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The Rundown
A brutal, unforgiving and wonderfully complex strategy Total War game. Read out Total War: Attila review. Rome was the first game where the scale of the conflict completely overwhelmed me.
Our Top PicksBest Overall: Civilization 6
Considered one of the finest strategy games ever, save yourself the time and immediately buy Civilization 6. The beauty behind it is its sheer sense of scale and potential. The idea is that you develop a civilization from a tiny rudimentary settlement and eventually turn it into a world power that's capable of great things.
What kind of world power your civilization becomes is mostly down to you. You can achieve victory through military domination (wiping out all other empires), through technological superiority or even cultural influence. It's all down to the many steps you take as you progress in your bid to achieve some form of fame within the world. Being able to choose a kinder path or a more violent route is a great twist in a genre that's typically more aggressive.
It's possible to explore and discover new cities and technologies that are scattered around the world, as well as engage in trade talks and negotiations with other world leaders. In every session, how things unfold is randomized so you can't predict how the A.I. opponent will react based upon past game sessions, giving the game plenty of longevity and replayability. There's also multiplayer in both competitive and cooperative modes, allowing you to join up with friends online.
Being able to tackle things in completely different ways ensures that this is an ideal strategy game for aggressive players as well as more diplomatic and thoughtful types. It's a must-have for strategy enthusiasts.
Best Science Fiction: Stellaris
4
Many strategy games aren't considered the most accessible strategy games out there. As the name suggests, they tend to focus on the loftier ambitions of the genre - being convoluted and involving a lot of careful thinking and planning. Stellaris is one of the more accessible strategy games out there while still easily challenging its players along the way.
Set in space, players take control of a species during the early stages of that race's quest to explore space. Arguably, that's the most fascinating part of any science fiction journey and it leads to plenty of potential from Stellaris. You can choose to manage an empire, engage in a plethora of warfare, or learn to pursue the diplomatic route and forge partnerships with other civilizations. There's a certain amount of flexibility here with each route offering a different form of challenge.
The game's broken up mostly into three key areas - the early game of exploring and colonization, followed by governing, and finally, the ability to trigger galaxy-wide implications based on your actions. That means that Stellaris is always thrilling stuff. With seemingly endless choices available to you, this is something that will last hundreds of hours.
Best Fantasy: Total War: Warhammer II
4.7
The Warhammer fantasy universe is a rich and diverse world to use in the context of strategy gaming, and Total War: Warhammer II truly embraces it. Kind of like a more bloodthirsty version of Lord of the Rings, Total War: Warhammer II has you pitting different factions against each other in an epic war.
There are four factions to choose from including Lizardmen, High Elves, Dark Elves, and Skaven. Each forms part of the narrative-driven campaign mode so there's a compelling story to follow along in conjunction with the action. Combat is available in two different ways too. There's the turn-based open-world campaign mode, as well as a real-time strategy option. In either case, planning many moves ahead is vital to your chances of success.
You need to concentrate on army building and conquest, as well as resource gathering to stand a chance of surviving. That means plenty of multi-tasking and figuring out which objective to prioritize and when. Researching new technologies is just as important here as dominating through sheer force. Being able to discover new areas is a particular joy, invoking Age of Empires style memories. No longer do you have to focus on just having the biggest army.
Elsewhere, there's a multiplayer mode as well, so you can spend time competing with friends and other players online, with the promise of no two games being the same. If you previously owned the first Total War: Warhammer game, you can combine the two to gain access to a huge combined campaign called Mortal Empires which further extends the fun. For fans of the Warhammer universe, it's a bit of an unmissable game that can easily last hundreds of hours.
Also check out our picks for the best PC war games.
Best Business: Offworld Trading Company
3.4
Economic warfare is the name of the game in Offworld Trading Company - a game that tackles strategy from a more original perspective than most. Set on Mars, players are placed in charge of one of four off-world trading companies. It's down to their shrewd business skills if they want to become the winner. This is achieved by buying a majority stake in every off-world trading company in the game and it's far from a simple task.
The key to success mostly comes down to resource gathering. The game has 13 different resources including materials such as water, aluminum, iron, silicon, carbon, as well as more complicated ideas such as Hydrolysis reactors which can break water apart into oxygen and fuel. How the resources work out for you depend on how the game plays out. As in other forms of business, supply and demand fluctuate constantly so it's down to you to figure out when to buy and sell and how best to work your way up in the trading world.
The underground black market also plays a part if you want to get your hands a little dirtier with the option to purchase things like underground nukes that can wipe out resources before your opponents reach them, or arrange mutinies to slow them down further. There's a keen sense of real science and real economics here which makes Offworld Trading Company more distinctive than most. In particular, it'll really grip those with an active interest in financial systems or business ethics.
Best Military: Imperator: Rome
3
For those players who look at the Ancient Roman Empire and wish they could participate in it in some way, there's Imperator: Rome. It's a vast experience that primarily focuses on nation-building and empire accruing. Because of that, it can be quite daunting at times.
You have to keep an eye on a lot of things such as how best to develop your population, but also best to keep them happy. An unhappy population can lead to treachery and rebellion which anyone with a brief knowledge of history will know never leads to a good ending for the leader. Combat also plays a significant role here with each culture having a different way of waging wars, so your choice at the outset of which clan to use makes a big difference in the long term.
FFmpeg is required.For Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, FFmpeg is not officially included so you will need a specific PPA:sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kirillshkrogalev/ffmpeg-nextsudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install ffmpegFor Ubuntu 15.04 and following versions, FFmpeg is officially included:sudo apt-get install ffmpegAfter installing FFmpeg, install OBS Studio using:sudo add-apt-repository ppa:obsproject/obs-studiosudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install obs-studio.
Just to give you even more things to consider, you also need to manage the Senate and keep court together and well controlled. Plus, there's the matter of investing in infrastructure and maintaining your resource bases. The game has over 7000 cities to discover, along with over 83 different regions so you're definitely going to have plenty of time to sink into the world of Imperator: Rome.
Best for Epic Battles: Total War: Three Kingdoms
4.5
When it comes to real-time strategy games, the Total War series stands the test of time. But in the case of Total War: Three Kingdom, developer Creative Assembly went above and beyond expectations to craft the best game that the franchise has ever seen over the course of two decades. At its most basic level, it explores the Chinese Three Kingdoms period in a respectful and absolutely gripping manner.
Real-world heroes like Liu Bei stand in for iconic figures from Western history for a massive, complex game with a campaign mode as fascinating and endlessly entertaining as its singular battles. With a setting that works well with the Total War brand and balanced mechanics to level it all out, it's a remarkable showcase of not only developer talent but the massive potential for the genre as well. Even if you find the setting uninteresting, you might change your mind after a few rounds of battle.
You may also be interested in checking out our picks for the best PC games of the year.
Best for Novice Players: StarCraft II
Debatably the most popular Real Time Strategy (or RTS game) series in existence, StarCraft II is the sequel to the 1998 hit game StarCraft. Where most games that center on a war features only two factions, the plot of the StarCraft games are all about a rock-paper-scissors approach to the combat and playable guilds. The military might of the Terrans fight the insect-looking Zerg who also fight the Protoss alien race in a three-way brawl to control the galaxy.
Unlike most other eSports titles, StarCraft II relies on heavy intense strategies to counterbalance your opponents. Each one of the three factions that you play as has their set of pros and cons. Blizzard (the company behind the game) has a tendency of making their games easy to play, but hard to master.
It boasts a single player mode of over 70 missions with three different campaigns, huge multiplayer content and community made arcade modes. StarCraft requires more time-sensitive strategically made decisions with the constant feeling of urgency. If you’re up for a challenge and faster-paced gameplay, StarCraft is the choice.
Starcraft is one of the best PC exclusives ever. Check out our list of the best PC games you can buy right now.
Best Console Game: Halo Wars 2
Based on the ever-popular first-person shooter games, Halo Wars 2 is an epic real-time strategy game that picks up right in the middle of the story. The set-up is simple but the lore is expansive: there's a war raging on between the Covenant alien forces and the humans trying to prevent them from annihilating the universe using ancient forerunner technology. In Halo Wars, you control armies, ground vehicles, aerial brigades, and even the occasional laser from outer space. You'll see plenty of familiar Halo-centric staples, such as the energy swords the Elites wield, the Spartan super soldiers, and the Warthog jeep.
Similar to another great series, Command & Conquer, Halo Wars will also have you gathering resources, building units, and attacking the enemy defenses. The developers focused on creating a story focused campaign, by paying attention to every detail in the cut scenes to preserve the rich narrative the Halo games have built up for two decades now (between comics, web series, novels, and more).
Halo Wars is also the best RTS game on consoles because the first game was designed to be played with a controller. It removes some of the hassle more complicated games in the genre can have and makes the controls streamlined so you can play this RTS from your couch in comfort. This allows the multiplayer to feel just like the Halo shooters, which makes it all the more fun.
For more rad multiplayer options, take a look at some of the best split-screen PC games. Also, peek through our list of the best offline strategy games.
Best Combat: X-COM 2
Keen to blow stuff up but also want to think ahead and plan your moves carefully? X-COM 2 is the game for you. Part of a franchise that's been around since the 1990s, it focuses on the efforts of a military organization trying to fight off an alien invasion.
Oftentimes, that means levels play out much like a game of chess. You and the AI enemy take turns to position your troops and trying to snipe at them from a distance. Cover plays a hugely valuable role here with a soldier out in the open pretty much destined to be killed. It's important to think ahead and work out safe routes to get near enough to the enemy to be able to take them out. That's made all the tenser by the fact that your soldiers can die permanently (depending on the difficulty level you set) meaning you can feel surprisingly sad at the death of a loyal part of your squad if you screw up.
The soldiers can be upgraded along with your base so that you end up more powerful and with better equipment and weaponry. There's no focus on resources gathering here though, unlike other strategy games, with the emphasis squarely on combat. If you're keen to fight first, talk later, this is the strategy game for you.
The Rundown
Our Top PicksBest for Unit-Based Tactics: Company of Heroes 2
Company of Heroes 2 is a tactical-heavy World War II real-time strategy PC game that focuses on unit-based tactics in battles in the Eastern Front theater. Despite the small group of armies you’ll be commanding, the game lets you focus deeper on controlled management that’s methodical and gives a personalized experience of gameplay.
Every controllable unit type in Company of Heroes 2 has an associated construction cost and recruitment time with a range of varied fighting abilities; you’ll want to assess the battlefield, the weather conditions, and your foes carefully before making a move.
You’ll aim to move your soldiers to rush capture points and increase the flow or resources while gathering near bonfires to beat frostbite or bunkering in a building for cover, all in the hopes that no one flushes you out with a flamethrower or grenade.
The game builds on its legendary predecessor with a line-of-sight feature, a system that better emulates troop visibility in real combat so you’ll need to take into consideration the vision of your units in order to anticipate incoming forces as well as accounting for the sight of your enemies.
Best for Squad Management: Men of War: Assault Squad 2
The skirmish Men of War: Assault Squad 2 for PC focuses on a more squad-based management style gameplay with tactical maneuvering as opposed to full-blown, large-scale warfare. The intricate detailing of the game makes for a real-time strategy experience where nothing is off the table and variables come in the form of everything from unit inventory systems to dynamic tank armor.
There is no base building in Men of War: Assault Squad 2, instead, you’ll be in charge of managing around 250 different vehicles and 200 unique soldier types, each with their own equipment packages, strengths, and weaknesses. You’ll control squads (eight-man teams, single snipers, or armored escorts) that either protect or attack various objectives while diving in trenches, running through buildings, and securing pillboxes.
Aside from its versatility, the presentation of Men of War: Assault Squad 2 is found in its earful of sound effects and visuals, capturing the chaos of constant gunfire, crumbling buildings, the clanging of steel, and the screams of your soldiers.
Best Real Time Strategy GamesBest for Scale: Order of War
Order of War covers the final year of World War II, giving you the option to push back the Axis of Evil in France or play as the German army to try to defeat the Soviets in the East. The strategy game operates on a large scale, showcasing an overhead view of your war zone, but allowing cinematic angles, so you can get up close and personal to see every moment of the action.
Best Strategy War Games On Steam
The massive playing field of Order of War is a treat to the eyes, having you operate a dynamic camera overlooking vast and detailed terrains of fields and pastures from a bird’s eye view as you conduct massive armies to do your bidding. You can command a force of multiple unit types containing up to 1,000 soldiers, tanks, artillery, aircraft, and more while executing strategic attacks based on actual operations during the time.
A striking orchestra builds up the ambiance of impending destruction as you bait an enemy tank squadron for a frontal attack while preparing your ambush with a strategic flanking offense in order to capture command points and push your army to victory.
Best for Complexity: Hearts of Iron IV
If you are up for a challenge, Hearts of Iron IV offers a complex World War II real-time strategy game that can take many hours to master but make you feel like a genius general. You will be in charge of millions of people, hundreds of factories, and dozens of battles around the world (all on a micro level) that may require you to study up on the game’s Wikipedia articles to get a grasp on the game.
Hearts of Iron IV is developed with huge comprehensive scenarios based on an ingeniously detailed strategic simulation that covers every aspect of World War II. The in-game world map is made up of 11,000 provinces, sea regions, and air zones, each with their own climates, terrain, day-night cycle, and supply lines that all have noticeable effects on decision making, movement, and combat.
Best Strategy Games
You’ll focus mainly on logistics and control over resources as you balance your army needs in special areas, dabble in politics, manage factories, and steer the world in any direction (there are also alternative histories, including a Germany that never goes to war, America invading Canada, or even a communist takeover in Japan).
Best for Turn Based Tactics: Combat Mission AnthologyFree Military Games No Download
Combat Mission Anthology is a collection of the Combat Mission series, real-time strategy games that offer a mix to the genre using a turn-based system. Despite its slower and more thorough gameplay, the series gives you a more focused feel of the decision-making process of combat orders with comfortable silences in between.
The gameplay of the Combat Mission games are separated into a planning and execution phases where you first give orders to your platoons and reinforced battalions and then witness the conflicts that come as a result of the orders given. All while this is happening, you must account for the morale and leadership given to soldiers, taking in their statuses to see if they’re OK, routed, fatigued, and more while keeping an eye out for soldiers who cower in fear and become permanently affected by the choices you make.
Best for Deceptive Tactics: RUSE
The cleverly titled RUSE has you making multiple decisions covering many strategies, including developing ruses: Deceptive tactics to unleash on your enemies. You will get the chance to pull off creative misdirections that vary up the gameplay, including setting up decoy tanks (much like the Allies did in WW2), speed up units, spy on enemies to gain intel, and cause as much deception as possible while calling out the enemy’s bluffs.
RUSE is set during World War II in the European theater with selectable nations, including the U.S., UK, Germany, USSR, Italy, and France, and each has their own specific units, strengths, and tendencies. Players can jump into the main campaign mode that offers 23 different missions or dive straight into custom skirmish modes to battle against enemy AI.
RUSE shines with its creativity in combat, allowing for multiple combinations of tricky attacks that work in unison (like staging a fake invasion while dropping paratroopers behind enemy lines).
Best for Alternative History: War Front: Turning Point
War Front: Turning Point is a large-scale strategy game that offers an alternative history where Hitler dies early and the world powers get their hands on experimental technologies. You will get to use everything from historical real world M4 Sherman tanks to more futuristic weapons such as exoskeleton mechs, jetpack infantry, freeze rays, and shield generators.
War Front: Turning Point resembles the traditional user interface layout of real-time strategy games like Command & Conquer and follows the familiar formula of collecting resources, constructing various building types, researching new prototypes, and swarming your foes with the appropriate unit type.
The game’s main campaign mode has both primary and secondary objectives that are intertwined with other missions, giving endless amounts of strategic choices that you can make to get the job done. You’ll even be able to jump into a skirmish mode that is unit-based and allows you to engage up to nine different AI in various game types while altering properties, including the time of day, weather, army limit, starting points, resources, and more.
FBI has positioned itself to be the central source for face recognition identification for not only federal but also state and local law enforcement agencies. The very best facial recognition software. FBI collects its own data, maintains data provided by state and local agencies, and facilitates access to face recognition data for more than 23,000 law enforcement agencies across the country and around the world. This makes it particularly important to look closely at FBI’s system, as its issues are likely present in other law enforcement systems.After describing FBI’s internal and external face recognition programs—including the Next Generation Identification database and Interstate Photo System—and access to external data, Part 2 highlights three of FBI’s most urgent failures related to face recognition:. Law enforcement must do more to explain why it needs to collect so much sensitive biometric and biographic data, why it needs to maintain it for so long, and how it will safeguard it from breaches.explores how FBI’s face recognition programs exemplify these and other problems.
Best for Tanks: Codename: Panzers, Phase Two
Though Codename: Panzers, Phase Two has three different unit types, including infantry and artillery, its main focus and fun is its extensive tank warfare. The WW2 RTS game has a real-time feel to it with multiple solutions to each of its missions that send you off into unfamiliar territory, including the dusty dunes of the Sahara.
The detail in Codename: Panzers, Phase Two covers aspects of not only the commands you give but the management that comes with every action. Codename: Panzers, Phase Two will have you strategically moving and positioning your units in order to execute surprise attacks and flanks while also tasking you with upkeeps such as armor repairs and ammunition resupplies.
The more seasoned surviving units become, the more chances you’ll have to upgrade them, turning your rookies into elite tank crews and placing them into more powerful tanks, making them more dependable and lethal.
What to Look for in a World War II Strategy PC Game
Rating - War games can be violent or disturbing, so be sure to check the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rating before buying one. The ratings have three elements: Rating categories (“E” for everyone; “E10+” for ages 10 and up; “T” for teens; “M” for mature 17+; and “A” for adults only), Content Descriptors (Comic mischief, mild language, etc.) and Interactive Elements (In-Game Purchases, Users Interact, Shares Location, Unrestricted Internet, etc.).
Graphics - Graphics and sound effects will dictate how the game looks and sounds. Since World War II games are rooted in history, you’ll want a game with the most realistic graphics possible. This includes not only detail in your surroundings, but of characters, weapons, and machinery as well.
Best War Strategy Games Pc
Level of difficulty - Gamers who are new to strategy games might want to begin with an easy game to dip their toes into the genre. It doesn’t take long to master war tactics and operations, but some games have more strategic gameplay than others. Luckily, most games feature a selection of difficulty levels, so you can level up slowly or quickly as you wish.
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