The 15 best strategy games for PC 2024

MeinMMO presents the best games in the genres real-time strategy, turn-based strategy and 4X that you can play on the PC in 2024.

This is how we chose: The list is based largely on the personal opinions of the editors. Many editors and authors at MeinMMO grew up with strategy games and still enjoy playing them today.

A good rating was also important for the selection, for example on Steam, how many players are still active and how well the game has held up. So you will not only find new games on the list, but also some classics.

We also made sure to provide a little variation in settings and sub-genres. Our main focus in making the selection was to include strategy games with a tactical, competitive component. If you are looking for more games in the construction and simulation genre, you will find further selection 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 differ slightly, as well as an outlook at the end of the list of strategy games that are coming out soon and that we think have great promise.

The list is not ordered, so it is not a ranking.

Age of Empires 4

The Age of Empires series remains a cornerstone of the strategy genre to this day. You lead a people through the ages, create units and wage war against other cultures in order to ultimately achieve victory through conquest or world wonders.

Age of Empires is characterized by a good balance between base building (“macro”) and real-time battles (“micro”) in an ancient or medieval setting. Each race or faction has special buildings and units with strengths and weaknesses.

The latest part of the series is Age of Empires 4, which gives all factions more of their own identity than ever before and allows battles on huge maps. The gameplay has never changed since the first part.

Anyone who wants to get their hands on one of the cornerstones of strategy games should definitely play part 4. The game is still being supplied with expansions and DLCs as well as balance patches and smaller events. If you have the Game Pass, you can even play at no extra cost.

If you prefer to play a classic, there is an alternative to the Definitive Edition of Age of Empires 2, which is still praised today, especially in e-sports. A personal insider tip is Age of Empires 3, which is controversial among fans, but mixes up the old mechanics with new systems.

Total War: Warhammer 3

Total War is known for having some of the biggest real-time battles in the genre with excellent animations and strong gameplay. Warhammer 3 is currently the biggest entry in the list according to players on Steam and has strong reviews.

You play as one of the fantasy races from the famous world of Warhammer, such as dwarves, elves, ravenous ogres, deadly chaos or the nasty rat people of the Skaven. Total War has a very special game system:

With Immortal Empires, Total War: Warhammer 3 has a huge skirmish campaign with over 250 factions fighting for dominance. Here, a round can easily last dozens of hours.

If you’re not into the fantasy world of Warhammer, Total War: Three Kingdoms is a good choice, or you can take a look at the new Pharaoh. It was heavily criticized, but has since improved a lot.

Age of Wonders 4

Age of Wonders 4 is a turn-based strategy game and the 6th game in the popular series. It is all about fantasy with dragons, magic and a variety of different races.

You create your own people with their own appearance, leader and skills and try to win against other players on a random map. On the map you establish cities, research spells and create new units with which you then fight against other players or have to defeat special events or buildings. Battles are fought on your own small maps. For an overall victory you get points that you can invest in your pantheon, where you can get nice cosmetics.

If you love turn-based games but find games like Civilization 6 too historical and too long, you should take a look at Age of Wonders 4. Compared to Civ VI, the games are rather short and you can configure and customize your people and your ruler in great detail. Especially if you had a lot of fun with the previous games, you get a modern fantasy RTS.

Developer Triumph Studios continues to provide the game with updates and has already stated that they will continue to provide the game with updates and DLCs even after the Season Pass.

Old World

Old World is a turn-based strategy game that draws inspiration from both Civilization and Crusader Kings. Developer Mohawk Games has mixed ideas from both series to create its own game.

Similar to Civilization, in Old World you choose a people, such as the Romans or Egyptians, establish cities, research technologies and conquer your opponents. But unlike Civ, you always stay in ancient times and do not switch to other eras.

Another special feature is that your family plays an important role. You play your own ruler, get married and have children, and, like in Crusader Kings, you take care of the continuation of your dynasty. Like Paradox, 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 don’t take care of the family’s cohesion. This gives the game its own dynamic that is rarely predictable.

Old World is being developed further and continues to receive new content. The DLCs expand the game with new world wonders, scenarios and hundreds of new events that you must survive with your dynasty. There is also a loyal community that offers a number of mods.

If Crusader Kings is too complex and Civilization too extensive for you, then Old World takes the middle path and brings many of its own ideas. Especially with its own dynasty, Old World plays refreshingly differently from its big role model in the first few games. You should take a look, especially if you love the ancient world as a setting.

Crusader Kings 3

The Swedish studio Paradox is known for its absurdly large games and is basically the founding father 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 you create your own ruler – and lead your empire through the ages with diplomacy, marriages, developments and conquest. Whether through war or intrigue, in the end you try to control as much of the world as possible.

Or you may have your own goals: Maybe you want to rule the Byzantine Empire as a nudist or reform the Old Norse faith to replace Christianity as the largest religion in the world?

Crusader Kings 3 has been continually developed over the years and now even has a certain role-playing aspect. Your ruler has his own throne room and can undertake special journeys. How you play is up to you.

Of all the games presented here, Crusader Kings 3 is the hardest to get into and you will need several dozen hours to fully understand the world. If you are looking for alternatives in other historical settings, you should take a look at Victoria, Europa Universalis or Hearts of Iron.

Manor Lords

One of the newest games on the list: Manor Lords was only released in 2024 and is still in development, but is already generating enormous enthusiasm among players. It is considered an absolute revelation in the genre and is even dubbed by experts as the future of construction games.

At its core, Manor Lords is a simulation that is as authentic as possible, in which you lead a small county in the Middle Ages. The basis is primarily a city-building simulation in which you have to manage your residents, production chains and economy.

Manor Lords has a very tactical element. You can use influence or taxes to claim new lands and expand, but you also have to raise troops to wage war against neighbors and bandits.

The combat portion in Manor Lords is rather small, but to a certain extent necessary to create a scenario – depending on the specifications. Since the game is still in development and the developer is constantly asking the community for their opinion, there are still possible changes and new features to come in the future.

Command and Conquer (all parts)

Alongside Age of Empires, Command and Conquer is probably the best-known series of real-time strategy games. Instead of the Middle Ages, however, you play in alternative and rather dark realities:

Although some of the games are very old, there is now 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. That’s why we don’t recommend a single game here, but all of them.

Command and Conquer hasn’t aged particularly well and the multiplayer only works to a limited extent, or mostly not at all. But if you like to test yourself against the AI ​​and play strong campaigns, all of these games are for you.

Civ6

Civilization 6 is probably the best known and one of the most popular turn-based strategy games currently available on Steam.

You choose a people, establish cities and lead your civilization through different eras. It is up to you how you master the game: either you win militarily, try to bring your opponent to their knees with your culture or try to be the first to launch a rocket into space. Alternatively, you can join forces with other players.

Civilization has been steadily developed over the last few years and has received two major expansions, an extensive expansion pack and several smaller DLCs.

If you are looking for a comprehensive strategy game that will keep you entertained for several evenings, then you should take a look at Civ 6. The co-op mode is also a real tip. The game is particularly worth a look with all the expansions.

The official successor, Civilization VII, has also been announced for 2025. You can read more about this on MeinMMO in the future. By the way, a strong alternative to Civ 6 is Millennia, says our author Schuhmann, even if the start of the new game was quite bumpy. Millennia is now said to be quite good.