Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 vs Rend
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 is the latest installment of the real-time strategy game franchise, Command & Conquer: Red Alert. Despite the apparently intriguing storyline of a time travel gone awry and the brilliant live-action HD videos, the science fiction-themed narrative is somewhat weak in comparison to the previous titles. However, it's nice that this time around, you get to choose between one of three factions (Allies, Soviets, and the Empire of the Rising Sun, or the Empire for short) to play as rather than having only two. The campaigns are pretty fun as well and the game does have a rather nice co-command feature that links all the campaign missions together.Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 has a really nice take on the alternative world theme and the strategic gameplay is incredible as usual. If you're interested, you can try the game's demo before buying it on Steam.
Rend
Rend is an up-and-coming, Nordic-themed, team-based survival game that is set in a wild and ruthless, fantasy world filled with fantastic creatures, where only the strongest are able to ascend to the realms of the gods. In this game, players are separated into their respective factions at the beginning. They are then given the freedom to explore the many biomes and harvest resources from the environment whether solo or co-operatively. The resources obtained can then be used to craft better weapons and tools or can be reinvested into the faction stronghold to fortify it from potential attacks from players from a rival faction and to advance your base just so you can unlock new technologies. Players have their own skill systems and talent trees as well, and these are the main ways for a player to customize and tweak their characters to their liking.The ultimate goal of the game, however, is to reap as many warrior spirits as you can by battling and defeating rival players and deposit the souls at the Divinity Stone in the middle of your faction base, that is if you're not slain while carrying such precious loot. Somewhat similar to grand strategy games, Rend is more of a continual game. It has game cycles of 2 to 3 months, in which the winning faction of each cycle will get a nice pile of rewards at the end of a cycle.
Rend has a really unique take on the survival genre and this might just give the game the fuel it needs to rise to the top. The game is currently in Alpha and its release date is still TBD.