Its depth and sprawl is the product of thirty-odd years of lore and gaming, and its one of the best mech games out there right now. As you play through the grand campaign, your army units and HQs will grow and improve over time, and there’s also a light card mechanic that allows you to play a limited number of special actions that can make or break an offensive.īattleTech is a meaty, ruminative turn-based mech battler that does as much justice to its FASA tabletop roots as it does to making a ponderous, complex miniature game come alive in digital form. Unity of Command 2 takes players to the more known waters of the Western front, starting with the closing stages of the battle for North Africa, before moving on to the invasion of Sicily, Italy before finally allowing you to re-live the Normandy campaigns. Related: Here are the best war games on PC By changing up the scenario design and adding in new elements like HQ’s and more meaningful meta-campaign, few repeats of the same mission will play out the same, although UoC has always had a trace of ‘puzzle’ DNA within it, which is still true but not to the same extend as the first game. It’s not so far removed from a hex-based, WW2-themed Advanced Wars.Īn excellent strategy game that doubles up as a viable gateway to the world of digital war games, Unity of Command 2 does everything its predecessor did and more. Tactical options such as encirclement, supporting fire & breaking down units into smaller ‘mini’ versions for a decent flank means you’ll have plenty of options with which to take that key objective. It’s a combat-focused game, so you don’t need to worry about building units, but you WILL have to worry about keeping your forces supplied as they blitz across the map. Related: Want more WW2 Games? We’ve got you covered. The scale is a bit abstract – a single tank can actually represent hundreds of vehicles – but it allows you play sweeping campaigns on maps that can represent chunks of entire countries. This one’s a bit more on the hardcore side, but when it comes to historical turn-based strategy games, the Panzer Corps franchise is king. Panzer Corps 2 builds on the original game’s success and couples it with a brand new 3D engine. Still, if you’re looking for some to scratch that turn-based tactics itch, this is one of the best newcomers in a while. These do work in the tactical sphere, but can still be a bit clunky.
One innovation they’ve tried to carry over from the shooter series is the ‘boss battle’ elements. It’s not perfect, but it’s imperfections stand to further highlight just how solid the rest of it is. There’s no strategy layer, and while there’s some persistence for main characters it mainly revolves around loot and some basic skill-trees. Subscribe Game Pass for PC Strategy Turn Based Subscribe As much as the Gears of War third-person shooter franchise is well regarded, we’re still surprised at how good its turn-based tactics spin-off is in Gears Tactics. Set before the events of the original Gears of War, this game is essentially a series of tactical battles strung together by a narrative and some light progression mechanics. There have been quite a few challengers to XCOM’s turn-based tactical throne in recent years. Let’s take a look at some of our favourite turn-based strategy games… The best turn-based strategy games on PC are: Also, don’t be alarmed that games like Civ 6 aren’t on the list: You can check out our guide to the best 4X games to see our thoughts on that particular niche.
Every so often (especially as new games come out), we’ll give this article a refresh and an update to bring give other titles their turn in the spotlight. This is a living list, in the sense that there are many worthy candidates and not enough room to fit them all in.
We also have the best strategy games on PC if you’re looking to expand beyond petty concepts like ‘turns’. Maybe you’re waiting to see the outcome of a daring attack, maybe you’re just trying to click through some downtime.
This genre is also home to the ‘one more turn’ trope – that feeling of near-addiction that compels you to click the ‘End Turn’ button just one more time to see what happens. Witnessing that mater plan unfold can create untold levels of satisfaction, and suddenly you fancy yourself the master tactician. Turn-based strategy games bring out the more cerebral undertones of the genre – the break afforded by ‘turns’ allows us to think, ponder and plan our moves with as much expert precision as we can muster.