Strategy games
What strategy games ask of you, and the difference between real-time and turn-based.
Strategy games are about planning, resources and decisions rather than reflexes. You usually command many units or manage a whole civilisation rather than controlling one character, and success comes from thinking several moves ahead.
This is the genre where being good means being thoughtful, not fast — though real-time strategy adds speed on top.
Real-time vs turn-based strategy — what is the difference?
Real-time strategy (RTS) runs continuously. Everything happens at once and your opponent is acting while you are. This adds pressure and rewards efficiency — managing an economy, building an army and fighting simultaneously. Age of Empires, StarCraft, Company of Heroes.
Turn-based strategy gives each side a turn. You can think as long as you like, and matches become purely about decision quality. Civilization, XCOM, Fire Emblem.
The practical difference: RTS is stressful and exciting; turn-based is calm and cerebral. Most people have a clear preference once they have tried both, so it is worth trying before committing.
What is a strategy game, more precisely
The sub-types worth knowing:
4X — explore, expand, exploit, exterminate. Long games about building a civilisation. Civilization.
Tactics — smaller-scale, usually grid-based combat. XCOM, Fire Emblem.
Grand strategy — nations and centuries, extremely deep. Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis.
Tower defence — the accessible end of the genre.
Platform note
Strategy is the genre most firmly rooted on PC. The interfaces assume a mouse, and precise unit selection is awkward with a stick. Console versions exist and several are well adapted, but if strategy is your main interest, PC is the natural home.
Turn-based and tactics games adapt to controllers much better than real-time strategy does.
A warning worth giving
Strategy games are famously time-consuming. "One more turn" is the genre''s own joke about itself for a reason. If you have limited playing time, tactics games with discrete missions suit better than a 4X game that expects a whole evening.
See our PC games page.