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Best strategy games

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!

Sid Meier's Colonization amiga

Sid Meier's Colonization is often remembered as one of the most sophisticated and ambitious strategy games of the 1990s. Despite bearing Sid Meier’s name, the driving force behin...

Year: 1994 Genre: Strategy

4x aga age of discovery historical battle history sea trading strategy trading turn-based

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

Sid Meier's Civilization dosamiga

Sid Meier's Civilization is one of the most popular strategy games of all time. It was created by Bruce Shelley and Sid Meier alongside MicroProse. The game was released in September 1991 for MS-DOS, Amiga, and Atari ST.

Year: 1991 Genre: Strategy

2d 4x history management strategy top-down turn-based

Warcraft II: Tides Of Darkness dos

Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness is a real-time strategy game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment, released for MS-DOS in 1995 and for Macintosh in 1996. It is the sequ...

Year: 1995 Genre: Strategy

fantasy real-time rts steampunk strategy war

Starcraft windowsmac-osx

StarCraft is a real-time strategy game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment, released in 1998 for Windows. It was later ported to Mac OS. The game was designed by Chr...

Year: 1998 Genre: Strategy

aliens freeware real-time rts science fiction strategy

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

Populous dosamiga

Populous is regarded by many as the first 'god' game, developed by Bullfrog and published by Electronic Arts in 1989. The game was designed by Peter Molyneux, with Bullfrog creatin...

Year: 1989 Genre: Strategy

2 players amiga original game god game isometric management real-time rts strategy

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings windows

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a real-time strategy game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft in 1999 for Windows and Macintosh. It is the sequel to Ag...

Year: 1999 Genre: Strategy

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

Syndicate amiga

Syndicate, released by Bullfrog Productions in 1993, is a landmark in real-time tactical games. The game blends strategic squad management with a gritty cyberpunk setting that remains iconic to this day.

Year: 1993 Genre: Strategy

action strategy cyberpunk dystopia isometric real-time science fiction squad management strategy

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 procedurally generated science fiction squad management strategy turn-based tactics twin-stick shooter

Total Annihilation windows

Total Annihilation is a real-time strategy game developed by Cavedog Entertainment and published by Humongous Entertainment, released on September 27, 1997, for Windows. It was des...

Year: 1997 Genre: Strategy

real-time rts science fiction strategy war

The Settlers amigados

The Settlers is a medieval city-building simulation game by Blue Byte Software, first released in 1993 for Commodore Amiga and in 1995 for MS-DOS. In America, it was published as Serf City: Life Is Feudal.

Year: 1993 Genre: Strategy

2 players amiga original game business simulation city building real-time strategy

Command & Conquer dos

Command & Conquer is a real-time strategy game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive in 1995 for MS-DOS. It was later released for Windows 95 and also came to several consoles.

Year: 1995 Genre: Strategy

europe freeware real-time rts science fiction strategy war

Railroad Tycoon II windows

Railroad Tycoon II is a railroad simulation and strategy game developed by PopTop Software and released for Windows in 1998. As you can imagine, the game is a management game focused on building and operating a railroad empire.

Year: 1998 Genre: Simulation

business simulation construction simulation north america simulation strategy trading train transport