The best strategy games always has a good balance between a survival element and either a great story to go with it or multiplayer to play against your friends.
Viewing Listing - Strategy at the MacGameStore. Not enough ratings $6.99 AERENA - Masters Edition: The Turn Based Arena Combat Game. Viewing Listing - Strategy at the MacGameStore. Not enough ratings $6.99 AERENA - Masters Edition: The Turn Based Arena Combat Game.
Whether it is high fantasy, sci-fi or based on historical events, the best strategy games are the ones that gives you hours of gameplay.
There are two basic categories when it comes to strategy games,
- Turn-based strategy games
- Real-time strategy games
Turn-based strategy games are usually a lot longer and aim to gives the player a feeling of real power when you accomplish your goals. They also tend to focus more on grand strategy than having a deep story connected to them.
Real-time strategy games on the other hand has rich stories and gameplay is a lot faster with everything happening right now!
You will have to do a lot of smaller missions that leads you through the story while you try to accomplish specific goals and survive, survive, survive! Luckily there are many awesome strategy games out there you can choose from to give you a great gaming experience.
If you like the list of strategy games, please share with your friends and share your favorite game in the comments.
The Best Strategy Games in 2019
1. Total War: Warhammer 2 and Total War: Thrones of Britannia
The Total War Series is most likely the best and most well known strategy games of all time, with a balance between turn-based and real-time gameplay.
Playing a Total War game can take you, depending on how much you play, days, weeks or even months to finish a grand campaign, but still gives the player the pleasure to have massive real-time battles that can take anything up to an hour.
The key is to find a balance between economic management and war tactics to get the best results in your campaigns and this is what keeps the games really interesting. You will manage massive campaigns and have a lot of strategic battles through any campaign.
The Total War Series has made a wide range of strategy games depicting various times throughout history in Europe, America and Japan.
They also released Total War: Warhammer 1 & 2 that is all about fantasy, perfect for those of you who loves fantasy. The latest title in the series is Total War: Thrones of Britannia that takes you through some of the darkest times in English history on the British continent.
My opinion is that if you love historical games, you must play some of the games in the series like Rome II, Shogun II and Thrones of Britannia. If you like high fantasy games, either one of the Warhammer titles will give you hours and hours of awesome gameplay.
Or you can just play all of them if like!
Total War: Warhammer II
Total War: Thrones of Britannia
Buy Total War Games
2. Civilization 6
Civilization is another grand strategy turn-based game where your main goal is to lead a chosen civilization through the times like the stone age to the modern day.
Unlike the Total War Series, it only has a turn-based gameplay with some form of military management to enjoy. There are many different civilizations to choose from and the race is on to achieve victory in a few various categories.
In Civilization you need to keep up with research to improve your technology, culture and military endeavours.
The 3 main victory conditions is through Science (establishing a colony on Mars), Culture (become the top tourist destination through arts and music) or Military (dominate every other civilization on the map). It is awesome to work your way through the different times and using the available technology to overcome scenarios that you’ll face in your campaigns.
The great part is that the maps you choose will be different and randomly generated which gives you a different experience every time.
List Of 2016 Mac Strategy Games To Play
The latest title in the series is Civilization VI that came out in 2016 and the first official expansion released in 2018 which introduced new civilizations and leaders to play with.
If you like grand strategy management games Civilization is the perfect game for you.
Buy Civilization 6
3. Battlefleet Gothic Armada 2
Do you like Real-time Strategy games, enjoying epic battles and fighting to survive the onslaught of countless enemies?
Look no further, Battlefleet Gothic Armada 2 are one of the latest strategy games for pc that is out in 2019.
It’s a sequel to the original game (Battlefleet Gothic Armada), but it’s bigger, better and with much more richer content.
Have epic space battles between different galaxies with massive fleets and military spaceships.
You’ll need to carefully plan your strategies and tactics to take out your enemies and grow your space empire.
Every spaceship, big and small, are unique and will ultimately impact how your campaigns or battles will pan out.
You can choose to play either a skirmish mode and choose between all 12 available factions, play the 3 single player campaigns with 5 different factions or get together your friends to play some multiplayer games, even co-op play modes.
Each faction is unique with their own story and characteristics to give you a unique gameplay, every time!
So, the basics is to pick your faction, build your fleets and engage your enemies in some epic space battles. Are you ready to command your own space fleet?
Buy Battlefleet Gothic Armada 2
4. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
StarCraft is a military science-fiction real-time strategy game that are focussed on the hardcore elements of strategy games as we know it.
The world is about to get over populated and the world decides to send colonization parties to establish a new capitol somewhere in the Milky Way.
But, the computers are malfunctioning and they lose all contact with the Earth. Now it’s time to survive! Your job is to grow and protect the new capitol from invasions by weird species genetically created a 1000 years ago, all while conflict starts to brew between the human factions.
The story is absolutely great, brutal and breathtaking with many missions to do and plots to uncover. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a direct sequel to StarCraft I, so to fully enjoy and understand the whole story I suggest you play or at least watch a video of StarCraft I as it came out in 1998.
The game is perfect for fan that love’s a old school real-time strategy game with a rich story to immerse yourself for for hours of gameplay. StarCraft is also a very popular Esports title with awesome multiplayer capabilities, so you don’t have to play alone after you finished all the campaigns.
Buy StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
5. Stellaris
Are you ready to lead a civilization in space?
Stellaris is a real-time grand strategy game that will give you the opportunity to build, manage and grow a civilization in space.
The game starts in 2200, so your’e already in space. You can choose between various pre-made empires or create your own custom species with unique traits.
In Stellaris, there are many factors and processes you’ll need to manage to keep your space colonies save.
These include the management of space ships, science development, construction and military tasks.
Like in every strategy game, you’ll need to fight enemies to survive. Combat can take place in space or on the ground, depending on what planets you are.
The game also include diplomatic and trade mechanics which let’s you team up with other factions or trade resources.
If you love space exploration and want to build colonies on various planets, make sure to check out Stellaris.
Buy Stellaris
6. Spellforce III
Spellforce III finds the perfect balance between real-time strategy (RTS) and role playing (RPG) with an epic fantasy world to explore.
You can create your own hero just like in RPG’s, choose skills & attributes from a complex system that makes every character unique.
Fantasy is a big part of Spellforce and you’ll be able to make use of magic and spell casting during combat. It has many different options and combinations to choose from.
You don’t have to fight alone, by raising large armies and leading them into battle will give a true RTS feeling.
Besides the fighting, the game has an economy system as well where you need to build settlements and keep your people alive.
The story will give you more than 30 hours of gameplay with a full dialog, so it’s more than enough time to fully enjoy every aspect of the game.
When you like the real-time strategy and role playing game blend with the ability of large scale domination, Spellforce III hits the sweet spot.
Create a unique character, build settlements, raise armies, forge alliances and cast some epic spells!
Buy Spellforce III
7. Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes is a real-time strategy video game that let you experience the Second World War from another viewpoint.
It is a fast paced video game with a lot missions you can play and enjoy with your friends in multiplayer mode. The main goal in every mission or round is to capture strategic points that generate resources you’ll need to build a base, recruit soldiers, vehicles and crush your opponents.
It has a great balance between managing your infantry and using your transportation units like jeeps, tanks and other personnel vehicles to have a real-time war experience.
Sometimes you really need to fight a lot of smaller battles for resource points to ultimately defeating your enemy, but that is what makes the Company of Heroes titles so fun to play.
Company of Heroes I was released in 2006 and the second in 2013, but both is still awesome and fun to play.
If you are crazy about the World War II setting and like a challenge, you will find that Company of Heroes I & II can be a lot of fun.
Buy Company of Heroes
8. Steel Division: Normandy 44
Buy Steel Division: Normandy 44
9. BattleTech
Buy BattleTech
10. Europa Universalis IV
Buy Europa Universalis IV
11. Endless Space 2
Buy Endless Space 2
12. Hearts of Iron IV
Buy Hearts of Iron IV
13. Northgard
Buy Northgard
14. XCOM 2
Buy XCOM 2
15. Age of Empires Definitive Edition
As one of the pioneers when it comes to strategy games, Age of Empires have revolutionized this gaming genre and set the standard back in 1998 when the first title was released.
Soon after that in 1999 Age of Empires II was released which was the star performer in the series. So why would you play a game that was released in 1999? Well, they released another addition in 2018, Age of Empires Definitive Edition which brings back all the original gameplay, but with better graphics to make it relevant once again.
You can choose between 16 civilizations, start in a particular age with the earliest the stone age and achieve victory. The victory conditions for a normal round is straightforward, defeat all the players on the map by gathering resources, building a base, recruiting soldiers and research technology.
The game takes you through several age periods where each have unique features and challenges.
If you played the older versions, you will know how much fun Age of Empires is to play, so now you can finally enjoy this awesome strategy video game in beautiful graphics with the Definitive Edition.
Buy Age of Empires Definitive Edition
16. Sudden Strike 4
Buy Sudden Strike 4
17. Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
Buy Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
18. Empires Apart
Buy Empires Apart
19. Cosacks 3
Buy Cosacks 3
20. Stronghold Crusader II
If you go crazy for medieval castles and is a fan of real-time strategy games, then Stronghold is a must.
It is a simple game, but is very fun to play the campaigns and multiplayer with your friends. Stronghold Crusader II is the latest title, where you play in the deserts of the middle east with you choosing between a Crusader or Arabic campaign.
The campaigns in Stronghold Crusader II primarily focus on a range of skirmish missions you have to complete to win the game, unlike it’s earlier titles which had rich and interesting storylines.
You can also choose to play the economic campaigns to experience a more relaxed gameplay.
So, if you like to build medieval style castles and play an interesting old school real-time strategy game, you should make sure to check out the previous Stronghold games in the series.
21. Crusader Kings II
Political intrigue, invasions on all fronts and a grand strategy experience, this is Crusader Kings II.
The country is in chaos with enemy invasions on almost all fronts, betrayal in your own midst, you need to figure out how to lead your dynasty to success.
The player can do this by many different ways like strategic war tactics, marriages and even assassinations. Crusader Kings II is set in the Medieval times taking place from 1066 to 1453 (or 867 and 769 with DLC’s) with many historical figures that you’ll discover throughout the game.
The win conditions are simple, don’t die and if you do, make sure to have an heir take over to rule.
The only in-game goal is to get as many prestige points as you can. There are also a few DLC’s to enhance your gaming experience even further where with new historical figures, starting points and challenges to overcome.
Crusader Kings II is perfect for someone who likes a balance between grand strategy, government, religion and political management.
22. Supreme Commander 2
Supreme Commander 2 is a fast paced, interesting and addictive game that are extremely fun if you like a good strategy game.
The developers, from the start, wanted to put more emphasis on the characters and by telling a really awesome story.
There are three factions you can choose from, each with unique stories interwoven together to make the campaigns so much more interesting. You basically play from the commander’s point of view for each faction where the characters are all caught up in an enormous intergalactic battle.
The game starts where the newly elected president of the Coalition has been assassinated which leads to chaos, uncertainty, lost of trust and ultimately a great war between the factions. Can you solve the problems and keep the peace or will there be another infinite war on the horizon.
If you’re curious about how the story plays out, you should definitely play Supreme Commander 2.
23. Ashes of the singularity
Conclusion
What is your favorite strategy game?
Did I miss one?
Share it in the comments!
Now that you have a long list of great strategy games to choose from, you can be sure to have hours of strategy fun! I listed the best strategy games, real-time and turn-based, you can play in 2019.
Please share my post with your friends if you found this post helpful or interesting.
Also read:
For more news, reviews, thoughts and articles on strategy games – visit Frags of War
The best strategy games you can play right now on PC.
Here is our list of the best strategy games on PC or Mac. Whether you favour real-time bouts or brainy turn-based simulations, great strategy games throw you into uniquely massive scenarios that let you rule empires, control spacefaring races, and marshal cavalry charges against armies of hundreds. We love them. But we love some of them a little more than the others. Will you agree with our picks? Are there any you’d add or like to recommend to fellow readers? Have your say in the comments.
We’ve focused on games that offer a strong variety of takes on the genre, and which still play brilliantly today. This list will be updated when new games make the grade.
Northguard
Tom Senior: Viking-themed RTS Northguard pays dues to Settlers and Age of Empires, but challenged us with its smart expansion systems that force you to plan your growth into new territories carefully. Weather is important too. You need to prepare for winter carefully, but if you tech up using ‘lore’ you might have better warm weather gear than your enemies, giving you a strategic advantage. Skip through the dull story, enjoy the well-designed campaign missions and then start the real fight in skirmish.
Into the Breach
Tom Senior: A beautifully designed, near-perfect slice of tactical mech action from the creators of FTL. Into the Breach challenges you to fend off waves of Vek monsters on eight-by-eight grids populated by tower blocks and a variety of sub objectives. Obviously you want to wipe out the Vek using mech-punches and artillery strikes, but much of the game is about using the impact of your blows to push enemies around the map and divert their attacks away from your precious buildings.
Civilian buildings provide power, which serves as a health bar for your campaign. Every time a civilian building takes a hit, you’re a step closer to losing the war. Once your power is depleted your team travels back through time to try and save the world again. It’s challenging, bite-sized, and dynamic. As you unlock new types of mechs and mech upgrades you gain inventive new ways to toy with your enemies.
Total War: Warhammer 2
Samuel Roberts: The first Total War: Warhammer showed that Games Workshop’s fantasy universe was a perfect match for Creative Assembly’s massive battles and impressively detailed units. The second game makes a whole host of improvements, in interface, tweaks to heroes, rogue armies that mix factions together and more. The game’s four factions, Skaven, High Elves, Dark Elves and Lizardmen are all meaningfully different from one another, delving deeper into the odd corners of old Warhammer fantasy lore. If you’re looking for a starting point with CA’s Warhammer games, this is now the game to get—and if you already own the excellent original, too, the mortal empires campaign will unite both games into one giant map.
XCOM 2/War of the Chosen
Tom Senior: The game cleverly uses scarcity of opportunity to force you into difficult dilemmas. At any one time you might have only six possible scan sites, while combat encounters are largely meted out by the game, but what you choose to do with this narrow range of options matters enormously. You need to recruit new rookies; you need an engineer to build a comms facility that will let you contact more territories; you need alien alloys to upgrade your weapons. You can’t have all of these. You can probably only have one. In 1989 Sid Meier described games as “a series of interesting decisions.” XCOM 2 is the purest expression of that ethos that Firaxis has yet produced.
The War of the Chosen expansion brings even more welcome if frantic changes, like the endlessly chatty titular enemies, memorable nemeses who pop up at different intervals during the campaign with random strengths and weaknesses. There are also new Advent troopers to contend with, tons more cosmetic options, zombie-like enemies who populate lost human cities, the ability to create propaganda posters and lots more. War of the Chosen does make each campaign a little bloated, but the changes are so meaningful and extensive that XCOM 2 players need to check it out regardless.
Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak
Rob Zacny: Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak sounded almost sacrilegious at first. Over a decade since the last Homeworld game, it was going to take a game remembered for its spaceships and 3D movement and turn it into a ground-based RTS with tanks? And it was a prequel? Yet in spite of all the ways this could have gone horribly wrong, Deserts of Kharak succeeds on almost every count. It’s not only a terrific RTS that sets itself apart from the rest of the genre’s recent games, but it’s also an excellent Homeworld game that reinvents the series while also recapturing its magic.
Civilization 6
Samuel Roberts: The Civ game of choice right now for us, and it’s packed with enough features that it feels like it’s already been through a few expansions. Its Districts system lets you build sprawling cities, and challenge you to think several turns ahead more than ever. The game is gorgeously presented—while the more cartoon-y style takes some time to get used to, it’s lovely to look at in its own right.
We’re really curious to see how the inevitable expansions will build on what’s already here, but taken as it is, this is the best Civ to play right now.
Stellaris
Samuel Roberts: “I hope upcoming patches and expansions can fill in the gaps,” is what Phil’s Stellaris review said at launch. There’s still room to improve for Paradox’s sci-fi game, but the updates have been coming fast. The Utopia expansion made major changes to the game’s internal politics system, and various other changes could plausibly see you put another hundred hours into the game. Plus, it lets you build Dyson spheres around a sun, letting you drain all the energy from it and leave any nearby planets freezing, which is amazing in a cruel way.
Endless Legend
Chris Thursten: A sleeper hit of recent years, Endless Legend is a 4X fantasy follow-up to Amplitude’s Endless Space—a pretty good game, but apparently not the full measure of the studio’s potential. Shadowed at the time of its release by the higher-profile launch of Civilization: Beyond Earth, Legend is easily the best game in the genre since Civ 4. It’s deep and diverse, with fascinating asymmetrical factions, sub-races, hero units, quests to discover, and more. It looks gorgeous, too.
Galactic Civilizations 2
Andy Kelly: If you’ve ever wanted to conquer space with an army of customisable doom-ships, this is the strategy game for you. It has smart, creative AI, and a full-size game can take weeks to complete. You have to balance economic, technological, diplomatic, cultural and military power to forge alliances, fight wars and dominate the galaxy. Reminiscent of the Civilization games, but on a much grander scale, and with a lot more depth in places.
Homeworld
Chris Thursten: Mechanically, Homeworld is a phenomenal three-dimensional strategy game, among the first to successfully detach the RTS from a single plane. It’s more than that, though: it’s a major victory for atmosphere and sound design, whether that’s Adagio for Strings playing over the haunting opening missions or the beat of drums as ships engage in a multiplayer battle. If you liked the Battlestar Galactica reboot, you should play this.
Supreme Commander
Tom Senior: Only Total War can compete with the scale of Supreme Commander’s real-time battles. It’s still exhilarating to flick the mousewheel and fly from an individual engineer to a map of the entire battlefield, then flick it again to dive down to give orders to another unit kilometres away. When armies do clash—in sprawling hundred-strong columns of robots—you’re rewarded with the most glorious firefights a CPU can render. It’s one of the few real-time strategy games to combine air, ground and naval combat into single encounters, but SupCom goes even further, with artillery, long-range nuclear ordnance and megalithic experimental bots.
Tooth and Tail
Samuel Roberts: A somewhat leftfield choice for this list, Tooth and Tail charmed us with its simpler take on the RTS, which has clearly been built around using a controller—but it still has most of the things that make a great strategy game. It’s more Pikmin than Halo Wars, with units rallying around your character and following simple orders, with unit creation automated according to your population limit and available resources. Battles only last for ten minutes, and with a background of political conflict between anthropomorphised animal factions, each trying to survive, it’s thematically rich, too.
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