Top Turn Based Strategy Games

Turn-based strategy games let you carefully plan and outthink your opponents, without needing fast reflexes. The genre offers everything from building vast empires to engaging in small, tactical battles, with lots of different systems to learn and ways to play. If you enjoy developing cities, researching technologies, or carefully maneuvering units, these games provide complex gameplay, rewarding progress, and satisfying choices that truly pay off when you make smart decisions.

Civilization VI

This strategy game lets you build and expand cities across a map, requiring thoughtful planning and placement. Each leader has their own goals that impact how you interact with other civilizations, and competing with city-states offers valuable rewards. You can win the game in a variety of ways – through scientific advancement, cultural influence, military conquest, or religious dominance – making each game different. Over time, the game has been improved with features like citizen loyalty, appointed governors, and realistic climate changes, adding even more depth to managing your empire.

XCOM 2

You lead a hidden resistance fighting a powerful enemy that’s developing the ‘Avatar Project.’ Combat focuses on surprise attacks using stealth, traps, and calculated shots. Between battles, you’ll manage research, train different soldier types, and build relationships with contacts around the world to gain resources and access new missions. Updates have added even more variety with new groups to fight alongside, powerful hero characters, and customizable upgrades that let you build unique squads and strategies.

Divinity: Original Sin 2

Okay, so I’ve been playing this new tactical RPG, and it’s really cool. The combat is all about using elements – fire, water, poison, electricity – and combining them to create some seriously powerful effects. You’ve got action points to manage, which means every move and skill you use counts. Positioning is HUGE, like, actually use the high ground! You can build your characters to be either super strong melee fighters or powerful mages, and the type of armor they wear even changes how well they resist being stunned or controlled. The best part? You can play the whole campaign with up to three friends, and it’s got a really solid game master mode if you want someone to run the story for you.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

You manage a school for soldiers, preparing them for missions by selecting their training, skills, and unit assignments. As students advance, they unlock special abilities and story events that improve their performance in battle. Levels are designed around the environment, allowing for strategic maneuvers and unique combat techniques. With different paths to take, you’ll have access to various units and face new challenges, encouraging you to try different tactics.

Advance Wars 1+2 Re Boot Camp

This game reimagines classic turn-based strategy with updated graphics, while remaining easy to learn and fast-paced. Each commander has a unique ability that can change the game, like improving your economy or increasing attack range. You’ll grow your production by capturing cities, exploring the map, and controlling key locations. With both competitive modes and a map editor, you can enjoy endless replayability through custom games, whether you play locally or online.

Into the Breach

Battles take place on small game boards where you can anticipate your opponent’s moves. Instead of trying to inflict a lot of damage, it’s often better to focus on avoiding it, as most attacks involve pushing pieces around. You can improve your units and abilities over time with time pods and pilots, which carry over between attempts. Because the game is designed to be quick and compact, every decision is important, and missions usually finish in just a few minutes.

Age of Wonders 4

This game combines building an empire with creating unique fantasy leaders and discovering powerful, evolving spells. You can customize your civilization with special traits and abilities that affect your armies and cities. Battles are tactical and take place on detailed maps, where clever positioning and keeping your troops’ spirits high are key to success. You can also adjust the game’s settings to play short, fast-paced battles or long, immersive campaigns.

Heroes of Might and Magic III

Players continue to love this game for its charming towns, exciting artifact hunts, and deep hero customization options that stay rewarding even in lengthy campaigns. You’ll discover adventure maps filled with valuable mines, hidden homes, and secrets that help you build an early lead. Combat is turn-based, focusing on unit speed, how units respond to attacks, and careful positioning on the battlefield. With a variety of factions and familiar scenarios, it remains a favorite for fans of fantasy strategy games.

BattleTech

You lead a team of mercenaries who pilot customizable mechs. These mechs can be tailored by balancing armor, stability, and heat management. Battles are affected by the environment – things like terrain, height, and the angle of fire all impact accuracy and damage. Managing your resources is key, as you’ll have to make difficult decisions about what to salvage, repair, and which contracts to take. You can also develop your team members with skill trees and specialize their mechs into roles like lancer, scout, or fire support, allowing for coordinated tactics.

Jagged Alliance 3

This game reimagines the conflict with a focus on hiring mercenaries, developing unique character traits, and fighting across a large, open world. Time progresses as you build and train your forces, recover from injuries, and create essential equipment, directly impacting your ability to fight. Battles are turn-based, emphasizing strategic use of cover, suppressing enemy fire, and targeting specific body parts to gain an advantage. Unexpected events and a constantly changing economy ensure that the conflict remains unpredictable and challenging.

Triangle Strategy

Combat focuses on using high ground, positioning, and chaining attacks, especially when teammates surround opponents. Each character has a specific job and special abilities, making it important to build a balanced team and plan your moves carefully. Your choices also matter, as a ‘conviction’ system changes the story and which units you can use. Finally, maps feature environmental hazards like fire and ice that affect how units move and attack.

Tactics Ogre Reborn

This updated version of the game improves tactical battles with smarter enemies and a redesigned unit leveling system. The unique Chariot system lets you rewind turns to experiment with different strategies without penalty. You can build a team with diverse classes and equipment, including close-combat fighters, archers, magic-users, and support roles, each with their own strengths. The story branches and the World system lets you explore different paths while still keeping your progress.

Final Fantasy Tactics

As a player, I’m really digging how deep the character building is in this game! You can really customize things by mixing abilities and watching your stats grow. Combat feels strategic too – the high and low ground matter, and timing your attacks or interruptions is key. It’s not just about raw power either; knowing your enemies and planning ahead is huge, because the zodiac signs actually influence how much damage you do and how effective healing is! And the really late-game fights? They’re all about teamwork – stacking buffs, applying debuffs, and controlling the battlefield. It’s super satisfying when everything comes together!

The Banner Saga Trilogy

This game blends managing a caravan with strategic, turn-based combat. Battles focus on using strength for both health and attack power, and weakening enemy armor is crucial before delivering the final blow – which can also shift who you target. Your caravan’s supplies and travel choices affect your team’s morale and the results of random events. Characters and your decisions persist throughout the game, leading to lasting consequences.

Wargroove

Players control powerful commanders in battle, and carefully timing their special abilities is key to success. Combat itself fuels a unique system that unlocks powerful faction-specific moves. The game also includes tools for players to create their own maps, campaigns, and stories. Easy-to-understand rules and clear visuals help both new and experienced players enjoy complex strategies.

Endless Legend

This strategy game features distinct factions, each with its own special abilities – like changing seasons that affect resource gathering or unique ways to move across the empire. Building your cities involves strategically placing districts next to each other for bonuses that improve as you develop those areas. Battles take place directly on the world map, unfolding in rounds where unit speed determines the order of actions. You’ll also encounter quests and smaller groups that offer goals and influence the direction of your research and expansion.

Warhammer 40,000: Gladius Relics of War

Gladius is a war-focused strategy game where building your army and fighting are the most important things. There’s no diplomacy – you advance by conquering. Each side you play as has unique technologies, units, and economic strengths, changing how you approach the game. You’ll need to explore and defend yourself from dangers and fight over valuable resources. The game offers both fast-paced battles and long, drawn-out conflicts thanks to its customizable maps and difficulty levels.

Old World

In this game, the number of actions you can take each turn is limited, making careful planning and efficient execution essential. Your characters will grow older, develop unique traits, and create families, all of which impact the story and court life. Instead of a typical win condition, you’ll pursue specific ambitions that guide your empire’s progress. The game offers a smooth turn-based experience with a strong sense of history and clear information about what’s happening.

Humankind

As your civilization advances through different eras, you can adopt new cultures, combining their special benefits to create a unique path for your empire. You’ll expand by connecting territories to your cities, managing growth and keeping things stable. Adding districts to your cities boosts their production and creates powerful combinations. When conflicts arise, battles play out on the map over several turns, taking terrain and reinforcements into account. Your civilization’s overall progress is measured by Fame, which is earned by achieving milestones throughout the ages.

Gears Tactics

This game builds on established gameplay with adaptable unit actions, letting you make strategic choices each turn. Successfully defeating enemies rewards you with extra actions, pushing you to be bold when things get tough. Battles against bosses test your ability to focus on the most dangerous threats and use your skills at the right moment. You can also customize each character class with skill upgrades and weapon modifications to focus on controlling enemies, dealing damage, or supporting your team.

Panzer Corps 2

Campaigns in this game focus on keeping your main forces alive and using the environment to your advantage. The game realistically simulates supply lines and how cutting them off can devastate enemy units. You can improve your units and heroes gradually over time, and these improvements carry over between missions. Plus, a powerful editor and active community create tons of extra content beyond the official campaigns, extending the game’s replayability.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope

Move freely within specific areas to set up your shots, coordinate team jumps, and prepare dash attacks before acting. Collecting Sparks gives you elemental abilities and passive bonuses, changing how you approach each map. Maps include breakable cover and objects you can interact with, letting you come up with unique strategies. You can also customize your character with skill trees and weapon modifications to create builds perfect for tough bosses and challenging levels.

Total War: Warhammer III

The game combines turn-based strategy on a campaign map with real-time battles. Each faction has its own special features, such as the spread of corruption, magical rifts, and unique economic systems tied to their gods. On the campaign map, you’ll manage your armies’ positioning, recruit new units, and handle diplomacy – careful planning is essential. The Immortal Empires mode lets you conquer vast lands and engage in truly long-term strategic gameplay.

Phoenix Point

Your opponents will evolve to challenge your strategies, meaning you’ll need to regularly update your weapons and armor. You can aim with precision to target specific body parts, hindering enemies by damaging their weapons or movement. The game features deep strategic elements like constructing bases, forming alliances with different groups, and managing air support. To keep things interesting, the difficulty adjusts as the danger grows, and missions take place on randomly generated maps.

Darkest Dungeon

Managing stress is just as important as keeping your team healthy, as it affects how they perform and act. The order you take turns and where your characters are positioned are key to winning. Choosing the right team members and switching up your formation are crucial strategies. Small items and unique character traits create ongoing choices and trade-offs both during adventures and back in town. You’ll need to carefully manage your resources, as taking risks can be rewarding, but venturing into more dangerous areas demands it.

Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri

This strategy game takes the familiar 4X formula to a new alien world. Instead of just building armies, you’ll shape your civilization through social policies, designing units to fit the environment and available resources. The planet itself is dynamic, with changing climates and dangerous creatures reacting to your progress. Your bases, research, and diplomatic efforts are all influenced by your chosen ideology, impacting both your strengths and the conflicts you face.

Master of Orion II

This 4X space game lets you create unique races with traits that shape how you research technologies and expand your empire. You’ll manage your colonies by assigning people to farming, industry, and science to grow in the way that best suits your strategy. Battles are fought with ships in a turn-based system, where positioning, shields, and missile defenses are key. You can also use espionage and powerful leaders to gain an edge in both warfare and trade.

Endless Space 2

Each faction offers a distinct gameplay experience with its own way of growing and progressing through unique quests. How you develop your empire depends on the types of planets you control and how you choose to utilize their resources, impacting your food production, industrial capacity, scientific output, and economic strength. When fighting in space, you can customize your ships with different strategies and equipment to target enemies at various distances and fulfill specific roles. Finally, the laws you enact and the political parties you support influence your empire through elections and changes to your policies.

Dominions 5

Select a god to follow and a strategy to guide your empire, then build an army of special units that complement your approach. Battles are fought automatically, but you carefully plan each one by setting orders and formations beforehand. Powerful magic, rituals, and enchantments allow you to exert influence across multiple regions over time. The game supports massive multiplayer campaigns because all players take their turns at the same time.

Conquest of Elysium 5

Each side in the game has a unique economy and way of building armies, which affects how you take over territory on the map. The changing seasons and different types of land impact how much resources you get and how easily you can move, making supply lines important. Battles are decided automatically based on the units in your army and where you position them, so building a well-rounded force is key. The game world and the actions of other groups are always changing, ensuring that exploring and controlling territory remains a challenge.

Field of Glory II

Battles in ancient and medieval times are recreated with a focus on how units work together, tactical maneuvers like flanking, and controlling key areas of the battlefield. Armies are built to resemble historical forces, but you can adjust them within a set point limit. The game accurately simulates the power of charges and the intensity of close combat. And, larger campaigns connect individual battles, tracking reinforcements, losses, and the overall strategic situation.

Unity of Command II

The game simulates realistic military logistics, including supply depots, truck stops, and weather conditions, all of which impact how quickly you can move forward. You’ll need to strategically plan maneuvers like surrounding enemy forces and repairing bridges to keep your offensive going. Your central command provides resources for things like restocking units or making rapid movements. Because of limited visibility and hidden enemy reinforcements, scouting and careful timing are essential for capturing key objectives.

Battle Brothers

In this game, you manage a team of mercenaries where their contracts and pay depend on keeping them healthy and happy. Battles take place on a hexagonal grid, and where you aim for specific body parts, considering weapon durability and how tired your units are. Injuries stick around, and each mercenary’s unique skills impact how they perform, making smart positioning and knowing when to fall back crucial. The game world is constantly changing, with wandering enemies and a fluctuating economy that affects both your equipment and how easily you can travel.

Invisible, Inc.

This game focuses on sneaky tactics, where you use limited energy to hack into systems and create pathways. Each agent has unique upgrades and equipment, letting you approach missions in different ways. The game gets harder each turn as alarms go off, forcing you to move carefully and complete objectives quickly. With randomly generated levels and short campaigns, you can experiment with different team setups and decide how much risk you’re willing to take.

Frozen Synapse

With simultaneous turn planning, both players plan their moves and attacks before anything actually happens. This lets you see how things might play out and adjust your strategy. Different unit types, like those good at close range or long distance, change how battles happen and where you fight. In competitive play, winning often depends on perfectly timed attacks and focusing fire on the same target.

Valkyria Chronicles 4

Players take turns using command points to activate units and aim in third person. Where you move and take cover is important because of the terrain and enemy fire. Officers can issue orders that give temporary advantages, changing the course of a battle. Tanks provide mobile protection, while different infantry types specialize in fighting vehicles, scouting the area, and providing support.

Disgaea 5 Complete

Battles in this game focus on creating powerful combos, using moves to lift and throw enemies, and building unique characters. You can improve your gear by exploring randomly generated dungeons and unlocking special bonuses. Characters can grow significantly through reincarnation and learning new skills. Teamwork is important, with squad abilities and curry buffs providing benefits for the whole team during extended gameplay.

King’s Bounty: The Legend

The game takes place in a vast world where you build an army and fight turn-based battles on a hexagonal grid. Because there’s a limit to how large your army can be, keeping your troops alive and maintaining their morale is crucial. You can use spells and powerful abilities to overcome difficult challenges. Different areas have different enemies and available units, so you’ll need to carefully plan your journey.

The Battle for Wesnoth

Battles are affected by the time of day, the landscape, and controlling key areas. Units can specialize into different roles while remaining the same basic type as they gain experience. Earning gold relies on capturing and holding villages, and managing your unit costs effectively. Campaigns offer a challenging experience with permanent unit loss, and resources you collect can impact your strategy over time.

Slay the Spire

In Slay the Spire, success depends on carefully managing your energy, drawing cards, and finding powerful combinations with relics. You also control your path, choosing encounters like elite battles, events, and shops to best suit your strategy. Dealing with harmful status and curse cards requires careful planning to remove or lessen their effects. As you increase the difficulty through Ascension levels, you’ll face challenges that test how consistently you can adapt your strategy throughout the entire game.

Let us know your top turn-based strategy games in the comments! Also, tell us which games you believe should be included on this list.

2025-10-18 17:19