This is a fun, fresh take on classic JRPG tropes and modern roguelike design, but its in danger of running out of steam too quickly.

A really solid strategy-RPG, and an excellent sequel to Wasteland's 2. A bit rough around the edges, but still worth playing.

CK3 is a worthy successor that delivers a powerful mix of grand strategy and RPG gameplay. This is possibly the most polished a mainline Paradox title has ever been at launch.

I can’t recommend Fae Tactics enough to those of you out there waiting for Square to take another longform stab at FFT. It may lack the abundance of micro managing you're used to, but the more straight on approach really puts the combat front and center, and I never missed upgrading menial unit equipment or cross classing or the like. Whether the trend catches or not, I can’t say, but don’t miss the truly fresh take on the classic formula.

Greek Wars nails that addictive 4X loop and it does so in an often-overlooked setting. One of the key issues with this genre is that fall-off point (typically around the late-mid-game) when you stop doing those titular 4Xs and start waiting for some turn counter to tick down while mindlessly mashing the end turn button. While there were certainly some down-time beats, all that layered complexity of diplomacy, economics, and trade means that there is almost always something to do and idle turns are relatively few and far between. If you’re interested in either the period or the 4X genre more broadly, Greek Wars is worth picking up.

Ultimately, Othercide is a unique entry into the genre that is definitely worth your time. It’s pacing issues and ramping difficulty might be the stuff of nightmares for some, but when it comes together, the clever timeline mechanics and risk-based troop management can be the stuff of sweet tactical dreams.

One of the best real-time strategy releases of the year, despite a rather lack-lustre story. Mimimi does it again.

If you can get passed some clunky performance, this is an excellent turn-based tactics game to add to the Switch's growing roster.

It's not an especially pretty game - this is kind of 'indie' project that old-timer wargame studios tend to put out. You'll have to get past the aged graphics and masses of UI menus and tiny buttons, but for those that try, a rewarding world of wonder awaits you.

Gears is right at home in the Turn-based genre. A truly excellent tactical experience watered down slightly with mandatory side-quests and a lack of any strategic dimension.

All things considered, Iron Danger is a great game. It may lack the sweeping epic scope of others and the marketing budget of a AAA game, but it lacks none of the quality. It’s a fun romp in fantasy Finland, setting stuff on fire and slinging spells left and right. It’s like 2001’s Achron that actually works!

If you liked Panzer General and the original Panzer Corps, then PC2 is a must buy. The “more so” comes into play as regards gamers who may have bypassed these games in the past, considering them more beer and pretzels or generic mainstream strategy fare. PC2 has added just enough modifications to push the realism level into the wargaming proper category, giving a distinct WWII feel without sacrificing the elegant simplicity that made its ancestors famous.

Despite the negative aspects described, there is something genuinely fun about playing Yes, Your Grace. It’s perfect for some casual, beer and pretzels gaming. But you are playing for the narrative not the gameplay mechanics. You will get at least two playthroughs out of the game, which amounts to approximately 10 to 20 hours of gameplay (the playtime on various Steam reviews seems to confirm this). If this was in a Humble Bundle or on sale, I would think you would be happy with your purchase. At full price, I would probably feel as though I could have spent my money on something better. With that said, the game feels like a labour of love, not some lazy cash grab. Just don’t expect particularly deep gameplay.

An excellent new addition to Three Kingdoms DLC roster, and a great way to skip the early game if you want to get stuck in to something meatier.

Aside from the bad gun aim mechanics sapping most of the moment-to-moment enjoyment, Taur is actually a very competent game. Its long list of research options and gun upgrades are enough to keep you interested, while the visuals make every second rather visually pleasing. If you’re on the lookout for a fun, casual tower defense game, definitely give Taur (the game, not the tower) a shot.

Overall, The Spire Rises is a very solid expansion for an excellent game if a very difficult, surprisingly intellectual strategy game is what you're looking for.

Some strategy gamers will find this kind of forced immersion awful, others will lap it up. Fans of the original will already be familiar with it. They'll discover a smoother interface and a new setting in a new culture. Forgoing the traditional control and power fantasies of strategic empire-building is a hard habit to give up. But for those that can make the sacrifice, Six Ages holds a wealth of wonders few other games can match.

All things considered, Warhammer 40,000: Gladius’ T’au DLC is a must for anyone who plays Gladius in TYOOL 2020. If you dislike the race (you should), you will at least appreciate them as enemies and find use of their various racial abilities for modding. The question now remains if we’re going to get the rest of important races - like both flavors of Eldar - in the DLC cycle, or will they be saved for a sequel?

Corruption 2029 holds its own. It is difficult to make a game like XCOM, as dozens of failed titles have proved, and this is the first one I played that manages to accurately reproduce Firaxis’ formula while adding its own share of interesting mechanics to it. Behind the pretty exterior and the amazing tactical gameplay, you’ll find a gem that’s definitely worth experiencing -- if you can stomach the relatively small scope and repeated maps. That really shouldn’t be a problem, though. After all, war never changes.

Hilariously funny, ridiculously cute, and generally well put together, it only suffers a bit from an increasing reliance on RNG over strategy as the game wears on.

An excellent new addition, but one that doesn't shake things up massively. The New story campaign is great and the new ships are a nice addition to the main campaign.

For all its comparatively minor flaws and one major issue that will most likely get patched by the time it releases, Broken Lines is a great strategy game that takes the usual tactical thinking and bends it just enough to feel fresh. Without the safety net of unmoving opponents or the ability to react on the fly, you have to consider what the AI might do more carefully and really utilise your powers and squad composition to get through a fight unscathed. So even with the occasional gruelling travel section, Broken Lines is still a pretty enjoyable ride. Kind of like that one war movie you love but no-one else gets.

The Last Autumn is as uncompromising and atmospheric as Frostpunk, but its real trick lies in making players relearn the game, and punishing them for underestimating it.

A great expansion that enriches the main campaign while also being interesting to play in its own right. Some excellent new units, characters and mechanics.

A challenging, visually vibrant sci-fi rogue-like following in the fine tradition of FTL et al - definitely worth checking out.

A very capable game that excels at the strategy layer, but the tactical sphere is a bit sterile and leaves you feeling cold.

The basic controls are simple that this still serves as an excellent gateway experience to more complex wargames, but it also contains within it deep mechanics that require mastering and that can transform the game into a more complex experience. If you were a fan of the first game, you'll definitely like this one.

An unforgiving AI enemy, high game configurability, and satisfying interaction makes AI War 2 a worthy inheritor of the mantle.

An excellent & innovative strategy game, and the best John Wick Simulator you're ever likely to experience.

Fantasy General II brings some modern additions to a tried and true formula in an engaging and challenging campaign. Overall - a great success.

Planetfall sets some new standards for 4X games that would be wise not to ignore, and is an excellent start of a new strategy journey.

All in all, Eight Princes is a surprisingly sizeable expansion, especially given CA’s penchant for releasing faction packs this close to release. It packs enough changes and new mechanics and feels novel enough for another playthrough, while keeping mechanics and the basics as feasibly close to the original as possible. If you can’t get enough of Three Kingdoms and just wants a bit more of almost the same, Eight Princes is the right expansion for you.

I love the music, the electro-Indian soundtrack is so wonderfully unique and gives the journey such a magnificent texturing. The various factions with their distinctive styles, like the Blue Devils that voluntarily allow themselves to become infected and die young in order to become more powerful. Sharkbomb Studios have done fantastically to create a gameworld that feels unique to the point that I, even more than usual, want more games based on cultures outside the usual UK, US, Japan influence. And while I have harked on the gameplay, I actually really enjoy it up until the inevitable unfair fight that brings me to my old friend, the Game Over screen. It’s much like FTL. Yay, yay, yay, ooh close one, yay, no, what, stop it, bugger off, f*** this game, repeat.

Interstellar Space: Genesis is a modest and conservative return to a genre classic with meticulous attention to what fans of 4X Space empire builders crave.

The digital adaptation of Raiders of the North Sea was created by Dire Wolf Digital, and they've done an excellent job creating the game on PC and Mobile. Garphill Games, the creators of the North Sea Trilogy (of which Raiders is the second entry) hired a fantastic artist to bring the game world to life, and this has been carried through to the digital version. Animation has been added to give everything that extra touch, and modest use of 3D animations have enhanced the look and feel of the board as you move your pieces around and raid areas on the board.

A decent, if short, reason to jump back into the world of MYZ with new faces, new enemies and new weapons.

A fine-tuned game with some absolutely gorgeous visuals. Despite some minor hiccups, it’s an experience well worth the low price of entry.

There is something special about magic. The idea that one could easily lift a whole building with their powers and fling it across an incoming army is the kind of power fantasy games are apparently born to fulfil, yet one that rarely -- if ever -- happens. That is especially true of strategy games about magic, where their mystical, boundless capabilities more often than not are reduced to gimmicks and meaningless buffs but luckily, Driftland bucks that trend; not in a flashy way, but by making magic an everyday part of the gameplay. If you are looking for a polished, novel strategy game involving magic, look no further.

Empires lacks the breadth Imperator has striven for and is a few years behind what Total War is doing these days, but it's a smartly made game and gives a deeper military experience for those who prefer those aspects. It's definitely one to consider and an excellent new contender in the grand strategy space.

A clever jack-of-all games that tries to give players history and strategy in an accessible package and mostly succeeds.

I am extremely impressed with this little indie gem, and wholeheartedly recommend it to fans of strategy JRPGs. Especially, dare I say, to those of you who are looking for a true successor to Final Fantasy: Tactics. I am well aware of how ostentatious that may sound, but the praise is well earned here. Fell Seal: Arbiter’s Mark has earned my respect and admiration, and it deserves your time and attention. Go purchase this game, and support an indie developer who has seemingly done the impossible.

A worthy entry in the Total War franchise, Three Kingdoms gets a lot more right than it does wrong.

An excellent Cold War strategy game that cuts to the heart of the political and ideological struggle while still offering a fun strategic experience.

Big, busy and pretty, you can be confident of a good management game that doesn’t take itself too seriously, so long as they can get past some certain disheartening design choices.

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus is a great game that I will always recommend to anyone. It’s a novel spin on the whole tactical RPG genre, and it’s a breath of fresh air as far as 40K games are concerned. Now, if only the studio got to remake Chaos Gate…

I can’t find many faults with Pathway beyond the occasional bit of bad luck with the map generation that puts camps and traders too far off-track to be worth going to or throws a particularly tough combat at you straight away. Apart from that small issue, this game is frankly amazing and it kept me up until dawn trying to find out what the Wrath of God was and I am so distraught that I died just before the finale. Let’s just say “I chose… poorly”.

Some technical stumbling blocks muddy what is otherwise another decent entry in a a beloved franchise.

Chucklefish have a proven record of publishing great games and making great games and Wargroove is no exception. If the modding community takes hold then I can see this becoming one of my new favourite tactics games. And if you’re a fan of Advance Wars, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Jagged Alliance: Rage! Is the closest thing we have to the greatness of Jagged Alliance 2. It's a very trimmed game, delivering the experience rather than a carbon copy of the series. You still have to care for your mercs' health and gear, as well as carrying capacity, but at a much less grognardy level. I dunno if 1.13 mod fanatics will be pleased, but for the others, it's a good introduction to what Jagged Alliance used to represent.

Rimworld is a new standard in survival/strategy sims, and has emerged from early access with grace. Now the REAL fun can begin...

Bad North strips away just the right amount of complexity and headache that real-time strategy games tend to have, resulting in a core experience that is challenging, rewarding, and very replayable.

If the developers move quickly, Space Hulk: Tactics might yet be the best strategy game set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. For now, the grim darkness of the far future is still grim and dark -- and not in a good way.

An admirable return to form, Valkyria Chronicles 4 feels like a safe bet for both newcomers and veteran commanders alike.

An admirable return to form, Valkyria Chronicles 4 feels like a safe bet for both newcomers and veteran commanders alike.

As it stands, Frozen Synapse 2 is truly an interesting experiment -- an attempt to expand the scope while keeping the original's focus and the directive that a successful mission always ends the same way: with everyone but you dead. It is a capable game that should appeal more to hardcore wargamers than more casual strategy enthusiasts, however, as I suspect its unintuitive menu will put off a lot of strategic-minded people with no patience for obtuseness.

In the end, Two Point Hospital is one of the best strategy games of 2018, managing to surprise me with its extremely competent game design, amazing polish, and superb production values. It has a few faults, like any product, and all of them could be easily fixed by patches should the developers choose to. Regardless of changes, Two Point Studios debut title is a serious contender to the bastion of modern classics.

A unique, focused 4X game that proves to be historically authentic and surprisingly deep in terms of mechanics and gameplay. An excellent debut.

A rich, detailed and highly replayable espionage adventure, touting the right mix of strategic and tactical choices within its entertaining fiction.

Inferno shouldn’t be mistaken for a simple expansion pack, it adds core gameplay loops that improve upon Endless Legend enough to where I consider it a required purchase.

In the end, Rise of the Republic is yet another great addition to Total War’s best entry. It’s pacing is a bit harsh, but it adds new mechanics and experiences while retaining the base game’s excellent battle balance, shying away from Warhammer’s unfortunate MOBA-like rush but bringing it’s good campaign map ideas into the fold. The way it circles back to the start of Rome II’s base campaign drives home the dedication and love put into the game as a whole and makes this expansion a must buy for anyone interested in the early days of the Roman Republic.

The Banner Saga 3 is a great game, and crushing enemies both small and large, human and supernatural is still just as fun.

Gladius’s attention to combat goes beyond most 4X games, and it works. In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.

Evolutionary rather than revolutionary, Ancestors: Legacy takes the best of the genre, adds a dash of Dark Age and at the end of it comes out as one of the strongest entries to the RTS stable this year.

A worthy proof of concept; great ideas and experiments tempered by conservative implementation. As long as your expectations are managed with care, you’ll still find plenty of enjoyment here.

BattleTech is a rote tactics game that manages to stand out on the strength of its deep lore and surprisingly-deep business management model.

I’ve never cared about the people under my command in any game more than in Frostpunk. The window-dressing isn’t perfect. Aspects of the experience are frustrating; a couple of failed games can leave one a tiny weeny bit annoyed. I am not even sure if some of the scenarios are even possible! Yet if the perfect game is a series of choices where every choice has meaning, then Frostpunk is it.

The Intrigue expansion is another win for Stardock, building GalCiv3 up to become a giant amongst space 4X games.

Bridge Constructor Portal is a fantastic puzzle game, and a thoroughly Portal title.

With its own objectives, mechanics, and campaign end-goals, Rise of the Tomb Kings is the best DLC in the whole Total War: Warhammer franchise.

This charming, clever and addictive historical sailing sim is marred only by some rather Dull combat mechanics.

Warring States is a capable and surprisingly enjoyable tactical game. While the units are varied, and the combat has some depth to it, it is still feels like a very simple game -- while playing on the PC, I kept wondering what it would be like on the mobile, and if it wouldn’t be more at home in that platform. Nevertheless, if you are looking for a casual and straightforward game about Ancient China that will challenge you, look no further.

More puzzle than strategy, Into the Breach comes with enough bells, whistles and giant robots to keep the formula fresh over repeat plays.

Veterans of the genre will love this mash-up, but newcomers will buckle under the weight. Writing aside, it’s a mighty fine attempt.

All Walls Must Fall uses familiar tactical concepts, but introduces some new ideas, a fresh setting, and its own intense sense of cool to create an original and compelling experience.

For those wanting a light-hearted experience filled with great content and progression, this cheap little title will offer you exactly that.

A game that invigorates with the pure, fierce joy of play that only very best board games can deliver.