There are games of warfare with more interesting gameplay and deeper stories than just “shoot the person we tell you to shoot.” This list is full of those games.

15. “Wargame: Red Dragon”

It’s like “Command and Conquer” if it was taken to the logical extreme. You’re locked in a massive conflict where you must pay attention to several different battlefields at the same time. Protect your territory, use your points wisely and, as with any strategy game, don’t get cocky.

What Makes the Game Awesome

• You can zoom in and out as much as you like. You can go from a ground view to seeing the entire battlefield with just a mouse scroll.
• Depending on the difficulty, it can be intense to keep track of. There’s a bunch of things hitting you at once and you may or may not have the required assets to handle any of it.

Choose what you think you'll need on the battlefield and customize your loadouts.

Get a more intimate view of the battles going on on the ground.

14. “Call to Arms”

Have you ever wanted to play an RTS and an FPS at the same time? Probably not, but as soon as you pick up “Call to Arms” you’ll wonder why you didn’t want it in the first place. Take command of a group of soldiers/vehicles and take control of an individual unit at will, giving you the feeling of control and being in the middle of the action at the same time.

What Makes the Game Awesome

• Gives a sense of involvement and intensity often lacking in RTS games
• Gives the sense of being part of something larger often lacking from FPS games
• The FPS mode is optional, so RTS fans need not bother with it if they don’t want to

Command a squad of soldiers through dynamic battlefields.

Snap into FPS mode to get in on the action. Your soldiers will take care of themselves.

13.”Insurgency: Sandstorm”

Yes, this one is pretty much just another CoD clone, but it does have something that gives it an edge on the immersion side of things. While you could turn the hud off in a game like CoD, it requires you to go into the game code and fiddle around with that. In this game, however, it allows you to turn off the hud from the options menu, giving you less of a pain in the ass for your immersion.

What Makes the Game Awesome

• Option to turn hud off, allowing for further immersion in gameplay
• Four player co-op drops you and friends into a map and has you get out. Makes for a more intense experience than normal multiplayer

Take away the hud for a more immersive shooter experience. it's much easier to believe you're in the battlefield when they'res not a bunch of stats covering half the screen.

Join a group of friends as you're dropped into a map that you now have to escape, all the while under constant fire from enemies.

12. “Arma 3”

One of the most realistic military simulators on the market right now. Experience real military combat in a large map with a ton of mods for customization.

What Makes the Game Awesome

• A ton of downloadable content that expands the game
• Excellent sound design/editing that brings the game on a new level of realism

Engage with a realism-focused experience intent on putting you right in the middle of the action.

Indulge in a bit of customization for your weapons and outfit.

11.” Squad”

From the creators of the “Project Reality” mods comes one of the longest early access mainstays ever. Seriously, this online shooter has been stuck in early access since 2015 and has yet to properly release. However, it’s still fun despite being 4 years half-baked.

What Makes the Game Awesome

• Easy to learn, difficult to master gameplay
• Engaging gun battles that will keep you invested

Jump right into the immersive experience of "Squad".

Choose from a variety of classes to make your squad as balanced possible.

10. “Hearts of Iron IV”

This mainstay strategy franchise returned with a fourth installment in 2016. You can take control of any army in WWII and lead them to either victory or defeat.

What Makes the Game Awesome

• Massive scale of battle; you can move entire armies across continents
• Requires careful planning like any good strategy game

Invade and defend territory from onslaughts of enemy armies.

Take control of any army involved in WWII, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Makes for good replay value.

9. “Company of Heroes 2”

Oh, hey! Another WWII RTS game! Good news for those history nerds among you, I guess.

Unlike many WWII games, however, this one primarily focuses on the exploits of the Soviet Red Army on the Eastern Front.

What Makes the Game Awesome

• Online multiplayer that allows up to 8 people/armies
• An interactive environment with strongholds that can be taken by infantry troops.

Wage war across a variety of terrains with their own challenges.

Engage in epic ground battles with hundreds of units.

8. “Ultimate General: Civil War”

Another RTS for the history nerd in all of us, though this time it aims for the American history geeks. You take command of either the Union or Confederates in a campaign to win the American Civil War. You have complete control over whether your men live or die, so be careful with your commands and resources.

What Makes the Game Awesome

• Officers can be promoted through use and gain new abilities you can use in the field.
• Difficult gameplay, so it’s intensely satisfying to win a skirmish

Set up camp and keep your men alive through vicious onslaughts.

Engaging in epic battles, involving hundreds of units and spanning epic spaces.

7. “Spec Ops: The Line”

Man, where do you even start with this one? What do you say about a game that’s practically gone down into legend?

The game is less of a shooter and more of a slow, moody spiral into madness. You play John Walker, a US captain sent into the city of Dubai with two of his men. You’re there to find John Conrad, a colonel who stayed in the city to search for survivors; however, things turn complicated when you find the city under martial law and are forced to fight other US soldiers.

I really don’t want to spoil anything with this description, so I’ll just say this: “Spec Ops: The Line” is a once in a lifetime gaming experience that you should take the first possible opportunity to play. It’s a goddamn masterpiece that deserves your attention.

What Makes the Game Awesome

• Affecting narrative
• Intense firefight gameplay
• Gorgeous art design

Traverse the streets and rooftops of Dubai in your search for John Conrad.

The bodies pile up around Walker as he descends further into the hell of dubai.

6. “This War of Mine”

Much like “Spec Ops,” “This War of Mine” is less a war game and more of a game that explores the consequences of war on those involved. You control a small group of refugees in a city devastated by war. Your task is to keep your head down and find enough food and supplies to keep the abandoned building you’re all living in at least somewhat inhabitable.

What Makes the Game Awesome

• Gameplay combines with story: you have to keep the building in shape, so you get attached to the people living there
• Suitably grim and affecting

You’ll have to handle the responsibility of looking after at least a dozen people, making sure they’re well fed and healthy.

Try not to get jumped by other survivors as you search for food, medicine, etc.

5. “Freeman: Guerrilla Warfare”

We’re going back to the land of combined genres with this entry. The game attempts to combine elements of FPS, RPG and RTS games into something that’s truly unique. You start at the bottom as a singular soldier and you must raise money, manage towns and raise an army to conquer the world.

What Makes the Game Awesome

• By the time you have a huge military force at your disposal, you feel like you’ve earned it. Makes victory that much more satisfying.
• All the elements work extremely well despite initially seeming dissonant

Rally an army to conquer the world.

Customize your gear with an excellent inventory screen.

4. “Planetary Annihilation: TITANS”

If you want an RTS that gives you superweapons, then you’ve come to the right place. Use giant mechs and orbital lasers to drive your enemies off entire planets. It’s just as badass as it sounds.

What Makes the Game Awesome

• GIANT ROBOTS!
• GIANT LASERS!
• WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED?!

GIANT ROBOTS!

GIANT LASERS!

3. “Total War: ATTILA”

What sometimes gets lost in making an RTS game is scale. If you’re going to have us moving vast armies around a map and having them charge into battle, make us feel like it. That’s what the Total War series and specifically “Attila” does very well indeed.

What Makes the Game Awesome

• Makes you feel the scale of the war that you’re waging
• You can zoom in to watch the battle, which is always fun.

Move across the continent in your quest to pretty much take over the world.

Command all types of units from land infantry to war ships.

2. “Total War: WARHAMMER II”

Speaking of RTS games with huge scale, here’s “Warhammer II”. It’s like the last game except instead of historical technology we get giant rats and dragons.

Why the Game is Awesome

• Like “Atilla” but with a fantasy setting and dinosaurs
• I’m pretty sure the above point is all you need to know. Play this game.

Control everything from ground troops to dragons in kickass, epic battles.

Feel like a conqueror as you decimate your opponents.

1. “War Thunder”

This free-to-play cross-platform MMO takes you through the chaotic skies of WWII. In a world that seems to have left dog-fight games behind this is a breath of fresh air for the plane lovers.

What Makes the Game Awesome

• A dogfighting sim in a world where they really don’t exist anymore. That’s refreshing.
• Responsive controls

Engage in thrilling dogfights with enemy fighters.

Also tanks.

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