The best turn base strategy games in 2023

The best turn base strategy games in 2023

May 12, 2020 Cyberpunk, Game Platforms, Gameplay Videos, New Game Release

In the 2010s, with the release of Frozen Synapse and XCOM: Enemy Unknown, a new era of turn-based tactics began. As sales have shown, gamers are clearly hungry for games of this genre, so the developers had a huge scope for self-expression in the half-forgotten territory. In this article we will discuss the best representatives of the genre, released from 2015 to 2023.

Xcom 2

You can argue for a long time about whether XCOM: Enemy Unknown is the best turn-based tactics. The number of arguments for and against this claim is simply overwhelming. But one thing cannot be denied for sure – the title had a tremendous impact on the new wave of popularity of the genre. You can understand this if only because many describe turn-based tactics with the phrase: “play like XCOM”.

The sequel tried to introduce as much as possible: the base became mobile, the stealth phase of the battle was added, the opponents changed, and even the setting became more partisan. Nevertheless, the backbone that remembered Enemy Unknown and who migrated to dozens of other titles remained unchanged.


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In XCOM 2, a player controls a squad on an isometric map with a full and partial cover system. The initiative is replaced by a team – that is, all friendly units go first, then all hostile ones, and so on. At the same time, each fighter has two action points that can be spent on moving, using abilities, patrolling or attack, which will immediately end the turn.

If you’ve never tried turn-based tactics, XCOM 2 is a great entry point. The card generator, pumping, add-ons and mods guarantee not only a long duration of games, but also provide the title with enviable replay value. If you are haunted by some nuance from XCOM, today you can easily find a more suitable analogue for you.

  • Want something less ambitious, with mixed initiative and more casual? there is XCOM: Chimera Squad.
  • Too few action points? If the aliens are not tired, then recently released Gears tactics solves this problem – it has not only three ODs by default, but also the ability to collect them using executions.
  • Do not like the system for calculating the odds of hitting a miss with an accuracy of 99%? In post-apocalyptic Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden there are 100% shots, as well as a research stage and registered characters.
  • AT Hard west with this, everything is somewhat more interesting – luck, which can not only be measured, but also spent on superpowers, has a great influence on probability. In the set – romance and mysticism of the Wild West.
  • Not enough stealth? there is Rebel copswhere the partisan cops prefer to act quietly, because each cartridge costs money, and every wound is fatal.
  • Even Nintendo fans have their own XCOM – Mario + rabbids.


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Into the breach

The XCOM series has spawned many similar games, each of which is remarkable in its own way. Because of them, you sometimes even forget that turn-based tactics are by no means reduced to hide and seek in shelters and prayers to the almighty random.

For example, in Into the Breach there is neither one nor the other, but this does not make it less step-by-step or tactical. Quite the contrary – due to clear rules and the absence of accidents in this game, you can accurately calculate events for several moves, not relying on luck. The user knows for certain what consequences each of his actions will have, therefore he cannot blame the system in case of loss.

The games in the game turned out to be relatively short due to the small size of the field and the small number of deployed units. Nevertheless, there are a lot of variables so that the geniuses of mathematics do not get bored after five minutes. Variety in the game is made by improved mechs, pilots with their perks, card features, as well as enemies – giant insects of all kinds and colors.


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Battletech

Into the Breach many players compare with chess or checkers because of the small field divided into cells and clear rules. And this is not surprising, because one way or another turn-based tactics are kind of from board games. That’s just for most of the immediate ancestors became more modern entertainment – role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons for RPG and wargames for the rest.

In this regard, it is impossible not to mention BattleTech, which was transferred from paper to hard drives with minimal changes. She came out just two months after Into the Breach and was in many ways similar to her. Both titles are dedicated to giant robots, which is not very usual for the western market. In this case, one of the games is completely devoid of randomness, and the second only rests on it.

In BattleTech, an incredible amount of all kinds of settings, indicators and coefficients that are constantly calculated, calculated and recounted to such an extent that it is unlikely to figure them out without a notebook. But this is its charm – the player can spend several hours adjusting each barrel and body kit of his fur, so that then his pilot would be killed with a stray bullet, and a random missile would shoot his whole arm at a time. Constant uncertainty in the next second and the risks associated with it give pleasure no less than a cold calculation.


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Invisible, Inc.

According to the explanatory dictionary, tactics is the art of preparing and conducting combat. From this we can conclude that all the games of the genre we are discussing are dedicated to active military operations. However, this is not quite true. Exceptions, albeit rare ones, still exist.

Invisible, Inc is the ultimate stealth in turn-based tactics packaging. Unlike the already mentioned Rebel Cops or other similar titles, stealthy passage here is not an alternative to shooting, but the only possible way to play. Even stealth killing or stunning is an extreme and very undesirable step.

The game is dedicated to a secret organization that is trying to get away from the persecution and at the same time perform the last covert operation. A similar plot complication explains the lack of field agents – initially there are only two of them, and each death is permanent. A cyberpunk setting causes a large number of diverse hacking techniques of the player and features of the world.


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Divinity: Original Sin II and Age of Wonders: Planetfall

Despite the fact that turn-based tactics have existed for more than 30 years, they are still hardly distinguished from larger categories. Often these games are classified as strategies, because in them you can control units. However, with the same success they are credited to the RPG at the first mention of loot or leveling. Some people are sure that turn-based tactics are gameplay mechanics, not a separate genre, and you can find it anywhere.

Who is right is hard to make out. Video games develop naturally and evolutionarily, for them there are no clear boundaries of genres and strict definitions. Therefore, sometimes they intersect in the most unusual ways. And although we are used to defining categories based on a key feature or idea, which allows us to separate, for example, Civilization and XCOM, it will not be too big a mistake to attribute some RPGs to tactics.

Take at least Divinity: Original Sin II – the battles in it are not too different from those that were in XCOM. There are chances of hitting bonuses for the position, you can even use shelters. The difference is in determining the initiative of each character and a more complex system of action points. There is almost no destructibility, but it is compensated by the influence of the environment: water can be electrified, oil can be set on fire, etc.


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Almost the same can be said about almost all RPGs with turn-based battles. Therefore, if you are already fed up with all the canonical representatives of the genre, you can always look for new ones in the role-playing camp. But you should be prepared for the fact that for them tactical battles are only a small part, and in the kit you will receive quests, dialogs, pumping and similar mechanics.

What to do when you can’t carry RPG to the spirit, but within your favorite tactics you feel too crowded? In the already mentioned Civilization, quite turn-based battles, but this jump may seem too sharp. It’s easier to come to her through Age of Wonders: Planetfall. By and large, this is a very standard strategy about space and science fiction, but the battles in it are not on the global map, but on a small separate location. And at this moment the game becomes a real turn-based tactics – with shelters, moves, the probability of hitting, etc.


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The past decade has become a truly breakthrough for turn-based tactics – equally for the genre and for gameplay mechanics. Even after 2015, there were so many great games that you won’t remember everything. Moreover, not all such titles are lazy XCOM tracing papers. And how many were there before 2015! Share your favorite representatives of the genre in the comments – tell us what they are good, and at the same time – what are the bad games from the list above.

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