snowy?) piece of the abandoned core mine on Hoxxes IV. Your job is to keep moving through it. [credit: Ghost Ship Games ]

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Then again, the plot of Deep Rock Galactic itself, while certainly peppered with lore, is essentially “We need these minerals, these bugs are in the way, sorry if they kill you.” Rogue Core will have the same fully destructible environments, procedurally generated levels, co-op interplay, and greedy corporations, but with a focus on getting farther into a run each time.
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Your means of success is through customizing and upgrading your weapons and Phase Suit, using salvaged gear and Expenite, “a new wonder-mineral.” You complete tasks, find stuff, go deeper, and get stronger, until you inevitably fail and start again. Given the roguelite framing, you can expect some upgrades to stick with you from session to session. But R ogue may differ significantly from the far more casual, dig-by-dig nature of its foundation, if the claustrophobic, abandoned-station screenshots and trailer are any clue.

Enlarge (credit: Frost Giant)

Frost Giant Studios, co-founded by former Blizzard real-time strategy masterminds Tim Morten and Tim Campbell, has finally unveiled the trailer for its first game, Stormgate , which enters beta on Steam next year. The trailer provides a peek at the feel of this upcoming real-time strategy throwback.

This first look was only a teaser, however, so I sat down with two key Frost Giant employees, writer Micky Neilson and assistant art director Jonathan Ryder , to dig into the game’s backstory and learn how Frost Giant plans to follow in Blizzard’s footsteps without repeating its mistakes.

Low-fi sci-fi

The first moments of the Stormgate trailer evoke the feel of StarCraft . It’s in the ghostly blue hue of a holographic projector, the subtle mumble of an AI assistant, and the thunderous arrival of a chunky sci-fi mech suit. Instead of going for a purely retro aesthetic, however, the trailer mashes modern, high-resolution art with the gritty, lived-in feel that defines the StarCraft franchise. This carries over to the game itself, which is built on Unreal Engine 5.