MeinMMO presents the best games in the genres of real-time strategy, turn-based strategy, and 4X that you can play on PC in 2026.
Update from July 6, 2026: We have updated the list and added a title.
This is how we selected: The list is largely based on the personal assessments of the editorial team. Many editors and authors of MeinMMO grew up with strategy games and still enjoy playing them today.
Furthermore, having a good rating was important for selection, such as on Steam, how many players are still active, and how well the game has held up. So you’ll find not only new games on the list but also some classics.
We have also made sure to provide a little variation in settings and sub-genres. Our selection primarily aimed to include strategy games with a tactical, competitive component. If you’re looking for more games in the construction and simulation genre, you’ll find a wide variety in the 150 best strategy games of all time at GameStar.
For some of the strategy games, we provide you with alternatives that play similarly and only slightly differ.
The list is unordered, so it is not a ranking.
Age of Empires 4
The Age of Empires series has been a cornerstone of the strategy genre to this day. You lead a civilization through the ages, create units, and wage war against other cultures to ultimately achieve victory through conquest or wonders.
Age of Empires is characterized by a balanced mix of base building (“Macro”) and real-time battles (“Micro”) in an ancient or medieval setting. Each civilization or faction has unique buildings and units with strengths and weaknesses.
The latest installment in the series is Age of Empires 4, which gives each faction even more of its own identity than ever before and allows battles on massive maps. The gameplay has not changed since the first installment.
If you want to get into one of the cornerstones of strategy games, be sure to play part 4. The game is still being fed with expansions and DLCs, as well as balance patches and smaller events. If you own the Game Pass, you can even play at no additional cost. Only the DLCs cost money and provide you with new civilizations:
- The Sultans Ascent brings Japan and Byzantium, as well as the Ayyubids, Joan of Arc, the Order of the Dragon, and Zu Xi’s legacy as variants.
- With Knights of the Cross and Rose, you get the Templars and House Lancaster as new variants.
- Dynasties of the East includes the Golden Horde, the Macedonian Dynasty, Sengoku Daimyos, and the Tughluq Dynasty.
- Yue Fei’s Legacy brings the Jin Dynasty as a new civilization along with its own campaign featuring 8 missions.
- Raiders of the North will be released in late 2026 and delivers the Vikings and Scots as new playable civilizations.
If you prefer playing a classic, there is the Definitive Edition of Age of Empires 2 as an alternative, which is still praised today, especially in esports. A personal insider tip is Age of Empires 3, which is controversial among fans but mixes the old mechanics with new systems.
Total War: Warhammer 3
Total War is known for having some of the largest real-time battles in the genre with excellent animations and strong gameplay. Warhammer 3 is currently the largest entry in the list according to players on Steam and comes with strong ratings.
You play as one of the fantasy races from the famous world of Warhammer, such as Dwarfs, Elves, gluttonous Ogres, deadly Chaos, or the nasty ratmen of the Skaven. Total War features a very unique gameplay system:
- Base building, diplomacy, and troop movements occur turn-based in a Grand Strategy format.
- Then you conduct battles either in real-time or let them be automatically calculated.
With Immortal Empires, Total War: Warhammer 3 has a massive skirmish campaign with over 250 factions competing for domination. A turn here can easily take dozens of hours, and you only need any of the Total War: Warhammer
titles for access, not necessarily part 3.
If you can’t get into the fantasy world of Warhammer, Total War: Three Kingdoms is a great option, or you can check out the new Pharaoh. Although it faced criticism, it has improved significantly since.
- To Total War: Warhammer 3 on Steam
- To Total War: Pharaoh on Steam
- To Total War: Three Kingdoms on Steam
By the way: Total War will soon have another Warhammer title, but it will be set in the dark future of the 41st millennium: Total War: Warhammer 40,000 – All important information on release, trailer, and factions
Age of Wonders 4
Age of Wonders 4 is a turn-based strategy game and the 6th installment in the popular series. It fully embraces fantasy with dragons, sorcery, and numerous different races.
You create a race with appearance, its own leader and abilities, and attempt to achieve victory against other players on a randomly generated map. On the map, you establish cities, discover spells, and train new units, which you then use to battle against other players or to conquer specific events or buildings. Battles are fought on small, separate maps. For an overall victory, points await which you can invest in your pantheon, where nice cosmetics are offered as rewards.
If you love turn-based games but find games like Civilization 6 too historical or too long, you should check out Age of Wonders 4. Compared to Civ VI, the matches are relatively short, and you can configure and customize your race and your ruler in extreme detail. Especially if you enjoyed the predecessors a lot, you’ll get a modern fantasy RTS.
Developer Triumph Studios continues to supply the game with updates and has already announced plans to keep the game updated with new content and DLCs even after the Season Pass.
Gladius: Relics of War
In Gladius: Relics of War, you play as the various factions of Warhammer 40,000 in turn-based battles. For those unfamiliar: Warhammer 40,000 is a dystopian future full of technology, aliens, and Chaos demons. A unique mix of sci-fi and fantasy.
Gladius plays somewhat similarly to Civilization but completely foregoes the diplomacy factor. In Warhammer, there is only war, that’s what the world promotes.
What makes Gladius particularly good is the representation of various factions. Each faction plays differently and uniquely, with its own units, technologies, and strategies.
While there is no campaign, quests guide you through individual rounds and serve as a substitute. You achieve victories through domination, meaning the destruction of all opponents, or completing a series of quests.
The major drawback: Gladius has numerous DLCs that significantly inflate the price of the game. While you don’t need them all, anyone wanting to play the various factions will have to pay. The good news is, however, that you can often find deals for individual parts of the complete package on Steam, GOG, or Humble Bundle, allowing you to expand your collection for just a few euros. Otherwise, you’ll be paying over 100 euros even on sale.
Thanks to the variety of units and the story the game tells, Gladius is an excellent game to get into the world of Warhammer. Here, you’ll find another selection of games to get to know Warhammer.
Alternative: Zephon
From the same creators and in the same style, partly even with the same assets, in 2024 Zephon was released on Steam and is doing incredibly well there. Unlike Gladius, however, you focus more heavily on diplomacy, rather than being trapped in an eternal war.
In some respects, Zephon is the improved version of Gladius, but it is not quite as polished. Particularly if it matters to you to have many factions with very different characteristics, you are better off with Gladius.
All factions in Zephon, for example, share the same tech tree but have different pros and cons regarding units and research. This allows for better balancing but significantly less variety.
Crusader Kings 3
The Swedish studio Paradox is known for its absurdly large games and is almost the foundation of the Grand Strategy genre. Crusader Kings 3 is one of the newer entries in this genre.
You play as one of the historical rulers from the 9th or 12th century—or create your own ruler—and lead your realm with diplomacy, marriages, developments, and conquests through the ages. Whether through war or intrigue, in the end, you try to dominate as much of the world as possible.
Or you pursue your own goals: maybe you want to lead the Byzantine Empire as a nudist, or reform the old Norse religion to make Christianity the largest religion in the world?
Crusader Kings 3 has been continually developed over the years and now even features a certain RPG aspect. Your ruler has their own throne room and can undertake special travels. How you play is up to you.
Of all the games presented here, the entry in Crusader Kings 3 is the most difficult, and you will need dozens of hours to understand the world fairly well. If you are looking for alternatives in other historical settings, you should check out Victoria, Europa Universalis, or Hearts of Iron.
Alternative: Hearts of Iron IV
If you are not so keen on the Middle Ages and battles with sword and shield, Hearts of Iron from the same developer studio might be something for you. You take on the role of the government of a country just before World War II and try to navigate through turbulent times. The focus of Hearts of Iron IV is on the military.
Whether as a small nation or a major actor, you are responsible for ensuring that your nation emerges victorious from World War II. You have the choice of whether you want a realistic historical timeline or prefer more random events. How you act at the end is up to you.
Age of Mythology: Retold
All strategy game veterans should be familiar with Age of Mythology: The Age of Empires
spin-off from Microsoft puts you into the role of different religions instead of focusing on various cultures.
You choose a main god from one of the available pantheons and select sub-deities over the ages that provide you with new research possibilities, mythical units, and even divine spells.
You have the Egyptians, Greeks, Norsemen, and Atlanteans available to you, along with the paid DLC that brings the Chinese as a completely new mythology into the game.
With Retold, Age of Mythology was re-released in 2024 and offers among other things:
- the same voice acting as before
- familiar gameplay in significantly prettier graphics
- an optimized multiplayer
- improved features, like divine spells that you can now use multiple times, and balance of the religions
Anyone who likes Age of Empires but wishes for a bit more fantasy in the game is in the right place with Age of Mythology. If you own the Xbox/PC Game Pass, you have access to Age of Mythology: Retold through it at no cost other than paid DLCs.
Command and Conquer (all titles)
Alongside Age of Empires, Command and Conquer is probably the most well-known series for real-time strategy games. However, instead of the medieval period, you play in alternative and rather dark realities:
- In the original series, the extraterrestrial material Tiberium appears on Earth, leading to a war over it. While some try to contain the dangers, a fanatical cult around Tiberium forms on the other side.
- Red Alert deals with an alternative timeline in which escalating wars occur between the Soviets and the Allies, and later even the Empire of Japan.
- Generals is a spin-off that is more based on current conflicts of the 2000s.
Although the games are somewhat old, there is currently a very popular remaster of the first parts on Steam as well as a large collection of all Command and Conquer games for a few euros. Therefore, we do not recommend just one game, but all of them.
Command and Conquer has not aged well, and multiplayer works only to some extent, usually not at all. However, those who enjoy proving themselves against the AI and playing strong campaigns will find what they’re looking for in all the games here.
Tempest Rising
With Tempest Rising, you have not only an alternative but also the spiritual and, above all, modern successor to Command & Conquer. After the last C&C title – apart from browser and mobile titles – was already released in 2010, Tempest Rising took up the flag again in 2025.
Tempest Rising features two playable factions with their own campaign and, like the Red Alert
parts of C&C, is set in an alternative timeline of our real world where a nuclear war has broken out. The available factions are:
- the Global Defense Forces (GDF)
- and the Tempest Dynasty
With the factions and presentation, Tempest Rising is almost unfairly
close to Command & Conquer, as colleague Maurice Weber states on YouTube. Moreover, you are fighting over the energy resource Tempest, which sounds very similar to Tiberium from the other half of the C&C games.
As you may expect from C&C, Tempest Rising combines base building with real-time battles, where up to 500 units per team can fight each other. Each faction has its own units and a unique super weapon.
Tempest Rising received strong reviews on Steam even at launch, and it has maintained an impressive 89% rating since. The game offers classic PvP battles, ranked games, and skirmishes against the AI, in addition to the campaigns.
Civ 6
Civilization 6 is perhaps the most famous and one of the most popular turn-based strategy games currently available on Steam. Although Civilization 7 is out, it hasn’t been well-received right after release. While the issues are being fixed, we recommend the predecessor.
You choose a civilization, establish cities, and guide your civilization through various ages. You have the freedom to determine how you master the game: either by winning militarily, trying to overpower your opponent with culture, or shooting a rocket into space first. Alternatively, you could team up with other players.
Civilization has been continuously developed over the last few years, receiving two major expansions, a comprehensive expansion pack, and numerous smaller DLCs.
If you are looking for a comprehensive strategy game that will entertain you for many evenings, then you should check out Civ 6. The coop mode is also a real highlight. Especially with all expansions, the game is worth a look.
In 2025, Civilization VII, the official successor, was released but rated significantly lower than Civ 6, which is why we recommend the predecessor here. An excellent alternative to Civ 6 is Millennia, even if the start of the new game was rather rocky. By now, Millennia is said to be quite good.
Alternative: Old World
Old World is a turn-based strategy game that has been inspired by both Civilization and Crusader Kings. From both series, you will find ideas that developer Mohawk Games has blended into a unique game.
Similar to Civilization, in Old World, you choose a civilization, such as the Romans or Egyptians, establish cities, research technologies, and conquer your opponents. However, unlike Civ, you remain in antiquity and do not shift into other ages.
Another unique feature is that your family plays an important role. You play your ruler yourself, marry, have children, and like in Crusader Kings, you ensure the survival of your dynasty. As in Paradox’s model, there are events that can affect your family. If your family dies out, the game ends immediately. Cities are managed by your family members and can become rebellious if you do not maintain family cohesion. This adds a unique and often unpredictable dynamic to the game.
Old World is continuously being developed and new content is being added. The DLCs expand the game with new wonders, scenarios, and hundreds of events that your dynasty must survive. In addition, there is a loyal community that offers numerous mods.
If you find Crusader Kings too complex and Civilization too extensive, Old World hits a sweet spot and brings many unique ideas. Especially if you love antiquity as a setting, you should take a look.
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