Welcome to Your Strategic Summer!
The Steam Summer Sale 2025 is officially underway, and if you’re a strategy game enthusiast, it’s the perfect time to expand your digital library with some of the best turn-based strategy games ever made. Whether you’re a seasoned player looking for your next grand conquest, a tactical mastermind craving intricate squad combat, or an empire builder dreaming of shaping history (or the galaxy in the most extreme of cases!), the Steam Summer Sale 2025 is the best way to fill your digital library with some of the best turn-based strategy games in 2025. I’ve meticulously scoured the vast Steam catalog to bring you a curated list of 15 essential titles that I believe are worth having in some way, whether for their excellent gameplay, replayability, or sheer strategic fun. From leading XCOM against alien invaders to forging interstellar empires and commanding medieval mercenary bands, prepare to dive into games where every decision matters and victory is earned one thoughtful turn at a time.
Get your wallet ready, because we are about to dive into the best turn-based strategy games to buy on the Steam Summer Sale 2025.
15 – Wartales
Wartales is such an amazing experience for players craving a deep, open-world turn-based strategy RPG with a gritty medieval setting with a low-fantasy twist. It puts players in charge of a small mercenary company, where every decision, from managing your party’s hunger and wages to exploring a vast world, impacts your survival and the way your story unfolds. Its demanding, hex-based combat rewards clever positioning and efficient use of diverse unit unique skills, creating genuinely tense encounters that are mighty fun to experiment with, and learn and improve in your subsequent team builds. With an emphasis on emergent storytelling, a robust profession system, and continuous updates including major DLC like “Pirates of Belerion” and “Skelmar Invasion” (which added siege battles), Wartales offers immense replayability and a truly immersive sandbox experience that will keep you playing for hours, well into the night. If you love games where you write your own legend through hardship and strategic prowess, have played Battle Brothers before and loved it, or you’re someone looking for a “classic” turn-based strategy and RPG experience where everything seems possible, then Wartales should be high on your list of top turn-based strategy games to buy on the Steam Summer Sale 2025.
14 – Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters
This list starts off strong, with one of the best turn-based strategy games for the Steam Summer Sale 2025 and one of the best turn-based strategy games you can play in 2025, and that is Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters. This brutal and deeply satisfying tactical RPG is set in the grimdark universe of the 41st millennium, and players act as the commander of the elite Grey Knights Chapter, humanity’s most potent weapon against the forces of Chaos. You’ll lead a small but incredibly powerful and specialized squad through a massive campaign, where you’ll fight dozens of turn-based battles against the insidious Plague God Nurgle and his grotesque minions.
The game stands out with its unique Precision Targeting system, extensive Grey Knight customization, and a strategic layer involving the management of your Baleful Edict battle barge and the spread of the Bloom plague across the galaxy. I highly recommend it for players who are both Warhammer 40K fans and aficionados of deep XCOM-style tactical combat but crave something new with a couple of twists.
13 – Battle Brothers
With the MENACE nearing its release, it’s time we visit the team’s first breakout success: Battle Brothers. A tough-as-they-come turn-based strategy indie darling that casts players as the leader of a fledgling mercenary company in a gritty, low-fantasy medieval world, where permadeath is a constant threat and every decision, from who you hire to what contracts you take, directly impacts your brother’ lives. While other games will punish you for losing a soldier, Battle Brothers takes things a bit further, by introducing permanent injuries to your mercenaries. One of you guys got his fingers cut off during a fight? Can’t heal from that. Head was cracked? Well, he won’t be as shart as he was. Broken arms and legs? Prepare to have a guy whose battle readiness isn’t necessarily top-tier. Add to that a very deep and complex hex-based combat system that emphasizes positioning, equipment choices, unit synergy, and unit build, and there’s a lot to learn and get familiar with here.
Battle Brothers are the perfect game for the players who want to get into the thick of its systems and crave endless replayability and emergent narratives born from your triumphant wins or devastating losses. I think it’s fair to say that this one is a cult classic, and for its price, you should definitely grab it.
12 – Old World
If the release of Civilization VII was a disappointment for you, there’s always the Hooded Horse published Old World, a 4X that actually tied and broke new ground in the historical strategy genre. Old World is an exceptional turn-based strategy game that should be high on your Steam Summer Sale 2025 wishlist. Developed by Soren Johnson, lead designer of Civilization IV (The best of the whole series), this title redefines the ancient world experience by blending traditional empire-building with deep, character-driven dynasty management similar to something you would find in Crusader Kings 3. Unlike other 4X games, where your leaders are permanent fixtures for the whole game, in Old World they’ll age, marry, have children, have complex court intrigues, and decide on law and matters of the state, with every decision impacting your lineage and the fate of your empire. The innovative “Orders” system also limits your actions per turn, forcing the player’s hand into prioritizing what truly needs to be that in the moment.
This is my recommendation for players who are fans of 4X and grand strategy games like Civilization but want a more grounded and historical experience.
11 – Songs of Conquest
In 2025 we are slatted to get a new Heroes of Might and Magic, but if you’ve been yearning for a spiritual successor to a beloved series of games, then Songs of Conquest is the closest thing you’ll find in 2025. It’s a beautiful pixel art that combines well-established map exploration and empire building by turns, intertwined with engaging (and bombastic) hex-based tactical battles. Players can recruit powerful Wielders, manage their armies, cast devastating spells fueled by an innovative essence system, and expand their realm. With multiple distinct factions, a compelling story told through “choral campaigns,” and robust modding support, Songs of Conquest offers immense replayability and a charming blend of nostalgia and modern design, making it one of the best fantasy strategy games available.
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