Introduction
It’s hard to believe the big wave of indie strategy games has been around for nearly 15 years and is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. Over the past decade and a half, a dozen beloved titles, cult classics, and surprise hits emerged, some of which revolutionized the strategy genre with innovative mechanics, genre blends, and entirely new concepts. In this list, I’ll take a look at some of the best indie games of the last 15 years and see what they brought to the table, and why they deserve to be considered the best indie strategy games to play in 2026.
15 – Thronefall
Released in late 2024, following a really brief Early Access period, Thronefall is a minimalist strategy, tower-defense game that strips the genre to its most basic form, and it’s all the better for it. Players control a single unit, a lone monarch on horseback, and navigate a small kingdom building up defenses and their economy during the day, and frantically defending against enemy hordes during the night. These bite-sized 10 to 15 minutes sessions create an engaging gameplay loop of quick decisions, fast battles, and immediate rewards. Time just vanishes while playing it, and the game is now one of Steam’s top rated game, with an asthouding 96% overwhelmingly positive rating, with more than 20.000 reviews.
14 – Game Dev Tycoon
What a charming little game this one is. Game Dev Tycoon was released all the way back in 2013. Players take control of a video game development company in the 1980s and are to guide it to success for the next 2 decades. We do this by creating new games, adapting to the customer’s habits by developing for new genres or specializing in a specific niche, and even selecting which platforms the game will live on, as well as keeping up with technological advancements by researching new dev tools. It has that addicting “one more turn” feeling, but instead of a turn, you’re launching a new game (or several). It’s always a satisfying moment when one of your games goes out, and they’re positively received by reviewers, and the sales will soon follow.
13 – Door Kickers 2: Task Force North
What I love about indie games is how they can just take a simple concept and expand upon it in a way that major companies could never because of risk and cost. The first Door Kickers asked a very simple question: what if we took the planning tool from the early Rainbow Six games and made a full game around it? Would it work? The definitive answer is yes, it did work. A bit too well, in fact. Players must meticulously plan the whole mission, from squad equipment to paths taken, and even which corners to peer when breaching a room. An unparalleled level of tactical control.
Door Kickers 2: Task Force North asks another question: what if we picked up what we did with Door Kickers, but changed from SWAT to Special Ops, added bigger maps, a lot more gear, and made missions a much more complex? Man, let me tell you, the result is the best top-down strategy game ever made.
12 – Tooth and Tail
Tooth and Tail is the kind of game that came out during that weird time in history where every developer wanted to “simplify strategy games”, for some reason that still eludes me to this very day. While I wasn’t that much of a fan of the concept, Tooth and Tail twisted my arm into thinking the game was, in fact, very successful at doing just that: matches were short, but intense, requiring your full attention, you control just one unit and had to go around rallying others to fight, and they’ll do it automatically. Personally, I much prefer complex strategy titles, but I think the campaign and the artstyles of Tooth and Tail do wonders to carry the game, and it’s worth playing just because of that.
11 – Battle Brothers
With MENACE out right now, and being quite an exquisite strategy experience, there was a game that preceded it, which is equally as influential and revolutionary, called Battle Brothers. A gritty, turn-based tactical RPG that puts players in the role of a mercenary company leader, the game focuses on the mundane reality of life as a merc: Have enough money to eat; clean and service your weapons; hire some poor peasants and beggars, and fight. Battle Brothers came out in 2017, when “jobber” video games were in high demand. Do you remember the popularity of Euro Truck Simulator 2 and Farm Simulator? By giving players a taste of the mundane and letting go of the fantastical prophecies and high-fantasy of other settings, Battle Brothers managed to establish itself as the go-to strategy game for those who want a more “mud and blood” experience, instead of being a knight in shiny armor.
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