author: Sebastian Purtak
20 Best Classic PC Strategy Games
We used to present a list of the top twenty strategy games of recent years. Today it's time to go a little further into the past and look at the top twenty strategic classics.
Table of Contents
- 20 Best Classic PC Strategy Games
- 19. Heroes of Might and Magic II
- 18. Master of Orion II
- 17. Shogun: Total War
- 16. Age of Empires II
- 15.The Settlers (1993)
- 14. Age of Empires III
- 13. Command & Conquer: Red Alert
- 12. Company of Heroes
- 11. Dungeon Keeper (1997)
- 10. The Settlers II
- 9. Black & White
- 8. Command & Conquer (1995)
- 7. Sid Meier's Civilization (1991)
- 6. Dune II
- 5. StarCraft II
- 4. StarCraft
- 3. UFO: Enemy Unknown
- 2. Heroes of Might and Magic III
- 1. Warcraft III
10. The Settlers II
- Genre: economic game
- Developer: Blue Byte GmbH
- Platform: PC
- Released: 1996
Tags: economic game, settlement construction, production management, complex economy
The second part of The Settlers was a huge commercial success and, for many, the best installment of the series. Settlers II is also a development of a proven concept and a set of safe solutions featuring colorful visuals.
However, this is by no means a bad thing, as the creators have not cut any corners when developing the game. On the contrary – the elements of the game that proved successful in part one, were refined and packed into a really impressive graphics for their time, and the devs added a lot of new content, which expanded the player's capabilities without turning the gameplay formula upside down.
The game received new buildings, production chains, four playable factions (Romans, Vikings, Africans, and Japanese), and an extensive solo campaign. Settlers II remained an economic game that did a wonderful job simulating the economy of a small community. Interfering with this economy was a bit like an operation or rather an experiment on a living organism that responds dynamically to our actions. It was an incredibly engaging system and – importantly – one that retained its logical character. After all, in order to have able-bodied soldiers, one had to set up a brewery and make its products available to them.
THE SETTLERS RETURNS
After a hiatus of several years, Ubisoft decided to revive the series. A new installment of the series, without a number in the title this time, will hit the market next year, and the first impressions were quite positive.
Unfortunately, beginning with the third part of The Settlers (the game itself still being considered to be great by many) began the slow decline of the series, which was losing its character from installment to installment. On the other hand, its legacy remains alive and can be seen virtually throughout the entire economic games segment.
