Summary
- The original PlayStation had a surprising amount of strategy and tactics games, primarily in the RTS and strategy-RPG genres, due to the popularity of RTS games in the 90s.
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert - Retaliation, Front Mission 2, and Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat are all challenging strategy games on the PS1, each with their own unique mechanics and difficulty levels.
- Final Fantasy Tactics and Carnage Heart are also difficult strategy games on the PS1, with Final Fantasy Tactics requiring strategic customization of characters and Carnage Heart featuring a steep learning curve and complex systems. X-COM: Terror From The Deep is another challenging strategy game with imbalanced enemies and unforgiving gameplay.
Although it's fairly uncommon for strategy and tactics games to be released on home consoles in the modern day, the original PlayStation had a shocking amount of strategy games available, primarily in the RTS and strategy-RPG genres.
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This could arguably be attributed to the immense popularity of RTS games throughout the 90s, during which the PlayStation was one of the biggest home consoles available. However, due to their age and common dependence on the player's familiarity with the genre, many strategy games for the PS1 can be brutally difficult.
6 Command & Conquer: Red Alert - Retaliation
Command & Conquer: Red Alert - Retaliation
- Released
- August 28, 1998
- Developer
- Westwood Studios
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based Strategy, Tactical
- How Long To Beat
- 21 Hours
This popular standalone expansion for the original Command & Conquer game isn't as brutally difficult as other PS1 strategy games, but as an older RTS game, it can be extremely unforgiving in some of its latter missions.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert is an addictive and highly polished RTS game, and its dual campaigns certainly help to keep players engaged, but it can be a challenge to reach the end of either campaign, especially when playing on the PlayStation without the use of a mouse.
5 Front Mission 2
Front Mission 2
- Released
- September 25, 1997
- Developer
- G-Craft
- Genre(s)
- Tactical, RPG
- How Long To Beat
- 50 Hours
This turn-based tactical mech strategy game is the second entry in the popular Front Mission series. Although it could be argued that Front Mission 3 is a superior entry in the series, Front Mission 2 is debatably the most difficult due to its often complex mechanics and inaccessible systems.
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Front Mission 2, like the other Front Mission games, is relatively complex; the game has more weapon variety than the first game, a system for terrain that affects the accuracy of mechs and ammunition. Although the other Front Mission games may have some of the hardest missions, Front Mission 2 is arguably the most consistently difficult of the games.
4 Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat
Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat
- Released
- November 30, 1995
- Developer
- Mindscape
- Genre(s)
- Tactical
- How Long To Beat
- 9 Hours
Set in the iconic Warhammer universe, Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat is an often overlooked entry in the abundance of Warhammer video games due to its age, but it's a surprisingly punishing and tactical retro Warhammer strategy game.
Warhammer: Dark Omen may be an arguably superior game in its design, accessibility, and visual style, but Shadow Of The Horned Rat remains a solid strategy game nonetheless, and its complex systems and difficult missions make it one of the most hardcore experiences on the PS1.
3 Final Fantasy Tactics
Final Fantasy Tactics
- Released
- June 20, 1997
- Developer(s)
- Square
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation (Original)
- Genre(s)
- Tactical, RPG
Centered around managing the jobs and abilities of a broad ensemble of characters, Final Fantasy Tactics is a tremendously difficult and strategically deep turn-based tactics game that maintains a fast pace.
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Much of the difficulty in Final Fantasy Tactics comes from the customization of characters, tasking players with coming up with good strategies and efficient builds in order to make the most out of each character. Final Fantasy Tactics also features a lot of difficult battles; however, this difficulty can, unfortunately, be mitigated through early-game grinding. Despite this, players going into the game with no prior knowledge are almost sure to have a challenging experience.
2 Carnage Heart
Carnage Heart
- Released
- January 31, 1997
- Developer(s)
- Artdink
- Platform(s)
- PS1
- Genre(s)
- Puzzle, Simulation, Tactical
This deep and highly complex tactical mech strategy game was arguably one of the most complex and inaccessible experiences to be released on the original PlayStation. The game's user interface is enough to give any regular gamer a mild headache, but its robot-wars-style auto-battler combat was way ahead of its time.
Carnage Heart's difficulty mainly comes down to its steep learning curve and complex systems. In Carnage Heart, players must build artificial intelligence for their hulking mech soldiers, essentially creating a program that tells them how to fight. On top of this, Carnage Heart contains elements of resource management, adding an extra layer of depth and difficulty even outside of the game's highly tactical combat system.
1 X-COM: Terror From The Deep
- Released
- June 1, 1995
- ESRB
- e
- Developer(s)
- MicroProse
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
- Franchise
- Xcom
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unsupported
WHERE TO PLAY
The war continues... X-COM: UFO Defense brought you to a galactic battlefield. X-COM: Terror from the Deep brings the alien terror into a totally new dimension. Seeking to take advantage of a weakened Earth, X-COM's deep space foes unexpectedly change strategy and launch a powerful second front against planet Earth.
In the dark depths of vast oceans, long sleeping forces are awakened by reanimation signals sent out across the galactic silence by their interstellar brothers and sisters. Slowly but surely, an army of hibernating alien sea creatures awakens. Your combat now extends to the strange new worlds of the deep where superior alien technologies threaten the very survival of this planet - your planet - Earth.
Sequel to the hugely successful X-COM: UFO Defense. Actual undersea geoscape mapping system with rich topographic detail. Full array of undersea military technology. Rich graphics feature water coloration and wrecks.
Multilevel tactical maps featuring both underseascapes and buildings
Alien encyclopedia features mutation technology and new watery denizens.
- Developer
- MicroProse
- Genre(s)
- Turn-Based Strategy
- How Long To Beat
- 30 Hours
This X-COM game, released for both the PC and the PlayStation, was one of the first entries in the X-COM franchise. However, in X-COM: Terror From The Deep, players are tasked with defeating a variety of vicious aliens underneath the waters of the Earth rather than invading space-farers.
X-COM: Terror From The Deep is one of the hardest strategy games on the PS1 due to its arguably imbalanced enemies, mechanical complexity, and unforgiving gameplay; like other X-COM games, Terror From The Deep is a combination of unit and resource management through a hub world and deep tactical combat from an isometric perspective. The campaign and the missions themselves are both lengthy and complex in their layouts, making them notably more difficult than UFO Defense.