Tactical
41 games reviewed, ranked by score.
Emberward
Its tetromino maze-building is a stroke of genius.
Into the Breach
Three Mechs, Eight-By-Eight Grid, Endless Tactical Knots
FTL: Faster Than Light
Twelve years of rerouted shields and panicked airlocks
Worlds Upon The Wind
Sequencing glyphs into a reborn world, no combat required
XCOM 2
Concealment and turn timers punish every cautious instinct
Heat Signature
Spaceship heists where every mistake becomes a story
Cobalt Core
One-axis ship combat that clicks, enemies that don't keep up
IRON NEST: Heavy Turret Simulator
Hand-cranked artillery that thunders, thin on what comes next
Backpack Battles
Tetris with bloodlust, and you can't stop arranging
Mechabellum
Draft, counter, predict: auto-battling where reading beats reacting
Across the Obelisk
Co-op deckbuilder where the debuff stack breaks the fight
BATTLETECH
Salvage, rebuild, roll out: a mercenary loop that punishes every mistake
Terra Invicta
The deepest strategy game nobody bothered to explain
The Banner Saga
Viking grief simulator with combat that fights itself
Valkyria Chronicles
Watercolor war with a brutal trial-and-error streak
MENACE
Suppression and squad fire land hard, the AI just runs and hides
Oaken Tower
Synergy-stacking shop gamble that clicks, until Grandmaster turns to dice
Tabletop Tavern
Total War skirmishes in roguelike runs, slack AI and all
Xenonauts 2
Faithful X-COM tactics, undone by a peace ending nobody asked for
Quasimorph
Clone-fed raids that grip, until loot luck runs the late game
Shroom and Gloom
A beautiful hand-drawn deckbuilder that makes GPUs sweat.
Heroes of Science and Fiction
A sharp HoMM3 heir that chokes on its own AI turns
LONESTAR
Make Your Number Bigger Has Never Felt This Deep
Stackflow
Bee-and-casino block builds shine before the deck runs shallow
Angels Fall First
Board an enemy carrier mid-match, past the menu clutter
Dome Keeper
Dig, defend, repeat: the perfect 30-minute itch
Loop Hero
A Brilliant Loop That Eventually Devours Itself
Sol Cesto
Gorgeous grotesque odds-juggling, tripped up by unfair dice and no save
Dead Weight
Ledge-shoving fights that dazzle, then repeat themselves dry
Gordian Quest
Deckbuilder Depth Buried Under D&D Sprawl
Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era
Faithful Heroes 3 combat, hobbled by AI and a flat campaign
Two Point Hospital
Theme Hospital reborn, charming but coasting on autopilot
Anomaly President
Campaign by day, brawl by night, restart from scratch
Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes
Crisis after crisis, until the BSG dread becomes admin
STAR WARS Zero Company™
Ability-combo tactics and sharp squad writing, sunk by stutter and flat progression
OpenFront
A compelling wargame, sold as a clumsy web port.
Urban Strife
Sharp squad tactics and shelter-building, snagged on a stingy AP system
XCOM: Chimera Squad
XenoSWAT: A Tighter, Smaller, Buggier XCOM Spin-off
GROUND BRANCH
Gunsmithing to lose yourself in, wall-hacking AI to fight
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus II
Tighter tactics, but the tech-priest tinkering is gone
Wild Assault
Sharp gunplay stranded by bot lobbies and a predatory store