Summary
- Tinyfolks offers easy-to-learn strategy gameplay with charming visuals and forgiving difficulty.
- Shogun Showdown presents a fast-paced, action-packed experience for deck-building fans.
- Wildfrost provides instant fun with satisfying progression and tactical elements in a cartoonish style.
There are many games that require time and dedication to learn, let alone progress. Others, on the other hand, drip-feed players their core mechanics at a slow pace. At another extreme, there are myriad titles that task the player with performing repetitive activities in order to progress.
Best Strategy Games With Great Graphics
These excellent strategy games deliver striking visuals and graphics to go along with their dynamic strategic mechanics.
This can lead to an experience that disrespects the player's time, and strategy games, with their often complex mechanics, can often fall under this category. These strategic titles, however, offer easy-to-learn gameplay and player-friendly UI, often combined with satisfying progression systems.
7 Tinyfolks
A Short But Sweet Strategy RPG
Tinyfolks
- Released
- June 1, 2022
WHERE TO PLAY
Tinyfolks is a minimalist strategy game that excels with its charming pixel-art visuals and simple but effective gameplay loop. Similarly to Darkest Dungeon, Tinyfolks tasks players with battling through a variety of locations in turn-based gauntlets. Unlike Darkest Dungeon, however, Tinyfolks is more forgiving in its difficulty.
Best Strategy Games That Aren't About Controlling Territory
For strategy games who are tired of the struggle over territory, check out these titles for a change of pace.
In addition, Tinyfolks features a simpler and shorter loop, allowing players to easily grasp its mechanics and complete its main content within a few hours. This makes Tinyfolks a great strategy game for players who want a shorter experience.
6 Shogun Showdown
An Action-Packed Roguelike Deck-Builder
Shogun Showdown
- Released
- September 5, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ // Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood
- Developer(s)
- Roboatino
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based RPG, Roguelike
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Unlike most roguelike deck-builders, Shogun Showdown manages to provide a tremendously fast-paced and action-packed experience. This gauntlet of turn-based battles uses single-axis movement and a series of expressive playable tiles to offer a truly intuitive combat system.
The fast pace and approachable nature of the combat truly respect the player's time, and it's always quick and easy to get back into a new run after a defeat. For fans of deck-builders and turn-based tactics, Shogun Showdown is a refreshing palette cleanser that's worth a look.
5 Wildfrost
Instant Fun & Satisfying Progression
Wildfrost
- Released
- April 12, 2023
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ // Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood
- Developer(s)
- Deadpan Games, Gaziter
- Genre(s)
- Digital Card Game, Strategy, Roguelike
- Platform(s)
- Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Wildfrost is an immediately charming experience that's perfect for fans of cartoon art styles and roguelike deck-builders. With the addition of battlefields and maneuverable companions, Wildfrost stands out for its tactical elements, but it never presents the player with walls of text or overly complex mechanics.
As a result, Wildfrost is surprisingly quick and easy to learn, despite a complex combination of systems. Furthermore, each run is tremendously fast-paced, offering consistent and generous rewards between each combat encounter. In addition, Wildfrost consistently introduces new ideas as players progress, with more factions and companions being added over time.
4 StarCraft 2
An RTS That Plays At A Brutal Pace
StarCraft 2
- Released
- July 27, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
StarCraft 2 is a fast-paced real-time strategy game with a well-crafted single-player campaign and a multiplayer scene that remains highly competitive at the time of writing. While it takes time and patience to compete in its online versus mode, most matches of StarCraft 2 are brutally fast-paced crucibles.
8 Best Strategy Games That Encourage Multiple Approaches
These excellent strategy games offering a wild variety of tactical options, encouraging multiple approaches to each encounter or playthrough.
Although this breakneck pace can be unforgiving, it ensures that games rarely outstay their welcome. Some matches can drag out into a war of attrition, but in most cases, players are likely to crumble to an enemy attack or surrender before it becomes too tiresome. In either case, expanding and acquiring new technology happens fast in StarCraft 2.
3 Tactical Breach Wizards
A Finely-Tuned & Fast-Paced Tactics Game
Tactical Breach Wizards
- Released
- August 22, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Suspicious Developments
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based Strategy, Tactical, RPG
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Tactical Breach Wizards wastes no time at all getting players into the action. This turn-based tactics game opens up with an explosive and cinematic introduction that quickly familiarizes players with the core mechanics. As a result, it takes almost no time commitment to see what Tactical Breach Wizards is about.
The snappy dialogue, clever combination of tactics and puzzle-solving, and distinct urban-fantasy setting are all apparent from the very start. Furthermore, Tactical Breach Wizards quickly opens up, introducing new characters and mechanics as it expands on its ideas.
2 Into The Breach
A Player-Friendly Tactical Puzzle
Into the Breach
- Released
- February 27, 2018
WHERE TO PLAY
Into The Breach is a turn-based and tactical roguelike that excels with its accessible but strategic gameplay, championing open information with its generous telegraphing of enemy attacks. In the game, players defend civilians from an alien invasion with a small squad of expressive mech-suits.
In addition to its abundance of open information, Into The Breach also allows for experimentation within each combat encounter. This is facilitated by the addition of an undo button and the ability to reset turns, ensuring players are given room to make mistakes without having to start over. This respects the player's time and allows them to experiment without fear.
1 Thronefall
Forgiving & Intuitive Base Defense
Thronefall
- Released
- October 11, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ // Fantasy Violence
- Developer(s)
- GrizzlyGames
- Genre(s)
- Strategy, City Builder
- Platform(s)
- PC, Nintendo Switch
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Thronefall is a base defense game that combines RTS and tower defense mechanics, offering unique but accessible gameplay that remains approachable with its minimalist design. With a quick tutorial and intuitive game mechanics, Thronefall is able to get players into the thick of its gameplay within minutes of playing.
Each level of Thronefall is subject to a day/night cycle, with preparation being done during the day and enemies arriving at night. In addition to the fast and accessible introduction, Thronefall gives players the ability to restart from the previous day if they lose during the night.
7 Simple Strategy Games That Are A Lot Of Fun
Players don't have to spend a lot of time understanding the mechanics of these enjoyable strategy games.