by Lloyd “Gus” Sabin, 6 January 2025
Cossacks 3 is billed as the triumphant return of a PC RTS classic. Now, if you are like me, and are no spring chicken PC wargamer anymore, you will remember the earlier iterations of the Cossacks series as well as their cousins, the American Conquest games. GSC Gameworld these days is also known for their STALKER series of games, which I have also enjoyed.
click images to enlarge
For me, the allure of these RTS games was the variety of exotic playable nations featured, together with their sometimes peculiar units. Where else could you play as the Dutch or the Prussians, or with fancy Austrian Reiters or alien-looking Croat raiders?
The beloved Age of Empires series was, and is, clearly the inspiration here, but that series never pushed as far forward in time as Cossacks does, into the 17th and 18th centuries. Cossacks 3 features a plethora of both official and fan-made campaigns, from the wars of the Austrian and Spanish Succession all the way to the Wars of the French Revolution. For that alone, Cossacks 3 carves a special niche.
Now I won’t sit here and tell you that the gameplay itself is going to blow your mind…the AI is really nothing special and in the skirmish game I put together for the below screenshots, Austria vs. Prussia, I got bored for stretches of game time.
That was partially my own fault, because I set one of the game parameters, ‘peace time,’ to a hefty four hours (the maximum). That is a VERY long time for a game designed to be played and won in, say, 1-2 hours.
So I built up my Austrian city, turtled up my defenses with walls and towers (the AI Prussians did not, which turned out to be decisive) and improved my technology to the maximum over the four hours of peace, including maxing out the features of my cannons, howitzers and bombards.
I watched as the Prussians built hundreds of cavalry, infantry and artillery units (thanks to the Montgolfier balloon tech I researched) and got alarmed at their numbers…then raced to catch up.
Then, finally, the peace clock chimed and it was go-time. The Austrian and Prussian armies slammed into each other and a blood bath ensued, until the Prussian forces broke on my defenses. The AI just could not handle navigating around or through my walls and as they bunched up, my artillery towers mowed them down and they did not reach my Austrian city’s heart.
All this while my own Austrian artillery forces bombarded the Prussian city from a forward operating base I built in the woods just outside Prussian lines. In just a few moments the city was broken and in ruins, including their farms and markets, and the Prussians could no longer support what was left of their army. Within 10-15 minutes I had won the match.
This most definitely would have been different against a human opponent, which is possible with Cossacks 3, but since I hate people I will take a victory against the AI any day of the week instead.
You can see the details in some of my screenshots below, along with what makes the Cossacks series beloved to many: its pageantry and flamboyance. If you loved toy soldiers as a child (or still do) you will delight at squares of infantry marching with their drummers and officers across the game map while columns of cavalry fly and batteries of artillery roll behind them.
Cossacks 3 fills a special space in my gaming collection for its exoticism. It does not recreate the RTS wheel but it doesn’t have to because it is tons of fun without being particularly innovative. Even though I had some long, slow periods in my skirmish, I would be lying if I said I did not squeal with delight as my Austrians bombarded the living hell out of the Prussians. And if you enjoy some of the less-covered campaigns and militaries of the 17th and 18th centuries, you’ll probably squeal too.
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