Rise of Nations
Rise of Nations is a real-time strategy video game developed by Big Huge Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios in May 2003. Designed as a fusion of concepts from turn-based strategy games with the real-time strategy genre, the game's development was led by Brian Reynolds, who founded Big Huge Games following his involvement in the development of the turn-based strategy games Civilization II and Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. In contrast to previous historical real-time strategy games, Rise of Nations is based on the entirety of history, taking place from the ancient era to the modern age, and features eighteen civilizations, playable across eight ages of world history. The game features several innovations on the real-time strategy genre, introducing novel features such as territory and attrition influenced by the turn-based strategy and 4X genres.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA, read 5 September 2026.
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- Released
- 2003
- Developer
- Big Huge Games
- Platforms
- 1 systems
- Critics
- Not scored
- Steam Deck
- Unknown
- Download
- Not stated
The record
| First released | 20 May 2003 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Big Huge Games |
| Publisher | Xbox Game Studios |
| Platforms | PC |
| Genres | Strategy |
Source. Catalogue facts from Wikidata Q454621, seeded 30 August 2026.
How long is Rise of Nations? How long to beat it
Total play time for Rise of Nations is about 88 hours to do everything, and around 16.7 hours to reach the end of the main story. These are player-submitted times from HowLongToBeat, not our own, shown with the number of players behind each.
| How you play | Hours | Players logged |
|---|---|---|
| Just the main story: straight through the critical path | 16.7h | 20 |
| Main + the extras: story plus the side content most people do | 40.9h | 13 |
| Completionist: everything: 100% the game | 88h | 4 |
Source: HowLongToBeat community submissions, read 2026-10-19.
Where Rise of Nations sits on the grid
The grid places every game in the catalogue on measured axes rather than on an opinion. This is where Rise of Nations lands on each map it has the data for, with the share of the catalogue it beats on each axis.
- Year
- 64ahead of 17% of the catalogue
- Reach
- 57ahead of 94% of the catalogue
Percentiles are against the games that carry a reading on that axis, not the whole catalogue: counting a game with no figure as a zero would flatter everything that has one. How the grid works.
What readers say about Rise of Nations
Reviews written by people who have played it. These are separate from the GamingPickz Score and are never averaged into it: that score comes from thousands of Steam reviews with a sample-size correction, and a handful of unverified ratings would distort it rather than improve it.
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Where Rise of Nations appears
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Common questions about Rise of Nations
What platforms is Rise of Nations on?
Rise of Nations is available on PC. It first released in 2003.
Who made Rise of Nations?
Rise of Nations was developed by Big Huge Games and published by Xbox Game Studios.
How long does it take to beat Rise of Nations?
about 16.7 hours for the main story, 40.9 hours with the main extras, 88 hours to complete everything, from HowLongToBeat's player-submitted times. These are community medians, so your own run may be shorter or longer.