SunAge is a PC realtime strategy game developed by Vertex4, where the player can experience immersive gameplay with 3 different races, each with their own arsenal of units, buildings and upgrades. The game takes place in a futuristic setting across 2 different worlds, ranging from a lush alien planet to desolate wastelands and through industrial cities.

Sun Age is a great game for both single player and multiplayer. Unlike the rest of the download links on this site, the game is not freeware, but I felt it was definitely worth a mention. It boasts a nice 2D art style as well as a very unique take on base building which forces you to restructure your base building strategy as your base power has to be linked through power relays, bringing up interesting new strategies and play styles.

The game suffered from negative critical reviews on initial release, mainly due to lack of multiplayer and few critical bugs and this is another reason I’m posting about it. Since it’s release in 2008 the game has been continually patched, which have among other things has added multiplayer and fixed many of the known bugs and balance issues. This dedication can be seen in the contrast between the critical and user reviews for the game on metacritic. The developer has recently launched the game on the Windows 8 store and plans to port it to the App Store in the near future. As of August 8th, 2013 the Windows 8 store is the only official outlet for the game, all other purchase locations will not support the developer.

• Purchase link 1 <– Windows 8 Store

You can read more about the game on the official website and the vertex4 forum.

Occasionally when you try to start a single player or multiplayer game, Sun Age will reach the loading scripts phase of startup and then seemingly freeze. To fix this issue:

1. Download patch 1.10.0.  According to the changelog, this issue appears to have beee fixed as of patch 1.10.0. You can download the patch from the official site.
2. Run as administrator and with Windows XP compatibility. If the patch didn’t fix this issue, right click on the Sun Age shortcut on your desktop and select properties. Select the compatibility tab and select Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows XP (Service pack 3), and select Run this program as an administrator.
3. Toggle windowed mode. When you start the game again and try hosting again if it still locks (be patient) change to windowed mode by pressing:
   alt+enter
   and move the window around and then let go. This seems to refresh the game window and finish loading.

If you’re still having game freezing issues during compiling scripts, please post a description of your problem, with as much detail as possible in the comments below. Any system information you provide (operating system, video card etc.) is also very helpful!

To play Sun Age in windowed mode, you have two options:

1. Add the -windowed command line parameter.  Right click on the Sun Age shortcut on your desktop and select properties. In the target field add a space and then the following command line option:
   -windowed
   Now run the game from the shortcut.
2. Toggle windowed mode with alt+enter. When you start the game change to windowed mode by pressing:
   alt+enter
   You can press alt+enter again at any time to switch back to fullscreen.

You can see more about running Sun Age in windowed mode here. If you have any questions, or issues running the game in windowed mode please post them in the comments below.