Best strategy games to play in 2024
The best strategy games won't serve you victories on the silver platter. A triumph needs to be earned by being smarter, faster, and more ruthless than your opponents. There are severe limits to what a single soldier can do in combat, crawling around in the dirt, but as an all-seeing commander, your every decision can be critical to winning or losing not just a battle, but entire wars. Nations rise and fall at your mercy.
That power fantasy is at the heart of many strategy games.
This genre is quite varied, ranging from hectic real-time games that will make you sweat to keep the timing of your build order perfect to turn-based titles that require careful consideration of every move. However you fight, whatever you're fighting for, in strategy games, you call the shots and get to feel smart about it.
Alternatively, just blame the developers for screwing up the game balance. You can't be at fault yourself, right?
Age of Wonders 4
Paradox
Age of Wonders 4 takes player freedom and customization in turn-based 4X games to the next level: Allowing you to design your own factions to form near limitless combinations of aesthetics, bonuses, and powerful Tomes of Magic, the game is all about choices. From random events to economy management and hero equipment, you won’t ever find yourself with a lack of decisions to make – and you’ll find all of them reflected and represented in your empire.
Total War: Warhammer 3
Creative Assembly
Total War: Warhammer 3 is the culmination of a trilogy that transformed the renowned Total War series and even has the likes of Henry Cavill putting hours into it. Take command of the forces of order or chaos, decide the fates of gods and the world, or simply go out and conquer the planet. Featuring a plethora of different factions, spectacular battles, and powerful magic as well as a mode combining content from the entire trilogy together in one monstrous campaign mode, Total War: Warhammer 3 is one of the most ambitious and fun strategy games of all time.
The Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs DLC, which was released recently, offers a new and fun unit roster as well as in-depth campaign mechanics.
Into the Breach
Subset Games
If you’ve ever wondered “what if chess was fun?” then you’ll love Into the Breach. This turn-based strategy will have you sitting there for ages considering every possible move on your turn. The game is pretty unforgiving, but the mechanics are so simple that you can get into the zone almost immediately. Every turn becomes a puzzle as you use your massive mechs to push the giant insect-like Veks around the board, protecting both the crucial buildings on each island and your own units.
StarCraft 2
Activision Blizzard
StarCraft can be credited with a lot. It arguably laid the groundwork for the MOBA genre, which Warcraft 3 later solidified, it set in motion a chain of events that would lead to Twitch becoming the top streaming platform for video games, and some have even called it the father of modern esports. If you’ve never touched it before then you just need to play it to understand. It's been out for over ten years and no RTS game since has come close to match its nearly perfect execution of the genre's principles.
XCOM 2
2K Games
The XCOM series has loads of great games in it, but the modern iteration does by far the best job of creating high-pressure, intense scenarios for you to fight your way out of. It’s a game where you’ll come away with war stories of that one-in-a-million shot your soldier nailed to save the day, or how one simple miss snowballed into a catastrophic failure. It’s the best tactical strategy on the market with tight mechanics, perfect pacing, and so much to do. There is a reason why we call every game of this genre an XCOM-like nowadays.
Crusader Kings 3
Paradox Interactive
It’s a game infamous for all of the wild and stupid things you can do in it, but there’s an extremely deep and challenging strategy game in there too. What’s great is how Crusader Kings 3 has fully leaned into the series’ reputation. Now, if you want to mess around and just marry your way into being the ruler of the world, you can. However, if you want to play it as a serious strategy game, then there’s nothing stopping you –aside from the inevitable slip into depravity. Play it for the memes or for the map painting, you’ll come away satisfied no matter what.
The recently launched Game of Thrones mod for the game is adding a lot of fun as well, George R. R. Martin's setting being a perfect fit for the title.
Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition
Xbox Game Studios
The Age of Empires series moved into the modern day with Age of Empires IV, but this classic still tops the series thanks to a wonderful Definitive Edition full of technical updates. With so many expansions and campaigns, it’s huge these days, which is exactly what a strategy game needs to last decades like this one has. The multiplayer community is still active, which is always a good sign, but it’s no wonder given how complex the game is and how massive you can build your empires. Wololo! Now you have to play, too.
Homeworld Remastered
Gearbox
Ever wanted to play out a scenario as it is presented in Battlestar Galactica? Your home planet is destroyed, all that’s left of your entire civilization is your fleet, and it’s your task to guide it to a new home. Every loss hurts and is felt in the following missions as you try to keep your herd protected.
Apart from being a fantastic space odyssey, the original Homeworld was an innovative work: it was the first RTS game ever to open up the third dimension of space to players – ships can occupy different orbits and strategic points take a completely different shape than on a two-dimensional playing surface.
Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos
Activision Blizzard
When it comes to campaigns in an RTS game, nothing comes close to Warcraft 3. The RPG elements it introduced were revolutionary and gave you a game-wide sense of progression, rather than starting from scratch in every battle. Plus it has a brilliant map editor that could create great maps and even implement minigames with a bit of creativity. Even a disastrous remaster wasn’t enough to ruin this game’s reputation, and it’s still got an active esports scene to this day.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2
Tindalos Interactive
Combining battle tactics from antiquity and the age of sail and putting them into space, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 is one the best Warhammer 40k games on the market and also a fantastic strategy title. Wether you command the Imperium, Orks, Tyranids, Necrons or others, you'll need to be cunning and use the strengths of your own navy to their fullest to triumph in these battles. Ram, board, shoot off torpedoes and broadsides, and enjoy the carnage.
Black & White 2
EA
A strategy game without a multiplayer mode seems like madness nowadays, but Black & White 2’s lengthy campaign is so good that it makes up for it. The morality system is far from the best Lionhead would ever implement, but it created a fun balancing act. If you tried to build thriving cities and be 100% good, you’d struggle to defend yourself against an attacking army. However, if you focused on building a massive army and being 100% evil, you’d struggle to gather the people and resources needed to keep it running.
It gave you absolute freedom as a city builder and challenging battles as an RTS, all without needing to put you against a real opponent.
Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
Firaxis
When Civilization VI first came out, it seemed like it couldn’t possibly dethrone its predecessors, but with countless expansions and tweaks since its launch, this really has become the premier Civilization game. The tiles in your cities are more important than ever, and the multitude of different ways you can conquer the world and win games makes every run unique.
Stellaris
Paradox
A Paradox grand strategy title, Stellaris truly represents what 4X means: explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate – on a galaxy-wide scale. There are endless customization options when it comes to creating your own empire in this game, bringing over a bit of that role-playing aspect from Crusader Kings 3. You can be a pacifistic trade powerhouse, a relentless technophobic hivemind, a galactic savior, or the villain the entire galaxy rallies against. No run-through Stellaris is the same.
Company of Heroes 3
SEGA
Dive right into Company of Heroes 3's many multiplayer modes or experience two completely different single-player campaigns in the newest iteration of this iconic RTS series. The traditional North African campaign puts you in the boots of Rommel, the German commander seeking to drive the Allies from the continent, while the new dynamic campaign focuses on the liberation of Italy from the Allies' perspective. This fresh experience is inspired by games like Total War, mixing turn-based elements with the real-time battles you know and love.
We’ve got Company of Heroes 3 beginner tips to get you started and have also listed the best infantry and best tanks in the game.
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Stardock
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion is a strong mix of RTS and 4X where an entire solar system is your playground in every mission or multiplayer match – asteroids provide resources, shipyards, laboratories and battle stations line the orbits of planets, and in between, trade ships and gigantic war fleets fly back and forth. The sheer scale of the title is impressive and makes for many moments when you just want to sit back and enjoy the spectacle. Some fantastic mods are available as well, turning this into great Star Wars or Star Trek titles.
You also shouldn't miss out on the best games featuring Ancient Rome if you like strategy games.
