Strategy Video Games Bucket List

GDI and Nod after the tiberium spread; Westwood's voxel war.

Crusades, gunpowder and the fan mods that keep it alive twenty years on.

Gunpowder, home cities and the colonial era; the awkward middle child of the series.

China in 190 AD, with generals who hold grudges; the best-written Total War.

The expansion whose balance held up as an esport for two decades.

Soviet squids, psychic beacons and a full-motion cast having a wonderful time.

Religion, great people and a Grammy-winning theme; the Civ many still prefer.

The 1997 original: twelve ancient civilisations, from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.

Chris Sawyer's original: trains, buses and a rival to run out of business.

Settle the New World, build an economy and declare independence from the king you serve.

The underwater sequel, harder than the original in every way.

Custom races, ship design and a galaxy to argue over; the 4X the genre still copies.

Four cyborg agents, a Persuadertron and a corporate world map to conquer.

War has never been so much fun; squads of little men and a graveyard that grows.

Rule a kingdom by swiping each card left or right, keeping four balance meters off the extremes.

Play rated games, puzzles and the Play Magnus bot; where chess lives now.

The original, before the sequels: hot-seat artillery with a banana bomb.

Draw subway lines for a growing city until it jams; the minimalist transit puzzle.

Harvest spice, build a base, click and drag; the game that defined the real-time strategy.

The 2021 return of the medieval RTS with documentary campaigns.

Thirty years on, a city of factions and a council; the 2024 sequel.

Automate a factory on an alien planet until the biters come; the game engineers lose weeks to.

Place cards on a loop your hero walks automatically; Four Quarters' retro roguelike.

A colony sim where the AI storyteller sends raids and a plague of squirrels; the story generator.

Every Warhammer faction on one Immortal Empires map; the biggest Total War.

Districts on the map and leaders with agendas; the Civilization of the 2010s.

Stress, torches and the Ancestor's voice; the roguelike about dread.

The Second World War as a grand strategy of divisions and supply; Paradox's war game.

Dynasties, stress and secrets; Paradox's character-driven grand strategy remade.

Ages that change your civilisation mid-game; the 2025 reboot.