What are the all-time strategy games on PC? Some would say Command and Conquer, others Civilization VI, while more still would say "actually, Civ IV was the better ga-" but at that bespeak nosotros'd stop listening because nobody cares. Join us as we explore a curated collection of the genre'due south greatest hits, from newcomers to classics.
Fun fact: the strategy genre was first invented back in 1938, when Winston Churchill looked out an airplane window over France and thought, "Hey, this would brand a actually absurd videogame, whatever that is." Probably. Since and then, there take been nearly a hundred million different strategy games, simulating every bit many dissimilar kinds of fighting every bit we humans have had reasons to fight one some other.
Turn-based or real-fourth dimension, one thousand strategy or tactical… this genre is equally various as they come. But which are the accented top strategy games on PC? Well, only drag a selection box over our bodies and right-click on the horizon, and we'll find out. We have a strategy editor on our team at present, so we can't be incorrect. (Editor:could exist immediately wrong)
The best strategy games
The best strategy games on PC are:
- Crusader Kings III
- Offworld Trading Company
- XCOM two
- Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
- Total War: Warhammer Ii
- Culture VI
- Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Set on
- Control & Conquer: Red Warning 2
- Endless Legend
- Starcraft 2
- Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
Crusader Kings Three
Talk virtually a murderous bounder of a grand strategy game. While only time will tell whether this dynasty spanning, emergent-storytelling successor claims the throne of its now costless-to-play predecessor Crusader Kings 2, information technology's certainly kicked off its reign with royal excellency.
Crusader Kings 3 has massively overhauled the series' formerly byzantine interface, making it a welcome proffer for new players, while retaining much of the depth the serial is known for. Information technology may wait like a traditional thousand strategy map-painter, and while information technology certainly features in-depth systems for waging war, the heart of Crusader Kings iii lies in its personal, ofttimes hilarious stories.
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Will yous seize power through military might, wealth, religious influence, affairs, or subterfuge? Each character y'all play as has their own personality and lifestyle focus, and each fellow member of your dynasty volition shape their empire, for better or worse, before bequeathing it to their next in line. Information technology'due south a game that makes personal plots hatched backside close doors merely equally of import every bit battles between nations.
Don't forget to check out our Crusader Kings 3 review if y'all're notwithstanding undecided. For tips, there'south our Crusader Kings 3 starting characters guide, our Crusader Kings 3 beginners guide, and our Crusader Kings 3 mods guide while we wait for more Crusader Kings iii DLC.
Offworld Trading Company
Offworld Trading Company is right at the other cease of the strategy games spectrum from Civilization, though its designer, Soren Johnson, also worked on Civ IV. While Civ spans the history and some of the future of humanity, chronicling the progress of mankind, Offworld Trading Company is all about making a fortune by exploiting our red neighbour, Mars.
It's an RTS crossed with the intricacies of the best management games, i in which victory is not achieved past throwing tanks at enemies, or demolishing their bases.
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Instead, your weapons are resources and greenbacks, which you apply to dispense the marketplace not just to only get rich, but to completely screw over your competitors. You might not expect an economical strategy game to be very aggressive, but Offworld Trading Visitor encourages y'all to be just as hostile as a warmonger.
When yous're eyeing up menus, planning what to build next, what to sell, which company to launch a hostile takeover against adjacent, it's easily every bit thrilling every bit when you're sending infantry across artillery-pummelled fields or launching sneak air attacks against an enemy stronghold in Company of Heroes or StarCraft II. The same developers have but released their own accept on 4X games/Culture, called Old Globe – check it out.
XCOM 2
XCOM two is i of the all-time plough-based strategy games, and we gave it a actually practiced score in our XCOM 2 review. It takes the best bits from the series and so far – the savage struggle, the ragtag grouping of heroes, the stray aliens, the tight tactical battles – and throws comeback after comeback on top.
It'due south a toss up every bit to whether the War of the Called expansion is objectively better, but in that location are enough of excellent XCOM 2 mods that can bring the vanilla game up to scratch. Both offer singled-out, only as rewarding experiences. There'southward plenty of other XCOM ii DLC too.
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The battles are challenging and varied, total of horrific adversaries with catchy, surprising abilities, only the biggest changes are found on the strategic layer. You will travel all over the world, setting upwardly cells, infiltrating black sites, hunting for more resources so you can field more powerful weapons and tools – it is compelling, rather than an afterthought.
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
Blackbird Interactive has done the seemingly impossible with Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. And that's to transpose the elegant, minimalist space wars of the original Homeworld games to a unmarried planet, making for one of the best strategy games in the procedure. Somehow it works. Really well.
It'southward a journey across a vast desert directed by your mission to salvage a culture. Each battle is connected to the final as well as the ones yet to be played. Every unit that survives will alive to fight some other day in another mission in a persistent war for survival.
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Kharak itself, despite being a giant desert, is a fantastic planet-sized battlefield that does for the ground what the originals did for space. The add-on of terrain and elevation replicates the three-dimensional battles of the previous games, with the sand dunes providing encompass, hiding spots, and high footing from where yous can unleash devastating attacks.
Like its predecessors, the game is blessed with some of the best art blueprint you could promise to notice in an RTS, meaning you tin take beautiful Homeworld screenshots. Add with its incredible audio design, and a genuinely interesting narrative, Deserts of Kharak is a archetype.
Total War: Warhammer 2
Ok, fine. Equally much as I don't like to admit, Total War: Warhammer Ii is, probably, the best Total War game. It's easily the studio's nearly creative work to date, and the ultimate expression of the long-lost Warhammer Fantasy universe, but at that place's besides a credible statement to exist fabricated that the tactical layer is pretty pants.
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However, the Warhammer Fantasy Total War games in general have washed wonders for the strategic layer, offering a more diverse and engaging experience than has ever been seen before. These improvements would get on to inspire the strategic layers of both Total State of war: Three Kingdoms and Total War Saga: Troy, both of which are pretty decent historical strategy games, and feature tactical battles more in line with the classic games of the serial. Read our Total Warhammer 2 review if you need more proof.
There'due south a pocket-size, simply equally as creative stable of Total State of war: Warhammer 2 DLC expansions to help round-off the base game's experience, as well equally some excellent Warhammer 2 mods. Permit'southward not also forget the Mortal Empires add together-on – bachelor to owners of both Total Warhammer games – which elevates the Old Earth to something alike to a Paradox thousand strategy ballsy. All of this is setting u.s.a. upwards for the upcoming Total War: Warhammer Three (see beneath), which is looking extremely metal.
Civilization VI
You would observe enough of debate well-nigh which modern Civilization game was better, Civ v or Civ 6(we even had a whole thing about information technology), merely with the release of Gathering Tempest expansion this sixth entry of the series is finally able to stand proud every bit a neat strategy game worthy of note.
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Still epitomising the platonic of 'one more plow' that makes these kinds of games so addictive, Culture 6 offers a lot more than mechanics to bring the globe to life around you. Information technology's not merely virtually schmoozing this civ or declaring war on that civ – yous've got to pay attending to how you're impacting the world and working towards your goals – of which in that location is a broad variety.
Civ 6 only recently finished its year-long New Frontier season pass, which added a bunch more civs to the game, likewise as a bunch of optional game modes and both free and premium content drops. It culminated in the April 2021 balance patch, which while a chip by the numbers has left the game in the best state information technology's ever been.
Related:The best Civ half-dozen civilizations & Civ vi leaders
There's enough to swoop into with Civilization 6, whether its the healthy corporeality of Civ 6 DLC available to buy, or the vibrant and artistic collection of Civ 6 mods. This is a definitive strategy game for modern times.
Company of Heroes 2: Ardennes Assault
Company of Heroes 2 was great but information technology didn't quite match the magic of its predecessor. Then Ardennes Assail came along; in our Visitor of Heroes 2: Ardennes Set on review nosotros establish that information technology's i of the all-time RTS games you can play.
The The states forces and German language Oberkommando are fighting over control of the Ardennes in a entrada inspired by The Battle of the Burl – in true war games style. That sets it apart from both Company of Heroes and the sequel alongside its non-linear single-player campaign that plays out across a strategic meta map. The Germans are dynamic, existence reinforced past retreating forces, irresolute the challenges posed by both story missions and the dynamic skirmishes.
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While the campaign is simply played from the American point of view, the U.s. forces are carve up into 3 companies, all with unique specialities covering air, support, and mechanised roles. These companies all accept special officeholder abilities and upgrade trees, and whatever tin be used to tackle a mission. Even if yous focus on one, the other two will however be on the map, and tin provide help by blocking the enemy retreat out of a captured province.
This is the first time the battles in Company of Heroes have had existent weight to rival the very best WW2 games, but the series won't be stopping there. Company of Heroes iii has been announced (run across below), and it's bringing with it a make new entrada layer that takes the lessons learned from Ardennes Assail, and turns them upwards to 11.
Control & Conquer: Red Alert 2
There's a lot to dearest nearly Command & Conquer: Blood-red Alert 2. From the ludicrous unit types to the corny FMV cutscenes, you will struggle to detect a strategy game with as much personality and amuse equally this RTS. It may not be as wild as the sequel, which managed to cast J.One thousand. Simmons, Tim Curry, and George Takei, but there's a degree of sincerity amidst the bombast.
Related: The all-time RTS games on PC
And if you're only looking for something with solid strategy gaming chops, and so Ruby-red Alert 2 hasn't aged a day in the two decades since its release. You'll find two varied campaigns to barrel through – i from the US perspective and ane from the Soviet Union – and a tightly balanced multiplayer offering with a couple of endlessly addictive modes. No other strategy game lets you pit democratic dolphins against Soviet squids, and for that alone we'll always adore Crimson Alarm ii.
While yous're here, check out our Command & Conquer Remastered Collection review, and our interview with iconic Kane actor Joe Kucan.
Endless Fable
In our Countless Legend review, we lavished praise on a 4X game that blends fantasy and science fiction seamlessly, throwing stranded spacemen confronting magical dragon people in absolutely the nearly striking hex-based world there is. Diverse, gorgeous, it looks almost tangible, similar you could reach out and pick upwards one of the elaborate cities and cradle it in your hands. "Don't worry, citizens. Nosotros won't let the horrible human-eating insects devour you and your families," we whisper into our cupped palms.
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Fascinating factions vie for dominance over the apocalyptic world. Each is blessed with unique and interesting mechanics that set them apart and inform how they're played. You lot have got the horrible same flesh-eating insect race, the Necrophage, for instance, who are so foul they cannot make alliances with other factions, forcing them to ever be the opposition. Endless Legend is also blessed with a stiff narrative that lends it a strong sense of place. Every faction has a ready of story quests that will inform many of your decisions without backing you into a corner.
Amplitude has recently released a new historical 4X game chosen Humankind, which seeks to rival Civilization Half-dozen. It's not quite where it needs to be yet to earn a place on this list, but you lot can read our Humankind review for more details – it's pretty good already.
Starcraft II
StarCraft Ii is a classic base of operations-building RTS featuring armoured cowboys, xenomorphic aliens, and space elves. It tasks you with gathering resources, edifice armies, and killing your enemy earlier they kill you with quick decisions and even quicker mouse clicks.
StarCraft Ii is a strong in multiplayer game. Your enemies are human; they'll probably be able to click faster than you, issuing orders quicker than you. Y'all'll lose a lot, but you'll become better the more than y'all play, making this i a decebt RTS for anyone with a competitive streak. The PvE campaign is also notable, as story is hard to practise in RTS games. Many developers resort to cutscenes or in-mission dialogue, but StarCraft Ii has you lot interact with the globe outside of combat.
Activision Blizzard is facing a lawsuit filed in July by the state of California (since expanded for QA and customer service contractors) alleging years of discrimination and harassment. Since and so, CEO Bobby Kotick has called the company'south initial response "tone deaf", employees have staged a walkout, Blizzard president J Allen Brack has left, and the ABK Workers Alliance has demanded modify at the company. The lawsuit is ongoing; follow the latest developments here. In September, an agency of the U.s.a. federal regime opened an investigation into Activision Blizzard's response to sexual misconduct and discrimination complaints from its employees, as part of which Kotick has reportedly been subpoenaed. The company is also facing a separate unfair labour practice suit alleging "worker intimidation and wedlock busting" filed by a workers' union, also in September. In another, carve up development, Activision Blizzard reached an agreement with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission "to settle claims and to further strengthen policies and programs to prevent harassment and discrimination".
Battlestar Galactica Deadlock
We're throwing in a new entry to in an try to help highlight some of the lesser known heroes in the strategy infinite. At that place aren't many games like Battlestar Galactica Deadlock, but it'southward definitely an incredible space game, and certainly the best BSG game on the market if you've been looking for a 12 colonies shaped pigsty in your life.
Related: The best space games on PC
It's a tactical space combat game at its cadre, but it'due south likewise what nosotros in the biz call a 'WEGO' strategy game. Substantially, both sides take brand and resolve their moves simultaneously. You could also call up of it every bit a real-fourth dimension strategy game with enforced pauses. You lot give your moves and orders to the ships in your fleet, and then they will follow those orders for a specific chunk of time (typically 10 seconds), before the game pauses again. Yous can then modify orders as yous see fit, or exit things alone.
Once you've finished a tactical battle, you can watch a replay where the whole thing plays out in real-fourth dimension without pausing, and the replay camera AI will use shots and visual effects from the TV prove. Deadlock besides an splendid single-player entrada as well, which brings in fleet building, resource management, even a fleck of politics as you lot try and keep the 12 colonies in line while also chirapsia back the Cylon invasion. Unless you're really non into Battlestar Galactica, this is definitely worth checking out.
Upcoming strategy games
While you're here, why not check out some other strategy games that we think accept potential that have yet to be released.
Total War: Warhammer III
We all knew this was coming, and the third instalment in Creative Assembly's Warhammer Fantasy strategy game franchise was confirmed in February 2021 with a pretty bad-ass trailer that we broke downward in excruciating item, because reasons.
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Starring the grand third act will be four flavours of Anarchy factions, fan-favourites Kislev, besides every bit the surprise appearence of 1000 Cathay, which recently got a pretty bad-ass trailer of its ain. It'southward a shame our enthusiasm has been dented a bear on, with the announcement that Warhammer 3 has been delayed into early 2022. Still, it'southward coming, and is available to pre-order north places if you're looking for someone to have your money. In the concurrently, proceed on peak of everything nosotros know about the game in our Warhammer 3 release date guide.
Falling Frontier
To exist honest, there's a ton of really interesting strategy projects on the horizon over the next year. We're going to update this department of the list to rotate upcoming indie projects that look absurd. Previously we featured Terra Invicta – which is the new game from the creators of XCOM's Long War.
Now we're going to highlight Falling Borderland. This is a space RTS that looks gorgeous, and attempts to strike a residual betwixt hard-scientific discipline and logistics-based gameplay, and the high-concept sci-fi that gives us absurd looking ships and pew-pew lasers. It'southward got a bit of an old-school mentality to it, with the original design inspired by the likes of Historic period of Empires and Starcraft in its skirmish-based structure, but there is a more narrative driven campaign planned now to really mankind out the lore and give the gorgeous environments life and a sense of purpose. One to lookout, we have no doubt, and its targeting a late 2021 release.
Visitor of Heroes 3
Announced in July 2021, Relic are pushing every purlieus to deliver the ultimate Visitor of Heroes sequel. The headline feature is a brand new entrada layer, which is substantially the developers going "sod information technology, allow'south stick Total War on top". The appetite of this game is staggering and we hope it pays off as there are a lot of new elements Relic will need to primary.
The RTS side of things is however looking expert even so. The changes here are more subtle, only just every bit powerful. Now y'all can hot-breach occupied buildings to clear them out, and the interaction between summit and cover has also been improved, allowing for more diverse maps and realistic tactics as you fight upwardly and down the Mediterranean, a first for mainstream strategy war games, permit solitary the series in general.
Don't have our word for it though, y'all tin can cheque out a pre-alpha build right at present (until early August 2021), although notation the system requirements are pretty hefty at the moment. Nosotros can't wait for this one to release over a year from now erstwhile in belatedly 2022.
Related:The all-time free games on PC
And so, there yous have it: the best strategy games on PC, every bit decided by us in a Totally Legit(TM) way. While you're here, check out the best PC MMOs for a like set of mind-bravado proclamations. And if you're later on the very cream of the crop, bank check out the best PC games of all-time.
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