Best Strategy Games That Offer Freedom In Playstyle

Strategy games cover a broad range of dynamic experiences that vary wildly in accessibility, theme, and style. However, something they share in common is a frequently strong, often strict, meta. Efficient build orders and optimal choices have always been present in this genre, but some titles allow for freedom and surprise by injecting variety and/or randomness into their design.

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Games such as Into The Breach, with its accessible turn-based battles, can offer freedom in playstyle with strong customization. On the other hand, games such as Dune: Spice Wars keep things fresh with multiple victory conditions and an array of asymmetric factions.

1

Into The Breach

Squad Customization & Dynamic Turns

This turn-based tactics game, developed by the studio behind FTL: Faster Than Light, is a fantastically puzzling roguelike that champions out-of-the-box thinking. Into The Breach features a simple mission-based structure that has players leading a squad of mechs against alien bugs, defending civilians on small grids.

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Thanks to the small scale of each level, every move the player makes can be monumental, and the stakes are almost always high. This ensures that every strategic success or failure often has a lasting impact on the run. Thankfully, players can undo actions and even reset their entire turn, preventing the experience from becoming frustrating. Although players can vary their strategy from turn to turn, Into The Breach enables multiple playstyles with its abundance of alternate mech squads, each of which can be unlocked over time.

2

Darkest Dungeon

A Multitude Of Dynamic Classes

Darkest Dungeon‘s gritty hand-drawn art style and dark, gothic setting may get people through the door, but its hard-hitting turn-based combat and the variety of playstyles it facilitates is perhaps its greatest strength. From the ebb and flow of its dungeon-crawling structure and the variety of classes to the town management aspects of the game, Darkest Dungeon is a diverse experience.

Each class in Darkest Dungeon plays dramatically differently, and their abilities vary depending on where they’re placed in the four-person squad. This, combined with the abundance of items and upgrades, allows for a variety of styles. However, each player’s style may occasionally be limited by the fact that some classes outright refuse to work with one another.

3

Super Auto Pets

A Variety Of Interactions & Synergies

Systems

Released

February 24, 2021

This auto-battler may feature minimalist visuals, but its gameplay, while easy to learn, allows for a tremendous variety of styles. Super Auto Pets tasks players with building a squad of five pets, each with their unique stats and abilities, and the variety of potential pets facilitates an abundance of potential strategies.

The interactions and synergies between each of these pets provide an efficient engine that drives much of the gameplay. However, freedom may be somewhat limited by the luck of the draw, as there are a variety of random elements at play in Super Auto Pets, often forcing players to adapt their strategy on the fly.

4

Slay The Spire

Game-Changing Items & A Diverse Range Of Cards

As a deck-builder, Slay The Spire inherently offers a variety of options. However, unlike other deck-builders, Slay The Spire gives players constant opportunities to add cards to their deck. Furthermore, the unique map-crawl structure allows players to pick the right path for their current state and strategy.

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Slay The Spire also features multiple playable characters. Each of these characters is tremendously unique, featuring their own distinctive set of available cards that themselves offer their synergies and strategies to discover. Combined with the abundance of game-changing relics and unique cards, Slay The Spire is able to offer a deeply varied network of strategies.

5

Wildfrost

Interlocking Systems & Multiple Factions

Digital Card Game

Strategy

Roguelike

Systems

Released

April 12, 2023

Developer(s)

Deadpan Games
, Gaziter

Wildfrost is a unique deck-builder not only for its companion-based gameplay, which combines elements of Hearthstone with traditional card play but also for its structure. In between each battle, players are given the choice of two unique paths. Each of these paths brings its own set of rewards, all at once, offering players a severe power spike that’s refreshingly fast-paced. By giving players access to their rewards in short bursts, it becomes easier to build a strategy, as more knowledge is available at once.

The cards and their variety of types, including spells to be cast and companions to be summoned, also offer variety. Furthermore, the game features an abundance of charms that can change the way a companion plays. The icing on the cake here is that Wildfrost also features multiple factions, each of which plays wildly differently from one another, something that is apparent from the beginning of each run thanks to unique starting decks.

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StarCraft 2

Asymmetric Factions & Dynamic Gameplay

Of course, StarCraft 2 is subject to the meta and, as a result, optimal strategies that force players to be efficient. However, the asymmetric factions are tremendously unique, and each offers such a variety of intricacies and quirks that the potential for unique strategies is rich.

The abundance of units and buildings within StarCraft 2, and the way each map changes the possibilities, gives players tremendous freedom in how they play. Be it an economical long play or a fast-paced rush, there are many angles to approach each match.

7

Dune: Imperium

A Diverse Array Of Strategies On Multiple Levels

• Platform(s): PC, Xbox, Mobile
• Released: 2024
• Developer(s): Dire Wolf
• Genre: Board Game

Adapted from the tabletop game of the same name, Dune: Imperium is naturally a mechanically dense experience. Combining a worker-placement structure with classic deck-building gameplay, Dune: Imperium offers a diverse array of strategies on multiple levels.

While players may be limited and forced to adapt to the decisions of other players, there’s still a tremendous amount of freedom when it comes to playstyle. This is in part thanks to the variety of leaders that players can choose from, each of which offers their unique strengths and weaknesses. Furthermore, the variety of cards and the well-balanced positions on the board ensure there are almost always multiple choices.

8

Dune: Spice Wars

Multiple Victory Conditions & Asymmetric Factions

Dune: Spice Wars

Systems

Released

September 14, 2023

Developer(s)

Shiro Games

Dune: Spice Wars is a wholly thematic combination of 4X and real-time strategy games, set in the iconic universe of Frank Herbert’s Dune. The game features an emphasis on base-building and resource management and often encourages patience, tactical awareness, and risky gambits.

Thanks to a diverse research tree and incredible asymmetric faction design, every game of Dune: Spice Wars can play out differently. This is further elevated by the game’s variety of winning conditions, allowing players to focus on everything from economy and warfare to politics and espionage.

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