Before they gave us STALKER, they made a cult RTS. Cossacks sparks a real explosion of nostalgia today

At first glance, these games seem very similar. In RTS games, it's all about building up your base, managing your resources, and then either outsmarting your opponent with clever moves or just overwhelming them with a massive army to win. Occasionally, we also get a unique objective in a campaign.

That's why any attempt to mix things up or try something new was exciting. Original War, Kingdom Under Fire, and Warcraft 3 introduced RPG elements into the formula. Sudden Strike or Blitzkrieg skipped base building and focused on planning attacks. Cossacks: European Wars from 2001 followed in the footsteps of Age of Empires and similar games, but it surprised everyone with its scale and atmosphere. Sure, the game had some issues, but its advantages outweighed them.

With fire and sword

The Ukrainian GSC hit the nail on the head with its timing. Players were still really into real-time strategy games, and the genre had a lot of room to grow (the biggest shake-ups, like the dominance of Dawn of War, Company of Heroes, Warcraft 3, and Starcraft 2, hadn't happened yet).

Cossacks took us to the battlefields of the late 17th and early 18th centuries. In the base game, we had four campaigns to play through (including the titular nation, a Russian one, and one set in the Caribbean), tons of single scenarios and skirmishes, plus multiplayer. In the first expansion, The Art of War, we finally got a full-fledged campaign where we played as a Polish nobleman-hussar. What's interesting, even though the game wasn't really about story or RPG elements, every now and then we could actually pick a dialogue option. It might seem like a small thing, but it was enjoyable, increased interactivity, and added variety to the fun. At the beginning of the millennium, this must have been even more impressive.

Cossacks: European Battles. GSC Game World

War games

In terms of gameplay, the first Cossacks game feels like a typical RTS, but after playing for a bit, you'll start to notice some unique features that set it apart. The basic model of play is old school. We build and fortify a base, take care of the peasants' well-being (for instance, if we run out of food, they start dying of hunger), ensure a steady flow of resources, and deploy an army. I always liked that extra layer of managing resources in the game. It was a bit stressful, but it made you think differently about spending. Luckily, the resources never ran out.

GSC borrowed a concept from Age of Empires and implemented it in a simplified but thematically fitting iteration. At some point, once we met the requirements, we were able to leap from 17th-century tech to 18th-century tech. This unlocked new possibilities, units, and the like.

Overall, it wasn't as complex as Settlers or as advanced as Age of Empires, but it was engaging enough to keep you glued to the screen. The fog of war was pretty annoying at first. Until we developed the right scouting tech (which kind of messed up the game since it let you see the whole map and all enemy moves permanently), the fog would come back as soon as you moved away. So, you had to memorize the terrain, and scouting was only useful in the short term.

Cossacks: European Battles. GSC Game World

The creme de la creme were battles involving thousands of units. Not tens, not hundreds, but thousands. Like in Total War games, but with a bit more chaos (we could slow down the gameplay, but it didn't change much). Sometimes the screen would go wild with our troops constantly on edge, attacking without orders, unless they decided to ignore something. Generally, the first thing our units did was shoot at the sight of the enemy.

You had to be on your toes to manage all the units (it was super easy and fun to group the soldiers), and the AI was ruthless—if you slipped up, it would come at your troops hard. Good use of the specific characteristics of each type of soldier and formation was essential. And in the end, the screen was still a total mess.

Considering how historical battles sometimes went down, the randomness and chaos of the combat actually felt pretty realistic. If we overlook minor details like the incredibly fast and efficient reloading of muskets, of course. The cavalry had a tough time dealing with the infantry in this game, but on the flip side, watching a charge of isometric, 2D hussars is a pretty awesome sight in a game like Age of Empires, Metal Fatigue, or Starcraft. And the units generally looked pretty accurate and fit the historical vibe, even if they were more about game mechanics than actual history.

Cossacks: European Battles. GSC Game World

Colors of war

Since we're on the topic of graphics, I'll tell you that the game still looks decent today. Sure, you can see the pixels and the usual RTS-style simplifications, like the terrain being pretty basic, but it's all manageable. The unit animations are pretty solid, the buildings are detailed, and everything's got this nice, warm, Settlers-like color vibe going on. But does that really fit with the bloody battles of the 17th century? Probably not. Did it achieve a certain level of timelessness? Sure, it did! The music was and still is pretty good, but I feel like RTS games have always kept a high standard in that regard.

How to play Cossacks: European Wars today?

Today, there's no major issue accessing the game. You can easily run Cossacks on new PCs with Windows – just grab the Anthology for cheap (right now, the base game is about $4.99 on Steam, and the Anthology is $5.99 on GOG). No mods are required. Just buy it and play.

Then maybe check out Cossacks 2, which made the gameplay more interesting and smoother. You could also give the third installment a try, though some people felt it was a bit too similar to the first one. Even if it was too derivative, it shows one thing. It's good to sometimes play a classic RTS, with all its roughness and minor flaws. Especially – an RTS where you can feel very, very at home.

Cossacks: European Wars

November 30, 2000

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• Overview

• oldschool / retro
• GSC Game World
• RTS
• Retro Gaming