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Nuno’s Top 10 Favorite Strategy Games Of All Time

1 – Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition

Age of Empires II: Age of Kings was the first PC game I ever played, even before I had my own computer. I remember playing it at a cousin’s house for hours on end, and when I got my first PC, it was the first thing to be installed. I don’t think there has been a time in my life when the game was not installed on my PC, making it the second permanent fixture alongside Stronghold Crusader.

Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition is, for all intents and purposes, the best real-time strategy (RTS) game ever made. If you need any more proof of that, just take a look at the game’s longevity and the number of people currently playing it. While the original Age of Empires II: Age of Kings still has that late ’90s charm, if you’ve never played the original game and want to experience what peak RTS is like right now, you cannot go wrong with the Definitive Edition of the game, which, by the way, is still getting new DLCs and updates to this very day.

Age of Empires II not only defined my love for gaming (even though it was already there from the Sega Saturn games) but for History as a whole. It was one of the catalysts that led me to studying History at University, and eventually led me to where I am today, writing this list for you 🙂

Strategy Games Are Always Evolving, and My Top 10 Will To!

Now you know what my favorite strategy games are and why they have impacted me so much. From my first interaction with a real-time strategy/historical title like Age of Empires II all the way to classics like Rome: Total War and Company of Heroes, each and every one of these games on this list is special to me in their own way, and dislodging them from here will take something truly special indeed. I hope you enjoyed this article, and comment down below what you think of it!

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40 responses to “Nuno’s Top 10 Favorite Strategy Games Of All Time”

  1. Tad witter Avatar
    Tad witter

    warcraft3? Starcraft2? You are an rts noob with joke reviews.

    Reply
    1. Sir Nuno Avatar
      Sir Nuno

      Those are decent games, not my favorites

      Reply
    2. Uzik Avatar
      Uzik

      no need to be negative. AoE2, Dawn of War and CoH and solid RTS picks.

      Reply
      1. Sir Nuno Avatar
        Sir Nuno

        People love to engage with this sort of thing, and I love it!

    3. David Watts Avatar
      David Watts

      command and conquer? Battle Pirates? And a Mobil game LastWar?

      Reply
      1. Sir Nuno Avatar
        Sir Nuno

        C&C is represented by Red Alert. No idea about the other games.

  2. Charles W Mubarak Avatar
    Charles W Mubarak

    So, no Sid Meiers anything? Wow.

    Reply
    1. Sir Nuno Avatar
      Sir Nuno

      Civ 4 could have been in the list, but alas, I prefer other games over it.

      Reply
  3. Josh Avatar
    Josh

    Not a bad list, I’ve played 90% of the games on the list. RA2, Stronghold, and Empire Earth are very good. XCOM was decent, not top 10 imo.
    I prefer grand strategy today, with games like Europa Universalis. However, not a bad list by any means.

    Reply
    1. Sir Nuno Avatar
      Sir Nuno

      Just my personal favorites. Cheers!

      Reply
    2. Kaboomer5000 Avatar
      Kaboomer5000

      lol. Ok zoomer… Xcom is like one of greatest titles ever made on par with fallout 1 & 2

      Reply
      1. Sir Nuno Avatar
        Sir Nuno

        XCOM is one of the best games of all time.

  4. Ralph L Avatar
    Ralph L

    Good list. I recommend Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy if you have not had a chance to try it.

    Reply
    1. Maven Avatar
      Maven

      Excellent choices!

      Starcraft deserves a look, but if these were your favorites then you had an excellent childhood. RA2 is SO much better than RA3, and I love that its on your list!

      I would love to know your thoughts on Warhammer Total War, or Starcraft 🙂

      Reply
      1. Sir Nuno Avatar
        Sir Nuno

        I love Total War: Warhammer and had my fun with SC2 campaign 🙂

  5. fstefanak Avatar
    fstefanak

    I discovered Burden of Command through this site, and it certainly deserves its spot here. Great list all in all.

    One of the things I love about RA2 is that I was around 13 when I played it, and the story, and warfare, the cutscenes, it all felt so intense and amazing. All my friends, we took it all so seriously. When I played it again recently, I was surprised to find just how campy and over the top it all has been, but still such a wonderful game. It just works on both levels. Good times!

    (Deus Ex is another just like that, the fact that the entire plotline was just realizing more and more ridiculous tinfoil conspiracy theories went completely over my head as a boy)

    Reply
    1. Sir Nuno Avatar
      Sir Nuno

      Thanks so much!

      Reply
  6. chiroho Avatar
    chiroho

    Out of interest, what makes you prefer Enemy Unknown over XCom2/War of the Chosen? Also, do you play with any mods?

    Reply
    1. Sir Nuno Avatar
      Sir Nuno

      I think it’s mainly the setting and the lack of a timer, to be honest. Just visual mods, still want to give the Long Mod a try. What’s your opinion on it?

      Reply
      1. chiroho Avatar
        chiroho

        That makes sense. I did not like the time element added to many of the mission types in XCOM2. Although I did like the graphical update.
        I’ve played the Long War mod mostly in XCOM2, since the support for mods was better, although I vaguely recall playing it in Enemy Unknown. It does add a lot to the game. I’d recommend going it a try.

  7. Jay Avatar
    Jay

    Having AoE -deservedly so- on here but missing Warcraft and Starcraft feels criminal. Almost equally unforgivable is the omission of any Civilization game

    Reply
    1. Sir Nuno Avatar
      Sir Nuno

      Sorry, but not really sorry. This is my personal list, and for several reasons, SC doesn’t make a show, and that’s because I never played when it came out, just a lot later, so it lost a bit of its impact because of that. Warcraft is cool, but the same reason as SC. Civilization IV is a personal favorite, but it wouldn’t be on my top 50 list.

      Reply
  8. Dassbear Avatar
    Dassbear

    comments popped off on this one. I feel like total war players favorite games vary tremendously. I started with Rome but out of the older titles Shogun 2 + Shogun 2 Fall of the Samurai won my heart. No game in my opinion has a better combination of melee and gunpowder. Total War newest titles TW Three Kingdoms would be my favorite due to the diplomacy and natural drama with 3 kingdoms split. TW Warhammer is solid and I create 99% of my content on it but I do miss great historical titles. Long comment but I think Creative Assembly is nuking its TW IP.

    Reply
    1. Sir Nuno Avatar
      Sir Nuno

      My personal favorite of the Total War games is the first Rome, but I understand Creative Assembly when they decided to put all their bets on the franchise that brings out the most money. Truth is, their historical titles haven’t been good in a while, and that’s mostly because of an outdated engine, which happens to work well with Warhammer. Until they create a new engine, I cannot imagine a decent historical game coming out that isn’t based on a proven formula (Rome, Medieval or Shogun). I wish they would be crazy enough and venture to WW1, it would be a spectacle.

      Reply
      1. Dassbear Avatar
        Dassbear

        Completely agree on the need for a new engine and my opinion how armies wage war need updated. Most players go 2 full stacks or more and march them together. i think single army with more slots and wing style formation set up would make since.

      2. Sir Nuno Avatar
        Sir Nuno

        Will they go that route?

  9. simasmos Avatar
    simasmos

    Last year was a 25 anniversary of AoE2 release and I remember reading several articles from historians about the game being the reason they work in this field. Then I also realised my interest for history comes from it as well.

    Interesting to see a video game having an impact on so many lifes.

    Reply
    1. Sir Nuno Avatar
      Sir Nuno

      Same with me, I went to study History and Teaching at the University because of AoE 2 and Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. It’s amazing how videogames can impact people the same way books and movies do.

      Cheers!

      Reply
  10. Why? Avatar
    Why?

    I understand that this is a fav list so it is your personal list but any rts lists without sc is a joke really. It is like saying I am a basketball/tennis fan but Jordan/federer is not on my top ten list. Fav or not fav list, it is amateur.

    Reply
    1. Sir Nuno Avatar
      Sir Nuno

      You got me there, but I’m sorry, SC isn’t in my top 10. Not even in my top 20.

      Reply
  11. LeXer Avatar
    LeXer

    A very bad list. RTSs to strategy are like a bumper sticker to philosophy. It’s very casual and simplistic games, basically nothing strategic at all.

    Reply
    1. Sir Nuno Avatar
      Sir Nuno

      Share your favorite games with the boys!

      Reply
    2. Sir Nuno Avatar
      Sir Nuno

      Boy, share your favorites with us

      Reply
      1. Dravic Avatar
        Dravic

        Ignore the haters Sir Nuno, personal favourites can be very different to “best” games. My personal favourites over the years would be RA, RA2, CoH, Civ2, Black and White and Populous.

      2. Sir Nuno Avatar
        Sir Nuno

        Thanks for the comment, mate! Oh Black and White was pretty damn amazing! I loved it!

  12. Ahmad Avatar
    Ahmad

    No CnC generals Zero-hour = bad list

    Reply
    1. Sir Nuno Avatar
      Sir Nuno

      C&C is an RTS bro, not a RTT

      Reply
  13. Nuno’s Top 10 Favorite Historical Games Of All Time – Strategy and Wargaming

    […] the unfathomable and unexpected success of my previous personal list, which covered my favorite real-time strategy games, I wanted to offer another perspective on the titles I enjoy so that you get to know me a little […]

    Reply
  14. Joe Avatar
    Joe

    You forgot the awesome games Cossacks 1 and Cossacks 3

    Reply
    1. Sir Nuno Avatar
      Sir Nuno

      They were on head but never made it to paper.

      Reply

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