Command and Conquer Red Alert is back, in the saddest way possible

Oh, Command and Conquer, please come back. I played the Remastered Collection again earlier this year, and as much as I loved it, it also served to pry open the wound from the death of Westwood’s classic RTS. Fourteen years. That’s how long it’s been since the last full C&C game. Perhaps it will take a while, but I’m confident that Kane, the GDI, and Tanya will come back someday. As a matter of fact, the Command and Conquer Red Alert series has just officially returned. This is a real Command and Conquer game, with real Red Alert characters and units, released by EA. It should be cause for celebration. It’s not.

Perhaps you’ve heard of Command and Conquer Legions, the mobile RTS game that combines base building and 4X strategy. Though you can play a rough version of it right now, it isn’t due for a full release until later this year. On the one hand, this is, strictly speaking, a new Command and Conquer, which sounds like a good thing. On the other hand, this is Command and Conquer Legions, which by every critical metric is a difficult game to recommend. So, where does Red Alert come in?

Pre-registration is now open for Command and Conquer Legion’s first full season which reintroduces some of the most-loved units and characters from the Red Alert subseries. Tanya is back. So is Yuri, Boris, and an alternate version of the Red Alert timeline. In Command and Conquer Legions, the battle between the Allies and the Soviets remains deadlocked, but the unexpected return of Yuri threatens to disrupt the balance of power. The Iron Curtain superweapon is back, as well as recognizable structures from Red Alert 2. If you want to register for the first season of Command and Conquer Legions, you can do so here.

But doesn’t it just make you pine for an actual, total, meaningful return of Command and Conquer? I look at Legions and I think ‘why does the world have to be like this?’ If Command and Conquer was dead and gone, I could accept that. If it made a valiant return to PC after all these years, that would be fantastic.

But I don’t think one of the best strategy games ever deserves the purgatorial fate of free-to-play mobile. And we’ve been here before, with the thankfully forgotten Command and Conquers Rivals. It should be clear by now, C&C dserves better.

Or maybe I’m wrong, and Command and Conquer Legions’ Red Alert season will be really good. And then maybe Half-Life 3 will be announced at Summer Game Fest and given away to everybody free of charge alongside a complementary Steam Deck 2.

If you miss classic C&C, maybe the best old games will offer enough nostalgia to tide you over. Otherwise, get the best 4X games on PC.

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