Top 10 Greatest Strategy Games for PC of All Time

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak is a real-time strategy game developed by Blackbird Interactive and published by Gearbox Software. Blackbird Interactive achieved what many thought impossible with the release of Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak. Set on the desert planet of Kharak, the game takes place 106 years before the events of the original Homeworld. Kharak is a dry, barren world, with its deserts continuously expanding each year. The story follows a second expedition sent by the Northern Kishid Alliance, a faction of the Kushan people from the northern regions of Kharak, to uncover the fate of a previous exploration team that vanished four years earlier. The game's narrative is centered around this second expedition's journey.

Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak takes you on an epic journey through a vast desert landscape, driven by a mission to save a civilization. Every battle is connected to the ultimate showdown, with each surviving unit fighting another day in an ongoing struggle for survival. Like its predecessors, the game boasts some of the best artistic designs you'll find in RTS games, ensuring you can capture stunning screenshots of Homeworld. Combined with incredible sound design and a captivating storyline, it truly makes Deserts of Kharak a classic in the RTS genre.

Total War: Warhammer III is a turn-based and real-time strategy game developed by Creative Assembly and published by Sega. It has everything that makes a game exceptional, bringing all 15 core factions to life with stunning visuals. A new 5-hour tutorial ensures that new players can easily get up to speed, making it an excellent choice for those who have never played a Total War game before.

Like its predecessors, Total War: Warhammer III features turn-based tactical gameplay combined with real-time strategy. In the campaign mode, players move their armies across a map and manage settlements in turn-based fashion. They engage in diplomacy and battle against AI-controlled factions. Players must fight to defeat the opposing factions. The game also offers a customizable battle mode, allowing players to create their own real-time battles, much like multiplayer online matches.

Civilization VI is a 4X turn-based strategy game developed by Firaxis Games, published by 2K Games, and distributed by Take-Two Interactive. It remains the epitome of the 'one more turn' appeal that makes these types of games so captivating, offering even more mechanics to bring the world around you to life. This game is not just about declaring war; it's about considering your impact on the world and pursuing your goals through various paths and strategies.

Like previous Civilization titles, the player's objective is to guide a civilization from its humble beginnings to global dominance across the ages, achieving victory through military conquest, technological supremacy, or cultural influence, all while competing against human or AI-controlled opponents. Players explore the world, establish new cities, develop city improvements, deploy armies to attack or defend cities, research new technologies, and advance their civilizations. Along the way, they also develop a powerful culture, engage in trade, and negotiate with other world leaders.

Company of Heroes 2 is a real-time strategy game developed by Relic Entertainment and published by Sega for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux. It serves as the sequel to the 2006 game Company of Heroes. While Company of Heroes 2 is impressive, it doesn't quite capture the magic of its predecessor. The resource management system from the first game has been tweaked. Players still capture specific flag points on the map to collect resources like bombs, ammunition, and fuel credits, which are then used to assemble units.

The combat in Company of Heroes involves units that players directly control and issue orders to, alongside supporting actions that can be activated. This is the first time the battles in the series feel truly competitive with the best WWII games, but the action doesn't stop there. Each unit, whether infantry or vehicles, comes with associated construction costs and recruitment times, as well as a wide array of combat abilities. Company of Heroes 3 has been announced, building upon the lessons learned from Ardennes Assault.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 is a real-time strategy game released for Microsoft Windows on October 25, 2000. It is considered the sequel to Command & Conquer: Red Alert. There’s a lot to love about Red Alert 2. Like its predecessor, it features numerous full-motion cutscenes between missions and throughout the gameplay, starring actors such as Ray Wise, Udo Kier, Kari Wuhrer, and Barry Corbin. Red Alert 2 was a commercial and critical success, receiving an 86% rating from GameRankings.

For strategy game enthusiasts seeking solid gameplay, Red Alert 2 remains one of the top choices even two decades after its release. The game features two different campaigns: one from the perspective of the United States and the other from the Soviet Union, offering balanced multiplayer modes and several addictive gameplay modes. No other strategy game lets you face off with democratic dolphins against Soviet squids, and for that alone, Red Alert 2 will always hold a special place in your heart.

Endless Legend is a turn-based 4X fantasy strategy game developed by Amplitude Studios and published by Iceberg Interactive for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X in September 2014. The goal of the game is to dominate the world of Auriga with one of fourteen factions, using diplomacy or warfare, while advancing technology, exploring new territories, and founding new cities. Endless Legend is the second title in Amplitude Studios' Endless series, following Endless Space.

Endless Legend is a 4X strategy game where players control a fictional faction to establish an empire through exploration, conquest, diplomacy, and research. Rival factions battle for control of a post-apocalyptic world, each with unique mechanics that distinguish them and influence gameplay. For example, players can control the Necrophage, a terrifying insectoid race so hostile that it cannot form alliances, forcing them to remain in opposition to others.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is a real-time strategy game set in a science fiction universe, developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Like its predecessor, the game revolves around three species: Terrans (humans), Zerg (a super-species of assimilating life forms), and Protoss (a technologically advanced race with vast psychic powers). Set four years after the events of the 1998 Brood War, the game follows the exploits of Jim Raynor as he leads a rebel group against the oppressive Terran Dominion. The game introduces new characters and locations while retaining familiar ones from the original.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty received widespread critical acclaim, with a Metacritic score of 93%, and is regarded as one of the greatest video games ever made. Like its predecessor, the game was praised for its engaging gameplay, new features, and improved storytelling. However, it was criticized for lacking certain features from the original StarCraft, such as LAN play and the ability to switch between different multiplayer regions.

Crusader Kings 3 is a medieval strategy RPG developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive as the sequel to Crusader Kings (2004) and Crusader Kings II (2012). The game overhauls the Byzantine interface of its predecessors, making it a great starting point for newcomers while retaining much of the series' depth.

Crusader Kings 3 looks like a traditional large-scale strategic map, and while it certainly features intricate systems for warfare, the heart of the game lies in its personal, often amusing stories. Players begin as a character in either 867 or 1066, and the game map is four times more detailed than that of Crusader Kings II, covering Europe, much of Africa, and Asia as far as Tibet. This is a game where the intrigues behind closed doors matter just as much as the battles between nations.

Offworld Trading Company is a real-time strategy (RTS) video game developed by Mohawk Games and published by Stardock, released for Microsoft Windows and OS X in April 2016. Set in a science fiction world on Mars, the game revolves around economic warfare, including hostile takeovers and sabotage. Players take control of one of four renowned off-world corporations, choosing their faction after getting an initial view of the map, which allows them to make strategic decisions based on the environment.

Regardless of their faction choice, players land their HQ and start setting up resource extractors in nearby hexes. Offworld Trading Company also offers direct ways to engage players, such as the black market, where anything from underground nuclear weapons capable of clearing resource pockets to small items that redirect wealth into their own coffers can be purchased. As players review in-game menus and plan their next moves—whether it’s constructing buildings, deciding what to sell, or initiating hostile takeovers—it creates a level of excitement similar to leading a unit across enemy lines or launching covert attacks on enemy strongholds in games like Company of Heroes or StarCraft 2.

XCOM 2: War of the Chosen is an expansion pack for the 2016 turn-based strategy game, XCOM 2, released on August 29, 2017, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. XCOM 2 stands as one of the best turn-based strategy games, where players lead a defense team known as XCOM to resist and repel an alien invasion. This expansion introduces a new enemy faction called the Chosen—three elite hybrid warriors, part human and part alien, tasked with defeating XCOM and capturing the Commander.

The battles in XCOM 2: War of the Chosen are intense and varied, featuring terrifying enemies with tough, unpredictable abilities. However, the biggest changes are seen in the strategic layer. Players travel around the globe, establishing new strongholds, infiltrating black sites, and gathering valuable resources to unlock more powerful weapons and tools. Other new features include a daily challenge mode and the ability to create posters that showcase your custom characters in the game's world.