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Best strategy games on GamesNostalgia

Strategy games have a long history; ancient games of intellect like Chess have paved the way for modern masterpieces like Starcraft. Imagine the thrill of outwitting opponents, envisioning every move before it is made, and strategically maneuvering your way to victory. From old titles like Hammurabi to Sid Meier's Civilization, strategy games have transcended time and culture.

The first strategy computer games were primarily based on resource management, like Super Star Trek or Santa Paravia and Fiumaccio. Over the years, many ports of classic games were released, like Risk or The Chessmaster 2000, but many other sub-genres were created. The revolutionary Defender of the Crown was one of the first medieval strategy games, while one of the first historical trading games was Ports of Call in 1987. The god games genre started with Populous in 1989 by Peter Molyneux. The same year Julian Gollop created one of the first squad management games with Laser Squad, a sort of predecessor of the famous UFO: Enemy Unknown.

None of these titles had a success comparable to the historical turn-based strategy game Sid Meier's Civilization, released in 1991. This inspired many other games, like Master of Magic, but also Master of Orion in 1993, one of the first 4x strategy games (Explore, Expand, Exploit, Exterminate). But there are other space games that became cult, like Star Control II.

Real-time strategy games (RTS) started with Dune II: The Battle For Arrakis in 1992, but after that, we saw many other titles, like WarCraft: Orcs & Humans, Command & Conquer in 1995, not to mention the famous Age of Empires. And let's not forget city building games like Caesar and Pharaoh.

This category has so many essential titles that it's impossible to mention them all. Just browse the list or select one of the sub-genres and choose the preferred titles. Just remember: they create addition!

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings windows

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a historical real-time strategy game created by Ensemble Studios. It was published by Microsoft in 1999 for Windows and Macintosh. As you can...

Year: 1999 Genre: Strategy

europe historical battle isometric medieval middle east real-time rts strategy

Age of Empires windows

Age of Empires is a historical real-time strategy game created by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft on October 15, 1997, for Windows. Later it was also published for Mac OS on August 22, 1998.

Year: 1997 Genre: Strategy

classical antiquity history isometric real-time rts strategy war

Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines windows

Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines is the first chapter of a famous tactical game series created by the Spanish studio Pyro and published by Eidos. This first game, designed by Gonzalo ...

Year: 1998 Genre: Strategy

europe historical battle military rts squad management stealth strategy tactics war ww2

Sid Meier's Civilization II windows

Civilization II, or simply Civ2, is the second chapter of the most famous turn-based strategy video game ever created: Sid Meier's Civilization. The game's objective is to "Build an empire to stand the test of time".

Year: 1996 Genre: Strategy

4x history strategy turn-based strategy

Caesar III windows

Caesar III is a city-building historical sim created by Impression Games and published by Sierra in 1998. It's the third chapter of the popular series Caesar, created by David Lester.

Year: 1998 Genre: Strategy

business simulation city building classical antiquity europe history isometric management real-time roman strategy

Pharaoh windows

Pharaoh is a city-building simulation game set in ancient Egypt, developed by Impressions Games. It was published by Sierra Entertainment in 1999 for Windows. The game uses the Caesar III engine, with a 2D isometric view.

Year: 1999 Genre: Strategy

ancient egypt business simulation city building construction simulation management real-time strategy

Rise & Fall: Civilizations at War windowsdos

Rise and Fall: Civilizations at War is a historic real-time strategy game developed by Stainless Steel Studios and Midway Games and published in 2006. In 2008 a free version of the game was released supported by the US Air Force.

Year: 2006 Genre: Strategy

classical antiquity fantasy freeware historical battle history real-time strategy

Warcraft II: Tides Of Darkness dos

Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness is the sequel to the first real-time strategy game created by Blizzard, WarCraft: Orcs & Humans. This second chapter of the fantasy RTS was develop...

Year: 1995 Genre: Strategy

fantasy real-time rts steampunk strategy war

The Settlers II dos

The Settlers II: Veni, Vidi, Vici is the second chapter of the popular series of city building real time strategy games created by Blue Byte software. It was published by Blue Byte...

Year: 1997 Genre: Strategy

business simulation city building classical antiquity real-time strategy

Command & Conquer: Red Alert dos

Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a real-time strategy game created by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin in 1996 for MS-DOS and Windows 95. It was later ported to PlayStation.

Year: 1996 Genre: Strategy

europe real-time rts science fiction strategy war

Dune II: The Battle For Arrakis amigados

Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty is a real-time strategy game created by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Games in 1992. The game, also known as Dune II: Battle for Arrak...

Year: 1992 Genre: Strategy

movies real-time rts science fiction strategy war

Civilization II: Test of Time windows

Civilization II: Test of Time is an enhanced version of Civilization II, created by MPS Labs and released in 1999 for PC. As we know, the first Sid Meier's Civilization, the turn...

Year: 1999 Genre: Strategy

4x history isometric strategy turn-based strategy

WarCraft: Orcs & Humans dos

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, also known as Warcraft I, is the first game in the popular Warcraft series created by Blizzard Entertainment. It's a fantasy real-time strategy game (RTS) ...

Year: 1994 Genre: Strategy

fantasy multiplayer real-time rts strategy war

UFO: Enemy Unknown dosamiga

X-COM: UFO Defense (UFO: Enemy Unknown in Europe) is a science fiction strategy game developed by Mythos Games. It was published by MicroProse Software (Geoff Crammond’s former company) and released for Amiga and DOS in 1994.

Year: 1994 Genre: Strategy

aga aliens rpg elements science fiction squad management strategy tactical-rpg turn-based strategy