15 – Hollywood Animal
This one is as recent as they come. Just released in April 2025, Hollywood Animal is a tycoon strategy game that puts players in the role of a studio head navigating the cutthroat world of Hollywood since the time of The Great Depression. The game is as much a business tycoon title as it is a mob tycoon one (remember those, from the 90s?). It focuses on business decision-making in film production, talent management, and navigating industry trends to build a successful movie empire. Players will scout for promising scripts, cast actors, manage production crews, and make crucial choices that impact a film’s success. Beyond production, the game involves marketing campaigns, securing distribution deals, and competing with rival studios for box office dominance and prestigious awards. At the tail end of all that, you might find yourself doing some shady business that might mean some people will get hurt, or outright disappear from existence, all to make sure you, and your studio, are the top-dogs in Hollywood. It’s still in Early Access, but the game’s complex management systems, beautiful art style, and unique take on the genre make it a stand-out strategy game business strategy lovers need to try out in 2025.
14 – Battle Brothers
Brutal, unrelenting, and bloody are just about the nicest things I can remember about my time playing Battle Brothers. This challenging turn-based tactical RPG puts players in command of a medieval mercenary company in a gritty, low-fantasy world where the goals are set by you. Do you want to lead a low-level company and have just survived for as long as possible? Or turn it into a massive mercenary army and prosper? You decide where to go, whom to hire, how to equip them, and where to fight. Players recruit, equip, and train their band of mercenaries, managing their morale, wages, and supplies as they traverse a procedurally generated world filled with contracts, dangers, and opportunities. Tactical combat takes place on hexagonal grids, emphasising unit positioning, terrain, and utilizing each mercenary’s unique skills and equipment. The game’s two core mechanics are permadeath- meaning fallen Battle Brothers are gone for good- and injuries, which is the same as saying that if one of your Battle Brothers gets his fingers cut-off, he won’t be able to heal them back up, if his arm is broken, he will have a hard time holding a weapon, and if his head is caved-in, well, this all just adds weight to every decision and battle, as it only takes one wrong move for your best man to be disabled forever. Oh, and the game’s currently 50% off, at 15 dollars.
13 – Second Front
Second Front is one of the more comprehensive strategy and wargames available in 2025. Developed by a single man, it’s a tactical World War II turn-based strategy game emphasizing realistic squad-level combat, with an incredible amount of depth, and an overwhelming number of individual mechanics to take into account: these include, unit composition, unit facing, line of sight, morale, the number of units on a given square, vehicle armor, the number of individual weapons on a vehicle, the presence of officers, cover, map elevation, terrain type, and a ton of others. Second Front is a game that shines in its detailed simulation of small-scale engagements, where players must carefully maneuver their infantry, tanks, and support weapons to outmaneuver and defeat the enemy. If you’re a player looking for a World War 2 game with a focus on historical accuracy and complexity, then Second Front is what you’re looking for in 2025.
12 – Monster Train
Monster Train was quite a hit when it first came out in 2020, as it offered a unique take on the deck-building roguelike genre with a strategic twist. Players defend a train carrying the last burning Pyre of hell through a frozen apocalypse. The gameplay revolves around building a powerful deck of monster units and spells from five clans, and strategically placing units on the train’s multiple floors to defend against waves of angelic invaders. Each clan offers distinct playstyles and synergies, and the combination of several clans in a run creates a vast array of strategic possibilities for deckbuilding. The game features challenging difficulty, branching upgrade paths for cards and clans, and persistent unlocks that encourage replayability. With its innovative vertical battlefield and engaging deck-building mechanics, Monster Train provides a fresh and compelling strategic experience within the roguelike genre that’s still very much amazing in 2025, and Monster Train 2 is right around the corner, releasing on the 21st of May.
11 – Armored Brigade 2
Armored Brigade 2 is, quite possibly, one of the most revolutionary strategy and wargames of the last 10 years. Developed by Veitikka Studios and published by Slitherine, it takes it’s flat predecessor, which already was a detailed and realistic real-time tactical wargame focusing on modern combined arms combat, set in the Cold War era, and adds a new, amazing third dimension, bring a new level of fidelity and quality of life in terms of gameplay. Players command a brigade of infantry, armored vehicles, artillery, and air support from various NATO and Warsaw Pact nations across expansive battlefields. The game emphasizes historical accuracy in unit data, authentic weapon systems, and true-to-life battlefield environments. Gameplay involves intricate tactical maneuvering, utilizing terrain and line of sight, coordinating fire support, and managing unit morale and logistics across large, detailed maps, making the most of every single aspect of the forces available at your disposal to achieve tactical and operational superiority. Armored Brigade 2 is known for its deep simulation of battlefield conditions and its challenging learning curve, appealing to hardcore wargame enthusiasts seeking a highly authentic and demanding tactical experience.
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