Best strategy games of all time
Strategy games have long tested our ability to outthink opponents, manage resources, and plan several moves ahead, spanning from ancient board games to sprawling digital empires. Whether you favor the tense standoffs of chess, the sweeping campaigns of Civilization, or the lightning-fast decisions of StarCraft, the debate over which title reigns supreme is never-ending. Cast your vote and help settle which strategy game truly deserves the crown.
What counts: Seeded with approximate figures where shown — the crowd's votes decide the order.
StarCraft II▲ Rising
When it launched in 2010, it inherited a Korean esports religion built on the original and somehow made it faster, sharper, and more punishing. Wings of Liberty through Legacy of the Void turned APM into an art form and gave the world Serral, a Finnish Zerg player who dethroned Korea's decade-long dynasty. It's the yardstick against which every 1v1 strategy game measures its own competitive spine.},
Year: 2010Critic score: 9.3/10
added by IJRin 5 rankings
94
Age of Empires II▲ Rising
Released in 1999 and somehow still filling tournament brackets in 2024, it's the strategy game that refused to die. The Age of Kings' civilization design—Mongols with cavalry archers, Aztecs with no cavalry at all—remains a masterclass in asymmetric balance that studios still cite decades later. Its Definitive Edition and thriving Viper-vs-TheViper competitive scene prove nostalgia alone can't explain a two-and-a-half-decade reign.
Year: 1999Critic score: 9.2/10
added by IJRin 3 rankings
64
Slay the Spire▼ Falling
Two indie developers fused deckbuilding with roguelike descent in 2019 and accidentally invented a genre overnight—every 'deckbuilder roguelike' since owes it royalties. The moment you first chain a Corruption-fueled Skeleton army into an Ironclad kill turn, you understand why speedrunners and streamers alike treat its card pools like sacred texts. It proved strategy games didn't need armies or empires, just a deck, a climb, and brutal, elegant randomness.
Year: 2019Critic score: 8.9/10
added by IJRin 5 rankings
-6
Civilization VI▼ Falling
Firaxis unbundled the city tile in 2016, letting districts sprawl across the map and turning urban planning into its own strategic puzzle. The 'one more turn' curse hit new heights once Gathering Storm added climate change and volcanoes that could bury your own capital in ash. Love it or find it too colorful, it's the version that introduced a generation of Twitch viewers to Gandhi's nuclear tendencies.
Year: 2016Critic score: 8.8/10
added by IJRin 3 rankings
-28
XCOM 2▼ Falling
Firaxis's 2016 sequel weaponized panic, turning a hopeful alien-resistance narrative into a guerrilla war fought from the shadows of an occupied Earth. Missing a 95% shot on a rookie who then bleeds out on overwatch became a shared cultural scar for an entire generation of tactics fans. It rebuilt the genre's tension from the ground up and proved that permadeath and procedural heartbreak could still feel personal.
Year: 2016Critic score: 8.8/10
added by IJRin 2 rankings
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Comments (4)
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Voted — and the gap between #1 and #2 should be bigger.
The crowd is sleeping on the bottom half of this list.
Exactly the kind of argument the internet was built for.