We’re checking out the hidden gems of Game Pass over the next few weeks, digging up all the obscure and esoteric games secreted away in our subscription and seeing how they play.
To finish our round-up of the most interesting hidden gems buried in your PC Game Pass subscription, we’re taking a trip back in time—back to the days when RTSes ruled the PC. Rise of Nations was quietly revolutionary back when it released in the early 2000s—with a much bigger scope than you’d see from your C&Cs and StarCrafts. And 2014’s excellent Extended Edition is right there on Game Pass for you to try.
Rise of Nations stood out for borrowing from all of the many strategy subgenres. It was an RTS, yes, but one that also borrowed some 4X ideas from powerhouses like Civilization. It’s an era-spanning game that runs from ancient times to the modern day—letting you pick from a selection of historical periods, and then research new tech to give you an R&D advantage over your opponents.
And it’s not just war either—there’s diplomacy and espionage to consider too, and even a turn-based layer that lets you plot out your actions on the world map. And fortunately, despite Rise of Nation’s age, the Extended Edition works perfectly on modern PCs—and also comes with the base game’s expansion, too. It’s the definitive version of an RTS classic.
