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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!

The Settlers III windows

The Settlers III is the third chapter of the famous real-time/city-building strategy game by Blue Byte. It was released in 1998 for Windows. This third chapter stands as one of th...

Year: 1998 Genre: Strategy

ancient egypt business simulation city building classical antiquity isometric real-time rts strategy

Warrior of Rome II genesis

Warrior of Rome II is a real-time strategy game developed by Micronet and released in 1992 for the SEGA Genesis. It is the direct sequel to Warrior of Rome, released a year earli...

Year: 1992 Genre: Strategy

classical antiquity europe isometric real-time strategy tactics

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

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

Battle Chess amiga

Battle Chess is a chess game created by Interplay initially for the Amiga and published in 1988. It was so successful that it had been ported to most platforms available, including...

Year: 1988 Genre: Strategy

3d amiga cd32 amiga original game board game chess multiplayer strategy

North & South amiga

North & South is an action/strategy game based on the comic books "The Blue Jackets", released in 1989 for Amiga and Atari ST. It was ported later for DOS, ZX Spectrum and other platforms.

Year: 1989 Genre: Strategy

2 players american civil war comics historical battle history strategy war wargame

Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire windows

Sid Meier’s Alien Crossfire, released in 1999 as an expansion to Alpha Centauri, is a turn-based strategy game developed by Firaxis Games. While it carries Sid Meier's name, the ...

Year: 1999 Genre: Strategy

4x city building hotseat isometric science fiction strategy turn-based strategy

Powermonger amiga

Powermonger is a real-time strategy game developed by Bullfrog Productions and published by Electronic Arts in 1990. First released on the Amiga and Atari ST, it eventually made its way to DOS in 1992.

Year: 1990 Genre: Strategy

fantasy isometric real-time strategy

Special Forces amiga

Special Forces is a tactical action game with stealth elements created by MicroProse and released in 1992 for the Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS. It's the sequel of Airborne Ranger, an 8-bit game released five years earlier.

Year: 1992 Genre: Strategy

action strategy military multi-directional squad management stealth strategy top-down

Roadwar Europa amiga

Roadwar Europa is a futuristic turn-based strategy game designed by Jeff Johnson and developed for the Apple II and Commodore 64. It was released initially in 1986 and published by Strategic Simulations Inc.

Year: 1987 Genre: Strategy

apple 2 original game post-apocalyptic science fiction strategy turn-based strategy wargame

Moonbase amiga

Moonbase: Lunar Colony Simulator is a strategy/simulation game created by Wesson International in 1990 for MS-DOS. It was later ported to Amiga and Macintosh. As you can imagine fr...

Year: 1991 Genre: Strategy

city building management science fiction simulation space space exploration strategy

Traders: The Intergalactic Trading Game amiga

Traders: The Intergalactic Trading Game is a turn-based multiplayer game released in 1992 for PC and Amiga. It was developed and published by Linel. The game is a M.U.L.E. clone ...

Year: 1991 Genre: Strategy

business simulation competitive management multiplayer strategy trading

Celtic Legends amiga

Celtic Legends is a turn-based strategy game with RPG elements created by Ubisoft exclusively for the Amiga. It was released in 1991. The game allows you to challenge the computer ...

Year: 1991 Genre: Strategy

2 players amiga original game fantasy isometric strategy strategy-rpg turn-based strategy

Steel Empire amiga

Steel Empire is an action-strategy game created by Silicon Knights for the Amiga, Atari ST, and MS-DOS, released in 1992. Denis Dyack and Rick Goertz designed this title. It's the ...

Year: 1992 Genre: Strategy

action strategy hotseat mecha multiplayer science fiction strategy tactics top-down