9 – Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (1999)
The Heroes of Might & Magic series of titles is one of the most recognizable in gaming history, but no other title stands out as much as Heroes of Might & Magic III, which is still considered by many as the definitive masterpiece of turn-based strategy (TBS), perfecting a high-fantasy “just one more turn” loop that has never been surpassed. By seamlessly blending RPG-style hero progression with empire management and tactical grid-based combat, Heroes 3 created one of the best strategy experiences ever made, and one that we will see make a return with the soon-to-be-released Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era.
8 – Company of Heroes (2006)
If you’ve been a reader here for a while, you know by now how I consider Company of Heroes to be one of my favorite games of all time. In 2026, the impact of Company of Heroes is largely overlooked due to the series downfall and stagnation. Still, when it came out, in 2006, it completely revolutionized the real-time strategy genre by shifting the focus from abstract resource management where armies fought in doomstacks and lines, to the visceral, gritty reality of the battlefield where positioning, cover (a physics-based cover system, no less), destructible environments, suppression mechanics, and even armor frontage all mattered. It became an obvious choice for those of us who wanted to play more World War 2 strategy games and were looking for a faithful adaptation of the realities of warfare. To this day, I still believe that Company of Heroes is as good in 2006 as it was 20 years ago, and it’s a permanent fixture on my machines.
7 – Europa Universalis 2 (2001)
One of the 15 most influential strategy games of all time is Europa Universalis 2, the quintessential pioneer of the Grand Strategy Game (GSG), and a title that managed to save Paradox Interactive by becoming beloved by historical fans by laying the foundations for a sub-genre of historical simulation. While other strategy games focused on balanced skirmishes, EU2 embraced asymmetric gameplay and a sort of historical sandbox approach, allowing players to lead any nation through four centuries of history, from the Hundred Years’ War to the Napoleonic era. Without Europa Universalis 2, we wouldn’t have had Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings, Stellaris, and, more recently, Europa Universalis 5, a game that’s still pushing the boundaries of the genre today.
6 – SimCity (1989)
City builders are one of the most well-known sub-genres of strategy, and one of the more popular too, and it was all made possible by SimCity, the foundational pillar of the genre, famously creating a game with no focus on combat, and essentially becoming a sort of “software toy”. Designer Will Wright introduced players to emergent gameplay, where complex urban systems, like RCI (Residential, Commercial, Industrial) balance, tax regulation, and power distribution, interact to create unpredictable outcomes. Fast forward more than 30 years, and players are still loving their time trying to figure out how and why there’s too much traffic in a given junction in Cities: Skylines.
5 – Total War: Shogun (2000)
There’s no going around the Total War franchise when talking about strategy games. Either you love the franchise or hate it, it’s one of the most successful and influential of all time, and it all started with Shogun: Total War, a game that forever altered the landscape of digital wargaming by successfully marrying two polar opposite scales: the high-level grand strategy of empire management and the visceral, cinematic intensity of real-time tactics (RTT). Before this title, strategy games were largely split between “Risk-style” map conquest or small-scale unit skirmishes; Creative Assembly bridged that gap by allowing players to move armies across a turn-based map of feudal Japan before diving into massive 3D battles involving thousands of individual soldiers.
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