Warhammer 40,000: Rites of War (Classic)

I remember liking this game when I was a teen. Picked it up now to see if it's just nostalgia talking, and... it wasn't. This is still a very solid hex-based wargame with intuitive mechanics, decent UI and fun unit upgrade feature. The missions are interesting, and even the story is pretty decent. Points off for godawful voice acting during mission briefings and cutscenes, but oh well. PRO TIP: The game has no autosave, so SAVE your campaign after every mission!

Brilliant game with excellent vibe and soundtrack (Though I have a bug where only 1 track plays all the time so I have to reload save on a mission to make it play others too)

Rites of War? More like Right to Bore! ...just kidding, I actually think it's pretty fun.

It’s always great to see games I played as a kid in the 90s show up on Steam and still run on Windows 11. Back then, I didn’t have the perseverance or tactical mindset to finish the campaign, but two decades later, I finally managed to complete it. For modern gamers, this game will likely be a tough sell. The graphics were already outdated even in the late 90s, and the hex-based tactical gameplay (similar to Panzer General) lacks many of the quality-of-life features we’ve come to expect today. It’s also heavily reliant on saving and reloading: losing experienced units and replacing them with fresh recruits can make the campaign increasingly difficult, if not outright unwinnable. As a result, you’re encouraged to complete missions without casualties, which often leads to a lot of trial and error. That said, nostalgia definitely played a big role for me, and I genuinely enjoyed finally finishing the game. It may not reach the level of the original Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate, which came out a bit earlier, but it’s still an enjoyable experience for those willing to look past its age.

Nostalgia overload

Clunky, old and amazing. If you like oldschool Eldar and 40k then definitely try it. Even if you prefer factions like Astartes you can swap out most of the Eldar troops for Space Marines later into the campaign.