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Top 12 Best Strategy Games to Play on PCWatch on YouTube
Top 12 Best Strategy Games to Play on PC
Importantly, it’s a very different ranking to our ownbest strategy gameslist, which is great! I love seeing such a variety of different games and tastes come to the fore here, and thank you to everyone who wrote in to tell us about their favourite strategy game as well - your words will forever be enshrined in the list below, just like ourRPS 100: Reader Edition.
Just one thing before we get started, though. I’m not gonna lie. Invisible, Inc. relegated to no.50 is an absolute disgrace. Shame on you all. Enjoy!
Image credit:Klei Entertainment
50. Invisible, Inc.
49. Endless Space 2
dglenny:Clearly defined factions and asymmetric mechanics and a great big my-goodness-I’m-so-powerful-now. And so beautiful. Just so beautiful. Shame about the last DLC, but let’s just agree to ignore that.
48. Warcraft II: Tides Of Darkness
Image credit:Xbox Game Studios
47. Age Of Empires III
46. Sins Of A Solar Empire
Image credit:Stardock Entertainment
nitric22:The push and pull dynamics of holding and taking the gravity wells along the travel lanes in these monstrous maps is what really madeSins Of A Solar Empirespecial. This really felt like space. As in, if my fleet is caught two or three jumps away from a key battle, I can count them out already. Positional planning matters. The sluggish pace of traversing the maps and the intense heated combat of multiple capital ships, corvettes, and support ships just felt so satisfying.
Elaine:It’s the perfect blend of RTS and 4X with a very approachable learning curve.
45. Sid Meier’s Civilization II
44. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War II
Image credit:Sega
Lowenhertz:The right formula for a stratagey game without the basebuilding element.
nofing:WAAAGH!
Ephae:Tryanids.
43. The Settlers II
phuzz:OK, I was torn betweenThe SettlersI and II, but really my love for these games is in the things they have in common. Low pressure, just keep trying to optimise your road network, and watch your little people go about their jobs :)
42. Age Of Empires
41. Dune II
40. Zero-K
GB#9133:Zero-K is the first game I played since I started gaming on PC two years. Yet until today, even though it might not have the best graphics when it comes to RTS games, the fact that this free, open source game can offer so much content is amazing, with the game having no monetization other then optional donations used to maintain the game’s servers.
Dr0ppy:The medium pace and the big team fights are amazing.
39. Age Of Empires IV
38. Sid Meier’s Civilization
Matt M:Civilizationis an excellent balance between grand strategy and micro-management, especially in the earlier games of the series up to about IV. Outsmarting devious and persistent AI characters and avoiding the nuclear rage policies of Ghandi have always been a fun challenge. To sum this game up: I had to uninstall it and ban myself from playing it at times because it was too addicting.
lglethal:It is the perfect blend of risk-reward gameplay. It has a wide array of enemies, a good blend of gameplay tactics, and a perfect just one more turn feeling. Absolutely Perfect Game (especially when expanded with mods!).
OPJayhawk:It’s a game that defined the whole genre; so ahead of its time. Civ is a series that will exist forever and exists as one of the major pillars of gaming on PC.
37. Total War: Warhammer III
Image credit:Creative Assembly
Stuart:This vote is really for the whole series, ever since getting Warhammer I at release it’s been my go to strategy game.Total War: Warhammer IIIjust keeps adding more stuff on top. While the cost of entry for new users may be unresonably high if you want to have access to all the factions for those of us hat have been along from the start the gradual building of more and more toys to the toybox is just enough to keep me gripped.
Image credit:Subset Games
36. FTL: Faster Than Light
35. Age Of Mythology
34. Total War: Shogun 2
33. Battletech
32. Supreme Commander 2
31. Medieval II: Total War
deguerra:Mods. the last of the Total War series that allowed the creativity of complete overhauls: Middle-Earth, Antiquity, the Middle East and completely original worlds alike. I don’t think I’ve put more hours into any other single game.
30. Starcraft: Brood War
ggscv:It was the first esport to reach mainstream success (in South Korea) and still to this day plays extremely well, single player and multiplayer. One of the finest RTS’s out there.
Verman7:Storyline, replayabikity, units, strategies SFX, music, VFX, graphics, just everything is perfect in this game.
29. Warhammer 40,000: Dawn Of War
Titler:An RTS where logistics mattered, high octane combat, open moddability, and WAAAGH!
alien:It was the first game I ever played on PC, and introduced me to strategy games as a whole. It managed to be a strong contender to many modern RTS games for me in its base gameplay as well as all the great mods that were made for the game that added even more content.
28. Jagged Alliance 2
Fett von Speck:Jagged Alliance 2is a real time mercenary management simulation with open world and sandbox characteristics, and at the same time a turn-based tactical RPG. The attention to detail is enormous and until today unsurpassed.
DEspresso:Combine memorable characters, excellent turn-based combat add a decent story, a lot of Easter eggs and weave it together under an umbrella of economic management sim, resulting in one of the few games with different systems that work.
XJ220:The micro-management: who gets which armor, who carries which spare equipment, who uses which gun with which ammo and accessories, who assumes which stance and covers which sector during combat etc. Also, of course, the personalities and their interactions. Characters who are the definition of vanity or simply hate one another or who cheer each other up. And, of course, Deidranna and her advisor Elliot, “the idiot”. Simply brilliant! Even more so with the 1.13 mod.
Herzog:Elliot, you idiot!
27. Hearts Of Iron IV
MikeZone:It never gets old and always evolves for the better.
26. Total War: Warhammer II
Guðmundur:I’ve played too much ofWarhammer IIthrough the years and now I’m getting stuck in III, I love how I can play so many different styles in one game with utterly ridiculous units and completely nuts story/characters the Warhammer universe is bonkers which is why I love it. Yeah, I really do love those pompous Elf princes that ride dragons or skewer everything from afar :D
Pavlov:Endless variety, big monsters smashing hell out of each other, and constant decisions.
Blah64:Massive map filled with many playable factions with varying forms of gameplay. Campaign map lets me watch numbers go up. Battle map lets me watch epic battles of coordinated units.
Image credit:2K
25. Sid Meier’s Civilization IV
24. XCOM: Enemy Unknown
23. Heroes Of Might & Magic III
Image credit:The 3DO Company
Zewwy:Absolute timeless game that just keeps giving.
22. Command & Conquer: Red Alert
21. Europa Universalis IV
Image credit:Paradox Interactive
krazha:Europa Universalis IIIwas one of my first strategy game loves, andEuropa Universalis IVis an iterative improvement on it in almost every way, with a few small exceptions. The great advantage of all the historical grand strategy games is that every decision the player makes is grounded in the greater narrative about the course of world history in that particular game. EU4 does this best - its starting point is distant enough for the results to not be uncanny, but close enough that the implications of the differences from our world are comprehensible. Beyond this themodding community, especially Anbennar, has injected tons of replayability and new adventures into this particular old dog.
Cathal:All Paradox games are in a class of their own but, with more than a decade of love and support, EU4 is a cut above the rest. Crusader Kings II is its closest competition but whereas that focuses on roleplay, EU4 leans more towards strategy with its countless interlocking systems. The end result: a game where you will still be learning new things in your thousandth hour!
20. Beyond All Reason
Teppic:The #1 game is an outstanding fan made successor to the absolute classic that is Total Annihilation, made multiplayer and giving a virtual infinity of strategies to realize, while governing the production and actions of more units that you can fathom. Micro and macro management, adjustable resource sharing within teams… They have it all. A must see for someone who appreciates classics.
Grumpy:Beyond All Reason, the real-time strategy game that has me hooked for hours on end. The ability to build and manage my own faction, gather resources, and wage war against other factions is just so satisfying. What sets this game apart is its unique technology tree system, allowing me to shape my faction in a multitude of ways. It is an enjoyable and challenging strategy game that may appeal to fans of similar games likePlanetary Annihilationor Supreme Commander.
Dubhdara:It’s got that 90s style action! BAR is also super deep and has loads of things to master. Just pure competitive goodness.
19. Command & Conquer
Batrigore 5272:It’s the game that blew young(er) Batrigore’s mind with its full motion cut-scenes and fast paced action (well, it was at the time).
Arathorn:I love the cutscenes as much as everyone else who mentions this game, but for me the standouts are the two factions with their own unique identity and units, which forces players to adapt their playstyle to their strengths and weaknesses, and the great and varied missions. Frank Klepacki’s iconic music makes it even better. The remaster is a solid update and makes modding possible.
18. Company Of Heroes
Cognac McCarthy :Company Of Heroes' single-player campaign is one of the best I’ve ever played. The missions are varied enough to keep it interesting throughout, and the sound and cinematic feel are intense enough that it never feels like you’re playing with army men. It’s an action game that just happens to be shown from above. Homeworld (my #2) had the better story, but COH wins thanks to its online play. It was the first RTS I ever comfortable enough with to try my hand at competitive multiplayer. Its emphasis on micromanagement and complementary army rosters over basebuilding and APM meant if I lost, I usually felt like I got outsmarted, not outpaced. COH2 offered real UI and technical improvements but I can’t put it ahead of the original. Looking forward to COH3!
17. Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri
Image credit:EA
JonClaw:When it comes toAlpha Centauri, no strategy game has come close to competing with the density of lore and world-building packed into the research portion of this game. Ask any fan of SMAC what their favorite quote is and they’ll give it to you.
HKEY_LOVECRAFT:The almost infinite replayability. The literal ‘living world’ that hosts the tug-of-war between the factions. The faction leaders' personalities and associated AI. The ‘wonder’ videos. The storytelling. The best diplomacy/negotiation options in any title EVER. The fact that it’s a Civ game where terrain actually matters. The audio cues (e.g: “I don’t know but I’ve been told, you just got a network node,” and, “Please don’t go. The drones need you. They look UP to you”). All of these comprise the reason that this is my favorite strategy game of all time.
Rowland:Great science fiction characters and world building inside of a great turn-based strategy engine.
16. Crusader Kings II
Image credit:Paradox Interactive
Mario, Lawyer in Black:In thinking about the GOAT, I have to put the game in it’s context.Crusader Kings IIdominated its environment. It was a source of endless fun in playing in different places different ways and play evolved so much over time.
15. Homeworld
Image credit:Gearbox Publishing
Plato_Karamazov:Homeworldis awe-inspiring, terrifying, and exhilirating in equal measure. It perfectly captures and maintains the feeling of being alone in a hostile galaxy, and inspires you to care about the people you are commanding. The skirmish mode will be improved in HW2, but there has never been a better RTS campaign.
Greg Claydon:Homeworld was like nothing else when it released. The scale and scope of the game was breathtaking, the art was sublime and the sound and music was unbelievable. That moment in the third mission sticks with me even now. Awesome.
14. Into The Breach
Image credit:Subset Games
dwiggles16:Into The Breachis incredibly tight, you always feel like it’s your fault if you screw up, and it never drags on for too long (unless you have analysis paralysis and again that’s your fault).
Grant:As precise and intricate as a Swiss watch. No other game has made me stare at the screen with my arms folded for 20 minutes at a time as I desperately attempt to get myself out of another self-inflicted mess. A game that gives no quarter and expects none in return, yet never feels like it’s cheating you. When cities get toppled, it’s because you stuffed up and you know it.
ArmitageV:Take the modern iterations of XCOM and strip them of all tedium and uncertain variables, and you’ve got Into The Breach. It doesn’t have a grand narrative that hooks you or lore you can dive into, but it doesn’t even need any in the first place. This is a game that’s confident that its core game mechanics are enough to make it a worthwhile experience for the player. It’s clean, concise and streamlined game design applied to the genre historically known for its micromanagement and lengthy campaigns. More than anything else, it feels like Into The Breach respects the player’s time and their intellect and I can only respect it in return for that.
13. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
DWDuck:Many strategic options from early to end game, all classes' units are effective for something but not too many to make it difficult to learn. Can micro a small army with great affect or play defensively and manage the battle field at large. Awesome stuff!
Don:Gaming comfort food. You can play in multiple styles in excruciating micromanagement or just coast through and watch history unfold. I never tire of playing this game even if the end-game is a bit of a slog at times. Just boot up history again with a new map, a new leader, and new opponents. A classic that keeps getting better.
quarrel:One… more… turn…
12. Crusader Kings III
Image credit:Paradox Interactive
Steve Hewitt:No other game allows for so many diverse ways to play—military conquest, breeding a super dynasty, building wealth, creating a new religion, backstabbing and intrigue, tall development, whatever. It’s just an amazing achievement that I’ve sunk hundreds of hours into exploring, and I always come back to it.
Syt:Providing a grand sandbox of medieval intrigue, personal drama and unintentional hilarity and being almost endlessly adaptable through mods (Historical realism! Elder Scrolls! Post-apocalyptic America! 1000+ Dog Names!) it’s one of the best story generators out there!
Marsican:Crusader Kings III combines all the things I adore in video games, emergent storytelling, genetics with great graphics, family sagas, spreadsheet-like interfaces, political intrigue, culture/religion building, medieval settings, etc. It’s just perfectly tailored to my tastes. I also love simulations and seeing the game evolve with but also without my input, i.e: seeing how countries far from the one I’m playing are faring. The high re-playability makes it perfect, due to the scope of the base game but also because it’s bound to expand for years with expansions, like CK2 before.
Sleeping Capybara:Every time I play Crusader Kings III, I want to tell stories of how that game went. And I want to tell them in the first-person: I fomented revolt in Mercia, I inherited my brother’s crown when he died in unexplained circumstances, I got so attached to my pet dog I started bringing her to every court meeting. No other strategy game makes me feel as personally invested in its characters.
Con:4D dwarf eugenics skullduggery.
11. Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
Dash323:Red Alert 2was the first game I ever played online. From the handful of online matches I played back in circa 2001, I can still remember over 20 years later exactly the strategies I used to win each of the matches I won. The feeling I got as a 12-year-old out-smarting another unknown human and winning was pure euphoria. Oh, and the campaign is awesome too. I’ve probably played through it at least 10 times.
Guilherme Carvalho:Amazing campaign, thrilling online multiplayer, easy to learn but hard to master. The perfection of the C&C formula. The game is so good that it’s the sole reason the greed EA still sells Command & Conquer: The First Decade bundle in Origin since all the other titles in the bundle are freewares due to being too old.
10. Supreme Commander
Soulgamer:Supreme Commanderperfectly balances scale, complexity and fun in an engaging and even realistic way. Many have tried, but no other game has managed to achieve this to the same extent.
Shadowfury333:It has the strategic flexibility and map variety of theAge of Empiresgames, the faction differentiation of the Blizzard games, provides plenty of incentives to go out on the map and fight in the course of any match, has state of the art quality of life features even today, and a match can be done in the span of a lunch break. There’s also just something satisfying about it even playing skirmish, let alone with another human being on the other side.
Chris:Still the best large scale mass wargame ever.
Pep Cherner:The beauty and versatility of the units and a truly unique transport system no other RTS could ever copy. All in all the units left you a vast variety of options and combinations on how to tackle your opponents.
Mist-e-Fire:Very balanced and tactic game. It feels there is meant strategies and counter strategies to adopt
9. Sid Meier’s Civilization V
Image credit:2K
Karl:I have spent over 1,000 hours inCiv V- ranging from middle school to law school. It’s unequivocally the greatest strategy game ever. City building, troop management, technology, culture - and even the happiness system - all culminate in an addictive and unforgettable experience.
francis:Near infinite replayability with mods, the feeling of geo-political stakes that are not replicated as well in Civ VI or the previous games.
juan_h:It’s so relaxing. No, really! It’s a pretty good version of Civilization, but the real reasons that I have sunk a truly terrifying number of hours into this game are that it’s pretty, it’s easy to play while drinking tea, and that I genuinely like the soundtrack and incidental sounds.
8. Stellaris
Image credit:Paradox Interactive
Vladisomire:Stellarisis a grand galaxy-wide strategy, with warfare, in-depth economy, resource production, political intrigue and warfare. With custom empires, you can create a game that offers a large amount of replayability. Especially so when playing with friends. That the producing company - Paradox Interactive - has a thing that you can own only the base game and play with the DLC of your friends is also really awesome.
DoctorDaddy:The roleplay potential is so high and flexible compared to most strategy games, and that only gets better once you dip into the incrediblemodscene.
7. StarCraft
ElderBeagle:My cousin and I playedStarCrafton his brand-new Gateway PC. I can still hear the Protoss Zealots saying, “My life for hire,” in my head. I’m sure we were terrible at StarCraft, but for one summer break it was all we played.
Stav Havivi:We used to break in at night to a place that had a LAN and somehow were never caught, which to teenage me made it even cooler. Siege tanks deploying sound highly satisfying in the “boys love tanks” way. The visceral feeling of the Zergs purple goop and the Protoss' sounds. Great design, well balanced, cool campign, fun LAN, really amazing cinematics for that time. StarCraft II just wasn’t as spot on for me as the first was.
EarthWormJim:It’s simplicity through its sci-fi story. Character evolution and outstanding narrative. The perfect trinity with its diverse units and complementary races.
Talen10:Zergs go brrr.
6. Warcraft III: Reign Of Chaos
Lyle:Warcraft IIIwas the only computer game I needed from the days I learned to mash keys up till middle school. My dad, a Blizzard fanatic, thought Diablo II was too much for his brats, but he did lend us his Battle Chest discs, which my three brothers and I thoroughly abused, shoving them into every PC and laptop our family eventually acquired. Curiously, we barely touched DOTA or the other famous custom maps - our time was split between finding Easter eggs, betraying Grom in Cry of the Warsong, and maxing our pop caps with entirely dragons to duke it out at a Fountain of Health.
Christopher Logel:Warcraft III had everything: refined, yet innovative gameplay; a great story; amazing online support, and an unparalleled custom map and modding system. It was the total package. But for all its merit, perhaps the most amazing thing about Warcraft III isn’t even the game itself, but what came after it. The world’s first MOBA (DOTA) started off as a custom map for Warcraft III. And of course, without Warcraft III there likely wouldn’t have been a World Of Warcraft. So not just strategy gaming, but in fact, entire sectors of PC gaming would be entirely different, or perhaps non-existent, had Warcraft III never been made.
Malte Skarupke:The campaign is ace, perfecting the “every level has an interesting twist” formula, with a better story than StarCraft II. Combat is great: lots of depth without being overwhelming or being too punishing if you don’t control all details. But the best thing is the online multiplayer, and in particular the custom maps. They were around in StarCraft, but they really evolved in Warcraft III to the point where they could be spun out into their own games: Tower Defense, DOTA, Auto Chess, (e.g. Pokemon Defense) Tug of War (e.g. “Survival Chaos” or the paid StarCraft II mod “Desert Strike”) and others that haven’t yet escaped. Warcraft III was the main game I played for years.
5. Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance
Binkenstein:Forged Allianceis the successor to Total Annihilation with more variation between factions, more depth and larger maps.
jesseowengauthier:Epic scale of battles and focus on macro vs mirco.
Dahools:It took an already incredible strategic masterpiece in Total Annihilation and upgraded it to make it grander and more spectacular, delivering a sense of scale even more impressive than thought possible for its time, just like TA did.
Glavius:The first RTS to combine massive unit counts, huge maps, and a great multiplayer experience. Plus, a single-player campaign that doesn’t hold your hand, all while handing you the biggest units in the game from the first mission!
Bryce Jones:The pacing (the long build up, for those of us who have proper attention spans), and the variety of units/their utility. As well as the sci-fi setting, naturally. Nothing else has ever even come close.
4. XCOM 2
Image credit:2K Games
Zach#1630:XCOM 2balances well the aspects of play vs. tactics/strategy. While Into The Breach is a great game, for example, it does often feel like there are correct solutions, where XCOM 2 feels more flexible, doesn’t feel so fatalistic, and remains open to allow for some emergent storytelling. That said, the game still allows for satisfaction when you manage to pull off clever strategies. The game is also not afraid to be silly.
Sonowz:A brand-new gold standard for AAA turn-based strategy games. It showed us what big studios can do: a wide variety of assets, stories, and polished game mechanics.
Noah:I have 600+ hours on XCOM 2. I love coming back to it time and time again and bonding with my soldiers whom I will inevitably get killed.
Exaal:Super-stylish with great turn-based battles and tons of replayability! The DLC only makes it better with even more fun and gear that feels great to play with!
ShredZ:Gorgeous looking game, which always provides a new cut scene around every corner, and always some new piece of tech to use on the battlefield. Always feels fresh.
Sorbicol:A game all about the tactical combat. Always a challenge but never unfair, except when the RNG comes out to play. But that’s the challenge - learning how to cope when that happens. Add in making soldiers from your friends and family & the horror of permadeath making it all so much more personal. Also home to some of thegreatest modsever made. My last playthrough? 192 mods!
3. StarCraft II
Iandra:Despite not being a pro player,StarCraft IIremains an endearing replayable love. Excellent campaigns and endless creator content keeps the game fresh even after a decade withmodsthat create brand new ways to play the game or give a twist on the original campaign (i.e. GiantGrantGames). The game remains an excellent balance of rock-paper-scissors mechanics that remains fun to watch in the competitive scene to this day and it doesn’t take a pro to appreciate the matches. The world of Starcraft remains a rich tapestry that deserves to be explored further and has inspired some of the other noteable sci-fi universes in gaming (aka Halo) and we can only hope Blizzard will re-visit it at some point in the future.
Oasx:It’s a really fun and great looking game, and the best esport ever.
niilzon:The most responsive, with great campaigns.
Matterhorn:Even 13 years later, there has not been another RTS made with as much mechanical competency and polish. It’s the peak of 1v1 competitive gaming, even though its popularity as an esport is falling behind the rest. No other game dominates its category/niche as heavily as Starcraft does to RTS games.
Overcooked:Remains excellent to watch others play, and an excellent esport despite its age.
Don Reba:Giving the first place to StarCraft II for the amazing professional competitive scene it fostered.
Cliver5:I like the variety of races, the lore (even if it’s cringe at times), the dynamics, the abilities, and the custom stuff people made in it. It was fun to speed with a mobility composition, and making too many marines, and building a command center in a terran base using an infestor and no-damage cheats!
filoufr77:Multi-tasking.
2. Age Of Empires II: The Age Of Kings
Maninahat:Age Of Empires IIis one of the few strategy games in which building the city is itself part of the joy - The ever expanding catalogue of factions and their beautiful unique architecture ends up distracting me a lot from the strategy aspect. But I enjoy that strategy aspect too, in all its cleanly defined, isometric glory, to the point that I’ve been returning to this game over and over for the last 20 years.
p2004a:It held up extremally well over time, it’s timeless and still fun to this day.
Mike:Ground-breaking, highly-polished, and well-balanced at its release nearly two-and-a-halfdecadesago, Age of Empires II still receiving regular updates, remasters, and new expansions with a highly-active player base and competitive scene.
Salty:Unmatched depth of play and replayability even 20-odd years later, albeit thanks in large part to a number of official and fan-made updates over the years. Age IV recaptures some of the magic, but thanks to the change in how games are funded and developed it doesn’t have quite the same sheer scale of content.
rpsiscool:Age Of Empires II is a timeless classic and one of the few nearly perfect games.
1. Total Annihilation
Platytross:I’ll never understand whyTotal Annihilationdoesn’t often feature in lists of thebest games of all time, let alone being absent from mostbest strategy gamelists. The units are fun, the maps varied and the scope of the game was unheard of on release. One moment you’re micro-managing individual groups of bots, then swarms of them, and finally launching artillery and nukes all the way across the map. The economy allows multiple successful playstyles even in multiplayer, and best of all the modding community is one of the best you’ll ever find, and still going strong to this day!
Đorđe Kovačević:Way ahead of its time, had unlimited resources and dozens of tactical options to choose from. Huge battle with hundreds of units, online multiplayer with battles that changed galaxy map (Boneyards server).
Jordan:A game that felt ahead of its time. Fully 3D terrain and units. Awesome FMV intro (for the time). Excellent orchestral soundtrack that changed from ambient to intense when combat started. A very neat economy where you didn’t have to accumulate the full unit cost before beginning construction.
