The Top Strategy Video Games of 2022

Terra Invicta is a grand strategy game that challenges players to respond to an alien invasion as one of seven ideological factions, each with a unique perspective and goal. Players will vie for influence over Earth’s nations and expand across a detailed model of our Solar System.

Inside the game

Terra Invicta has been one of my most hotly-anticipated games for over a year now, and I’m so excited to see the date of its release approaching. There were some delays already, so this has definitely been a long time coming.

The premise is simple: aliens are coming and Earth is unprepared. You take control of one of several secret organizations, each with different agendas, and vie for control of Earth’s government and resources, all while building up the technology and infrastructure needed to expand into space, build colonies, and design your fleet of advanced spaceships. From there, things get even more wicked, with physics-based combat, a massive array of potential strategic and tactical approaches, and wildly different approaches to play depending on which faction you control.

As far as grand strategy games go, this may be one of the best we’ve ever seen.

After centuries of sleep, Lilith, Mother of Demons, has been revived by Hydra through a twist of dark magic and science. Lilith stops at nothing to complete an ancient prophecy and bring back her evil master, Chthon. Pushed to the brink, the Avengers desperately look to fight fire with hellfire and enlist the help of the Midnight Suns - Nico Minoru, Blade, Magik and Ghost Rider - young heroes with powers deeply rooted in the supernatural, formed to prevent the very prophecy Lilith aims to fulfill. Together, they resurrect an ancient warrior - the Hunter, Lilith’s forsaken child and the only hero known to have ever defeated her. In the face of fallen allies and the fate of the world at stake, it will be up to you to rise up against the darkness!

Inside the game

Marvel's Midnight Suns aims to take a renewed stab at the superhero genre, something that many past games have failed to deliver on. But, usually, we see superhero games get push out that are glorified arena combat titles, or focus exclusively on heavy action. Midnight Suns’ approach is different.

This game will use static turns to deliver the action, with those actions chosen for your team from a number of cards featuring different attacks and abilities. Now, there are plenty of turn-based games that work great, but it’s going to be a real curiosity to see how it feels with what is normally such a lively genre.

_Distant Worlds Returns! Distant Worlds, the critically acclaimed 4X space strategy game is back with a brand new 64-bit engine, 3D graphics and a polished interface to begin an epic new Distant Worlds series with Distant Worlds 2. _

Inside the game

Distant Worlds 2 is taking a stab at the genre Stellaris has been the reigning champion of for years, Distant Worlds is also a real-time 4X grand strategy game that allows you to pause and take stock of the situation before you.

This game is massive, with 2,000 individual systems appearing in one of its randomly-generated maps, and the devs boast that the galaxy will feel like it’s brimming with life. Something those of us who are Stellaris fans note about that game is that it tends to feel a bit lackluster in places. It seems like DW2 is aiming to solve that problem by making the galaxy feel like it’s living and breathing around you while you play, which is really exciting.

Deploy into an authentic, expansive, and meticulously researched Cold War real-time strategy game with WARNO. As the spiritual successor to the acclaimed Wargame series, WARNO is the ultimate next-gen World War III battle simulator.

Inside the game

WARNO has been released at the start of 2022 to mostly positive reviews, which is saying something since this is an early access game that’s still in heavy development. Still, there’s so much to be had even in the alpha version that the game can be fun already, and there’s a massive amount of potential to be had if you look at what the devs have planned.

Early Access does not mean buggy or unfinished. Our goal is to offer a game that is stable and fun to play from the get-go. We aim to have the same recommended specs needed as for Steel Division 2, our previous World War II RTS. Rather, our vision is to roll out different major features and segments, each playable from start to finish, during our Early Access program. We want to grow WARNO together with our community so that over time it becomes the best version of itself… much like a fine bottle of red wine (we are French after all).”

Be the ray of hope among the darkness of war. Control a British WW1 field hospital in a 3D isometric RTS where you lead the medical corps instead of soldiers. Fight for life, soul, and humanity in a world that rejected them in a unique society survival game.

The year is 1917. You are major Henry Wells, a retired British combat medic, drafted back and thrown into the nightmare of World War I. Understaffed and undersupplied, you are the last bastion of hope for countless soldiers at the French Front.

Inside the game

War Hospital is a wonderfully unique concept for a game in a field where originality sometimes feels like it’s flown right out the window. A game about war that concentrates on saving lives, not slaughtering them, and places you in the heat of moral decisions that require managing a complex economy of resources to balance. This is absolutely one I’m going to recommend.

Take command of a fleet of space warships tailored to your exact play-style. Favor a small task group of robust, flexible multi-role combatants, a large group of specialized ships, or something in between. Do battle in a heavily simulation-based tactical game featuring everything from kinetics and beam weapons to realistic radar and electronic warfare. Nebulous seamlessly blends the thoughtfulness of pre-mission planning, tension of battle decision-making, pressure of real-time action, and pain of inevitable sacrifice into an intense tactical space game that will keep you reflecting on every decision (and mistake) for hours after each battle.

Inside the game

NEBULOUS: Fleet Command has me deliriously excited because it’s offering a physics-based, hard sci-fi, Expanse-like experience of space combat. I’ve been playing space strategy games for a long time, and one thing I’ve come to deeply dislike about them is how combat is always rendered by a roll of the dice. There’s no visceral feeling of your ships fighting, for all that some games feature beautiful graphics; you’re too-often left with a system that rewards those who either researched new tech faster or else just had a bigger fleet.

But, in Nebulous, things look to be different. The game has been designed with realism in mind, from the fine points of how radar works, to self-guided missiles, to stealth based on surface size and heat sink as well as electronic signatures… this game will have it all. The alpha version will be fully playable and should feature some great chances at initial combat, and there’s a nice expansion due out shortly after the initial release. Development toward the full version is expected to take two years, but, golly, does it seem like it will be worth it. There’s a lot planned here, including a solar-system-wide war that will eventually see you battling it out across a sprawling range of space environments.

Oh, and the game’s being designed with modding support from the get-go, meaning that your favorite fandoms will easily find a niche here.

Lead humanity’s greatest weapon, the Grey Knights, against the corrupting forces of Chaos in this brutal and fast-paced turn-based tactical RPG. Root out and put a stop to an insidious plot to infect the galaxy with the Bloom, an intergalactic cosmic plague capable of rotting worlds into oblivion.

Inside the game

Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters brings us back to 1998, when the last Chaos Gate game saw players leading their ultramarines in a colossal battle against Chaos. Nearly 25 years later, the epic fight continues as you lead a team of the secretive Space Marine order, the Gray Knights.

The story was penned by New York Times bestselling author, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, and the turn-based combat is going to be backed by a powerful narrative campaign with all the RPG goodness that you could ask for to spice up the gameplay.

Old World is a revolutionary new historical strategy game where you lead your dynasty over generations of rule against rival kings and queens. Wage massive wars, manage your court, and build a dynasty — or watch your empire crumble to dust. What legacy will you leave behind?

Inside the game

Old World is taking the game style inspired by the Civilization game series to a whole new level. Expanding beyond the limitations of its predecessors, Old World seeks to make the player care about their civilization more than other 4X games do, taking inspiration from Crusader Kings and improving upon it for a deeply immersive experience.

There are so many exciting features to be had, from dynamic dynasties that feel like real families, to randomized technology trees for every playthrough to keep things fresh, to being fully moddable, to having a whole different system of movement and combat than the Civ games have dreamed of. It’s super exciting.

Stargate: Timekeepers is a real-time tactics game where you lead a team of specialists through a story-driven campaign set in the SG-1 universe. Sneak your characters behind enemy lines, use their unique skills, craft the perfect plan to unravel a timeloop mystery, and defeat the Goa’uld threat.

Inside the game

Stargate: Timekeepers starts up where season seven of Stargate: SG1 leaves off, taking you on an original adventure with an all-new squad led by Commander Eva McCain.

It’s really exciting to see an RTS that features a choices matter style of play, as well as offers multiple endings to the story based on those choices. But, to see such a game for the Stargate franchise has me 1000% salivating. It’s been a long time since we saw any new Stargate content, after that disastrous travesty, Stargate: Universe. Perhaps this new game means that we might see a new series sometime in the future? Perhaps a real tie-in to the original series, and featuring the same long-season episodic format? Hey, a fan can dream, can’t he?

Conquer a vast procedurally generated star system in Falling Frontier, a sci-fi RTS where intel and logistics are decisive factors. Design ships and raid enemy supply lines, lay minefields and construct recon stations, and ambush enemy forces within asteroid fields and nebulae.

Inside the game

I discovered Falling Frontier relatively recently and completely lost my sh!t. This game has it all, from deep strategy and tactics mechanics, resource and supply lines that really matter, a vast solar system worth of space to explore and fight over, and it’s all being produced by a solo developer who’s committed to this project out of sheer love.

Seriously, this game looks fabulous. Aside from the physics-based combat, where missing your target might blow something up unexpectedly elsewhere (“Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a b!tch in space”, after all), to a system of population management and crew hiring that makes you really feel like you have a live crew aboard your ships — people you care about and won’t be willing to sacrifice needlessly.

Tactical, beautiful, and wholly unique, the GOTY-winning sci-fi RTS returns with Homeworld 3. Assume control and battle through fleet combat in dazzling, fully 3D space while the award-winning story unfolds on a galactic scale.

Inside the game

Homeworld 3 picks up well after the events of Homeworld 2, as the Hyperspace Gate Network is failing and ancient relics are suddenly on everyone’s mind. The game is going to feature a detailed story that I can only hope is as good as the original, and a massively enhanced combat system that brings the realistic-feeling combat of the earlier games into the next-gen, with 3D landscapes that afford ships and fighters cover and maneuvering options.

For many of us, the Homeworld games were our first introduction into large-scale space RTS, and it’s one heck of a proud lineage.

You play as the leader of a resource-hungry metropolis where the expansion and search for new sources of power is an unavoidable reality. After the age of coal, conquering Frostland for the oil extraction industry is expected to be the new salvation of what’s left of humanity. However, change does not come easily, and not everyone in this new multi-layered society will welcome this new direction. Demands and expectations of various factions will raise tensions and evoke conflicts, but will a cold-blooded rule and a Machiavellian approach to politics be necessary? As the everlasting cold continues its grip on the city and outside threats arise, you’ll need to make sure your people are united, driven, and ready for difficult, unavoidable sacrifices!

Inside the game

Frostpunk 2 picks up where the critically-acclaimed original left off, offering a continuation of humanity’s struggle to survive in the bleak frozen wasteland Earth has become.

In the first game, managing your people’s survival and happiness was a grueling yet rewarding experience, and you would often find yourself agonizing over solutions that were harsh but effective, and those which required a defter hand lest all break down into chaos. I’m certain that the new game will continue this moral balancing, while also pushing deeper the great gameplay elements that made this the paramount survival strategy sim of its age.

Terra Nil is a reverse city builder about ecosystem reconstruction. Turn a barren wasteland into an ecological paradise complete with different flora and fauna. Then clean up, leaving the environment pristine. Subverting the builder genre, Terra Nil is about the restoration of a ravaged environment.

Inside the game

Terra Nil looks, frankly, fantastic. This could be a revitalization to the trope-ridden city builder genre like nothing we could have imagined. I’m a huge fan of games that break the mold in some way, and while every year there are dozens of games with ever-more “destructible” environments, there’s little new under the sun when it comes to blowing things up.

Choose your kingdom and become the king as you wrestle over control of Europe in this fresh take on medieval real-time grand strategy. Manage provinces, gather armies, initiate diplomacy, and dabble in espionage.

Inside the game

Knights of Honor 2: Sovereign comes out over fifteen years after the original game, which still has one of the highest ratings on Steam. Knights of Honor was a supreme strategy game, and its sequel looks to capitalize on all that worked before, whilst updating and reinvigorating gameplay for a whole new generation of gamers and game systems.

Two important points are accessibility and multiplayer. There will be full multiplayer support, so you can join in with your friends and conquer medieval Europe, but, more importantly, you won’t have to be an expert at grand strategy games to do so. This game is supposed to have all the wonderful depth and complexity we’ve come to expect from the genre, but without the annoying learning curve that can sometimes turn off new and seasoned players alike.

A real-time strategy game with 4X elements, from the developers of the critically acclaimed Northgard. Set in Frank Herbert’s groundbreaking Dune universe, you must lead your faction and battle for control and dominance over the harsh desert planet of Arrakis.

Inside the game

Dune: Spice Wars feels positively classic, offering wonderful retro art in colorful aesthetic style against the highly realistic and inhospitable desert landscape (a landscape that the devs worked on with a geologist to get just right).

Subterfuge, political influence, economic supremacy, and open warfare all play a part in this massive game. It may start out as early access, but I have the feeling that this is going to be one of the best-loved tie-in games to come along in a really long time.