The 7 Absolute Best Xbox One Real-Time Strategy Games of All Time: An Epic Guide

As your resident Xbox gamer and RTS expert, I couldn‘t be more thrilled to present this definitive guide to the greatest real-time strategy (RTS) games you can play on Xbox One today.

From acclaimed franchises with dedicated followings to innovative indie darlings, these seven RTS gems represent the pinnacle of strategic gaming and warfare available on Xbox consoles. Each offers tremendous depth around managing resources, positioning units, leveraging technologies, and outmaneuvering human or computerized adversaries.

This list has something for all armchair generals, whether you‘re a fan of sci-fi like Halo, post-apocalyptic Wasteland vibes, Norse mythology, or just addictive multiplayer battles. Let‘s dive in and break down what makes these RTS standouts so special!

A Crash Course on Real-Time Strategy Games

Before highlighting the very best titles, I want to provide a quick primer on RTS games for newcomers. Unlike turn-based strategies, RTS video games unfold dynamically in real-time. Players issue orders simultaneously as playable factions vie for domination across land, air, and technology development.

Victory requires balancing economic expansion, base building, technological research, and deft troop positioning. Master strategists effectively set priorities, manage resources amid constraints, and capitalize on battlefield tactics given unique units at their disposal.

RTS test your ability to think critically under pressure while executing physical precision. These games represent the highest echelon of strategic decision making fused with quick reflexes.

Now let‘s explore the RTS games that best leverage these mechanics on the Xbox One platform!

#7: Halo Wars 2

Release Year: 2017
Developer: 343 Industries & Creative Assembly
Core Gameplay: Classic RTS formula applied to the legendary Halo universe
Replay Value: Story-driven campaign + online skirmishes
Metascore: 83

"Halo Wars 2 delivers an accessible, polished, and rather campaign-focused take on real-time strategy exclusively crafted for console gamers."

Halo Wars 2 continues Microsoft‘s bid to bring real-time strategy gaming into the living room by leveraging Halo‘s beloved sci-fi setting. As captain James Cutter, you square off against a mercenary brute warlord in your quest to recover the long-lost UNSC Spirit of Fire colony ship.

Fans will delight in seeing their favorite vehicles, heroes, weapons and enemies from the legendary shooter franchise rendered with crisp detail in this sequel developed by genre veterans Creative Assembly. The 12-mission single player campaign unfolds through high quality Blur Studio cinematics along with voiced cutscenes between intense missions.

On the battlefield, expertly balanced classic mechanics around base building, resource gathering, tech research, population caps and combined arms positioning shine. Whether unleashing Scorpion Tanks, Spartan supersoldiers or Warthog runbys, unit control feels fantastic on a controller.

With the RTS formula executed brilliantly within the cinematic Halo paintjob to carry the mantle from 2009‘s original Halo Wars, this sequel earns its spot amongst the Xbox One‘s best real-time strategy experiences blending story and online skirmishes.

#6: Gears Tactics

Release Year: 2020
Developer: Splash Damage & The Coalition
Core Gameplay: Tactical turn-based combat and progression
Replay Value: 28 campaign missions + customizable hero units
Metascore: 83

Gears Tactics takes brutal melee skirmishing, over-the-top weapons, vicious enemies from the acclaimed Gears of War series and allows you to command units with precision in tense turn-based battles.

Gears Tactics puts Gabe Diaz, father of longtime Gears protagonist Marcus Fenix, under your control on a desperate mission to assassinate the ruthless Locust monster Ukkon. This savage enemy leads monstrous Locust armies against human cities with massive beasts and brutal foot soldiers.

While still delivering trademark Gears gore across over 30 story missions, Tactics swaps continuous action for turn-based grids. Carefully plotting moves, attacks, and special "Execution" chains between your squad members around cover and terrain proves critical to victory. Customization runs extremely deep between missions as you manage gear loadouts, skill trees for Gabe and his two soldiers, various classes and hero characters.

While fundamentally a very different Gears experience, Tactics still captures signature elements from this beloved franchise for Xbox owners like vicious CQC exchanges and strategic positioning complemented wonderfully by chess-like turns. With lavish cinematics, addictive progression and deep turn-based tactical gameplay, Gears Tactics brings excellent strategy to the Xbox ecosystem.

#5: Wasteland 3

Release Year: 2020
Developer: inXile Entertainment
Core Gameplay: Post-apocalyptic turn-based tactics and party progression
Replay Value: Story campaign + co-op support
Metascore: 85

Wasteland 3 nails a satisfying fusion of roleplaying character development, moral choices spanning storylines and NPC allies as your Desert Ranger squad fights challenging turn-based battles across post-nuclear Colorado.

Dubbed a "punishing and rich follow-up", Wasteland 3 puts your squad of survivor Desert Rangers in command as you complete missions, resolve local conflicts, and take on the vicious militant New Unity cult in the frozen post-apocalypse of 1998 Colorado.

This acclaimed sequel from director Brian Fargo evolves the party-based RPG mechanics and turn-based combat their studio pioneered with games like Baldur‘s Gate and Fallout expansions. Difficult firefights require carefully positioning your team for cover bonuses, sequencing abilities or status effects like poisoning ammo or enraging foes, and exploiting enemy weaknesses identified by diligent scouting.

Away from extremely challenging encounters against terrifying robots and mutated creatures, customizing your Ranger squad‘s skills and gear offers rewarding progression depth rarely seen on console. Squad management together with profound impacts of each moral dialogue choice imbue incredible replay value on this modern CRPG classic reimagining Fallout 2‘s iconography.

#4: Age of Wonders: Planetfall

Release Year: 2019
Developer: Triumph Studios
Core Gameplay: Expansive sci-fi civilization builder
Replay Value: 6 races on procedural maps + extensive multiplayer

Planetfall‘s expertly crafted 4X systems featuring distinct races and randomly generated worlds offer almost limitless singleplayer and multiplayer replayabilty

At the height of an intergalactic empire, you command one of six civilizations amid mysterious cosmic dark age where factions fight over a warrior substance called Kir‘ko as galactic infrastructure crumbles. Scouring procedurally generated sectors as pioneering Vanguard, grace-obsessed Kir‘Ko aliens or undead Cyborg Dvar, you‘ll balance production, research, diplomacy and warfare.

Planetfall sticks the blueprint popularized by genre mainstays like Civilization and cleverly infuses science fiction ideas. Each faction boasts totally unique traits, ecology designs, weaponry, mechanics and campaign missions. On every unpredictable map, you‘re exploring terrain housing valuable relics, uncovering secrets about the empire’s collapse, fostering alliances with NPC groups and leveraging your chosen people‘s special powers and technologies in battles.

Triumph Studios deserve immense credit for executing this 4X formula so well, from resource gathering to skill trees to tactical turn-based showdowns featuring squads of faction units. A long campaign for each playable race plus extensive online multiplayer support means endless strategic sci-fi stories await within Planetfall‘s masterfully crafted systems.

#3: Northgard

Release Year: 2018
Developer: Shiro Games
Core Gameplay: Norse clan colony expansion with touches of survival
Replay Value: Story campaign + multiplayer ranked/unranked

Northgard creedfully fuses empire building mechanics with Norse mythological fantasy focused on survival management across vivid seasons and landscapes.

In Northgard‘s Nordic fantasy universe, rival clans including yours vie to control territory following mortal wars among gods and mythical beasts of Ragnarok. Through singleplayer Conquest mode or online skirmishes, survival depends on:

• Balancing food supplies via hunting camps, farms and silos
• Harvesting wood for construction and tools from lumber yards
• Trading coin and other resources with allies at the marketplace
• Prioritizing research into military upgrades or economic boons
• Exploring the gorgeous procedurally generated map to find relics or new villages
• Managing happiness levels to avoid plunging your people into turmoil

Rather than traditional medieval buildings and warfare, you assign bearded Vikings to various jobs while fighting wolves and undead with axe throwing infantry, bold shieldmaidens, sorcerers raining lightning and more. Against human or AI foes, this sharp focus on survival management across seasons to avoid starving or freezing to death, all with Norse fantasy dressing, make Northgard a wholly unique and wonderfully immersive RTS civilization experience.

#2: Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak

Release Year: 2016
Developer: Blackbird Interactive
Core Gameplay: Base building for land & air superiority
Replay Value: 13 singleplayer missions + customizable skirmishes
Metascore: 88

Vast sandbox maps supporting ground and aerial warfare featuring specialized units and combined arms tactics make Deserts of Kharak one of the most compelling traditional RTS games available on Xbox.

A prequel set on the desert planet Kharak centuries before the legendary Homeworld games, Deserts of Kharak maintains sweeping sci-fi spectacle fused with strategic base building and battlefield positioning. As expedition commander Rachel Sjet, you lead the planet‘s first land carrier dubbed the Kapisi across the sands to investigate an anomaly that could answer questions around Kharakian origins.

Your epic journey features cadres of light attack railguns, missile launcher buggies and other land vehicles battling bandit outposts and cybernetic foes, while directives back at your mobile base spiral projects researching new technologies. Dynamic day/night cycles and savage sandstorm fronts sweeping the map drastically impact combat visibility and unit viability as battles rage.

Later missions open aerial combat as you construct aircraft to dominate skies or coordinate bombing runs launched from the Kapisi carrier itself. For veterans of franchises like Command & Conquer, Deserts of Kharak represents a gratifying return to traditional RTS mechanics reinvigorated by Homeworld‘s compelling sci-fi about discovering your people‘s place among the stars.

#1: Frostpunk

Release Year: 2018
Developer: 11 Bit Studios
Core Gameplay: City survival management fused with societal governance
Replay Value: Extensive campaign scenarios + endless mode
Metascore: 88

Unique among city builders, Frostpunk forces monumental policy decisions weighing resource optimization against ideological impacts on society under your direction.

Frostpunk‘s elegantly polished city management mechanics set during an ice age in alternate 1886 will challenge your political philosophy and crisis leadership skills alike. As leader of one of the last coal-powered steam cities on a frozen Earth, you oversee gathering critical resources like food and coal in ever riskier conditions to operate advanced structures like medical posts, schools, soup kitchens and insulation-boosting generator range upgrades.

But true innovation stems from pivotal laws and policies set by council members the leader appoints to manage healthcare, labor practices, prisons and resource rationing. Should children be allowed to work gathering resources? How will you handle dissenters speaking against your policies amid protests? Frostpunk beautifully entwines political theory around utilitarianism and collectivism against the pragmatic demands of societal survival week-by-week through worsening winter conditions.

Across a range of scenarios from managing refugees to weathering winter storms as reality‘s last hope for mankind, Frostpunk will challenge your morality and economic optimization skills like few games before, fusing real sociopolitical questions around crisis rationing and governance with city building systems.

Top 7 Xbox One RTS Games At A Glance

I hope this guide to the absolute best Xbox One real-time strategy games provided helpful overviews explaining exactly why each title shines within the genre. From Halo Wars 2 bringing console gamers a polished RTS experience within Microsoft‘s shooter universe to Northgard’s twist blending colony survival and Norse myths to Frostpunk‘s novel political theory tests meeting city resource economics, the RTS genre thrives on Xbox One!

Let me know which of these strategic masterclass games intrigue you most in the comments below or on Twitter! I‘m always eager to discuss brilliant and innovative RTS titles pushing the envelope of technology utilization, tactical coordination, economic prioritization and battlefield prowess. Thanks for reading!