2010 – Starcraft II – 93
Alongside Company of Heroes, Starcraft II shares the second position for the highest-rated strategy game of the last 20 years, with 93 points. It’s no surprise, I think when you consider how influential Starcraft has been for the real-time strategy genre. For a while, I think Starcraft had one of the biggest esports scenes in the world. Its asymmetrical, but very well-balanced factions made for some of the most entertaining and exciting matches in gaming history. In 2009, Blizzard was also at the top of their game, so Starcraft II was one of the most polished games in history, with tight and responsive controls, amazing unit design, and a huge campaign, Starcraft II still remains one of the best real-time experience you can have in 2025.
2011 – Total War: Shogun 2 – 90
The year 2011 is reminded by strategy gamers as the year when some of the most boring and generic titles came out, like Stronghold 3, Age of Empires Online, and Anomaly Warzone Earth. Those 365 days around the sun were saved by the release of the best Total War game ever made, Total War: Shogun 2, and when it blasted into PCs everywhere in 2011 it became an instant hit. There was literally nothing wrong with Shogun II, the Sengoku Jidai period was just absolute perfection, the graphics were the best of any strategy game ever, the field battles and sieges allowed for deep-tactical choices, and the campaign had you unifying all of Japan by conquering, scheming, building and fighting. Its two expansions: Rise of the Samurai and Fall of the Samurai move the time frame backwards and forwards respectively, allowing you to play the most significant conflicts in Japanese history.
2012 – XCOM: Enemy Unknown – 89
The game that single-handedly revitalized the turn-based strategy genre and breathed new life into a franchise that, in 2012, was completely forgotten. It’s not only the best game of 2012, but probably the best strategy game of all time. Certainly one of the best for a lot of people, and certainly one of the top 5 for me. XCOM: Enemy Unknown is one of those rare cases where all the stars aligned (pun intended) to create a flawless experience: the streamlined strategic layer removed a lot of the busywork its 1990s counterpart had, the roster management made you care about your team of brave guys and gals, and when you take them to the tactical battles, every move counts, making every action a nerve-wracking affair, where every shot taken can change the outcome of your campaign. You can see that I love XCOM a lot, and one day I’ll do a retrospective of it here, at Strategy and Wargaming.
2013 – Fire Emblem: Awakening – 92
I played Fire Emblem: Awakening only in 2017, on my Nintendo DS, while I was aboard a fishing vessel in the North Sea (long story for another time, when I decided to delve into Naval games), and what a game it was. The stylish and colour presentation (and I’m not a fan of anime unless we’re talking Dragon Ball) filled the small DS screen. The story of Chrom will keep you glued to the screen the whole time, but the meat of the game is in the party management and the turn-based tactical battles.
2014 – Ultimate General: Gettysburg – 84
What more can I say about Ultimate General: Gettysburg that I haven’t said before? It’s the game that made me interested in learning more about the American Civil War and sent me on a nights-long documentary watching binge about the conflict. Created by Darth, the guy behind the famous DarthMod for Empire: Total War, Ultimate General: Gettysburg is a masterclass in how to make a hardcore wargame accessible, while not skipping out on mechanical and strategic depth. The controls are some of the best any strategy game ever had, and you can draw lines to order your units around those paths, giving you a finer control about their positioning that few other games do. The map, movement and fire lines play a huge role in deciding the winning side, as cover, height, conditioning and more need to be taken into account during the fight. It’s a game I love and go back to very often. Let us not forget the AI, which is some of the best ever put in a video game, and you can choose how you want your opponent to play, whether more aggressively, more reckless, more balanced, or more defensive. Overall, Ultimate General: Gettysburg is one of the best strategy games ever made, and certainly, one of the games you should get if you’re dipping your feet into historical strategy.
Leave a Reply