Hidden Gem: Northgard
A somewhat hidden indie gem on Steam is Northgard from developer Shiro Games. The game has never been huge, but it has a loyal player base of several thousand who play regularly.
You play as Viking clans fighting for survival and victory in the realm of Northgard. You have to scout and settle tiles around your starting area to gain more building space and continue to expand.
Although the clans share most buildings, each faction has some peculiarities and a unique orientation:
- some are pure military clans with special units and bonuses in combat
- others focus on support and teamwork, providing everyone with feast and resources
- yet others aim to accumulate glory as quickly as possible or specialize in trade to fulfill alternative win conditions
Northgard offers both a detailed campaign and skirmish matches, as well as expeditions where you earn bonuses for your clan through multiple missions that your clan normally does not have. The game is steadily expanded with new clans and features.
For some time now, there has also been the Bifröst mode, where you must complete various maps with special modifiers in a kind of roguelike campaign either in co-op or solo. In the end, you face an MMORPG-like boss fight.
Bonus: Plague Inc
A somewhat different game than what you might know from the list is Plague Inc. Here you play as a disease, aiming to exterminate all humanity. Given the context of COVID-19, the idea might seem in bad taste today, but the game is quite a bit older and, in principle, fascinatingly interesting.
Your success depends on factors such as whether you start as a virus, bacterium, or parasite, which symptoms you develop, and when you decide to mutate into a truly deadly one.
Simplified, your objective is world dominance, or more precisely, its destruction. The simulation is so well done that even the American Center for Disease Control has spoken with the creators.
Plague Inc is included on this list because you can not only play it on PC on Windows, Mac, and Linux but also on Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch, as well as on Android and iOS if you’re looking for a good strategy game for mobile.
If you’re looking to explore a bit beyond the strategy game genre, we’ve compiled all the important MMOs and multiplayer games set to release this year in our large release list: New MMOs and multiplayer games 2025: Look forward to these releases
