20 Essential Video Games You Must Play Before You Die

18. Starcraft

Starcraft Battle
Blizzard

The popularity of real-time strategy games has waned somewhat over the last decade, but it arguably peaked in 1998 when Blizzard Entertainment released what many dismissed as simply "Warcraft in space".

Jumping forward into humanity's space-faring future. Starcraft pits three unique races against each other in one of the most engrossing and unpredictable storylines gaming had seen at that point. Playing as the techno-punk Terrans, the nightmarish beasts of the Zerg, or the enlightened and psionic Protoss, the game's 30 missions redefined the RTS genre and shipped a record 1.5million units on PC.

Almost 20 years later, Starcraft remains one of the most popular online games in the entire world and was even adopted by the US Air Force for teaching new recruits how to develop tactics and crisis manage.

 
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Managing Editor

WhatCulture's Managing Editor and Chief Reporter | Previously seen in Vice, Esquire, FourFourTwo, Sabotage Times, Loaded, The Set Pieces, and Mundial Magazine