Best Strategy Games That Let You Play Your Own Way

Often featuring complex mechanics and interlocking systems that promote diverse play, strategy games are veritable gold mines when it comes to player agency and creative thinking. This is especially so as many strategy games allow players to overcome challenges from multiple angles, enabling them to tackle obstacles in unique ways.

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8 Great Strategy Games That Aren’t Match-Based

These grand strategy games do not feature match-based skirmish modes common in games of the genre.

As a result, the broad genre of strategy games is perfect for players that enjoy developing their own solutions. From roguelike deck-builders with their strategic build crafting and methodical turn-based combat, to auto-battlers such as Super Auto Pets with their diverse crucibles of experimentation, each of these titles offers strategic freedom in their own unique way.

8

Super Auto Pets

Squad-Based Gameplay Provides A Myriad Of Strategies

Systems

Released

February 24, 2021

Super Auto Pets is a unique and accessible auto-battler that’s able to offer considerable strategic depth thanks to a diverse pool of units and items. This diversity facilitates a wild variety of potential strategies, allowing players to play their own way.

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Fans who can’t get enough of the auto battler genre can’t go wrong with the following games.

There are random elements at play in Super Auto Pets, as players only have access to a certain number of units and items at any one time. However, even when forced to adapt, Super Auto Pets almost always leaves players with more than one option. As a result, it’s rare that players are forced into one specific style.

7

Wildermyth

A Narrative-Focused Strategy Game That Lets Players Lead The Way

Released

June 15, 2021

Developer(s)

Worldwalker Games

Publisher(s)

Worldwalker Games

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

Wildermyth is a turn-based strategy RPG that takes ample inspiration from tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons. This results in an immersive experience that’s driven by narrative choices and random events that allow players to have a hand in how the story plays out.

The story itself is emergent, revolving around the drama and interactions surrounding the player’s unique party of characters. This results in distinctive playthroughs that can vary wildly, rewarding players for trying new things and approaching the game in their own way.

6

Wildfrost

A Deck-Builder With Multiple Factions & Diverse Loot

Digital Card Game

Strategy

Roguelike

Released

April 12, 2023

Developer(s)

Deadpan Games, Gaziter

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

Wildfrost is a roguelike deck-builder that excels with its charming cartoon art-style and unique tactical spin on typical deck-building gameplay. Supporting the game’s innovative combat system is a generous helping of loot that elevates the pace of the game and, more importantly, gives players the freedom and control to craft builds with ease.

The game’s distinctive playable factions also offer their own pool of strategies, diversifying the experience from run to run. With numerous cards, companions, charms, and items to make use of, Wildfrost is able to let players develop their own unique strategies extremely quickly.

5

Griftlands

A Deck-Building Roguelike With RPG Mechanics

RPG

Indie Games

Adventure

Strategy

Released

July 11, 2019

OpenCritic Rating

Mighty

Griftlands is a roguelike deck-builder that makes use of multiple playable characters and RPG elements in order to facilitate a multitude of approaches. More specifically, Griftlands features a dual combat system that allows players to tackle obstacles not only with violence, but also via negotiation.

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The 10 Best Deck-Building RPGs, Ranked

Deck-building games like Hearthstone have become very popular, and these games mesh their mechanics with RPG trappings for a truly unique experience.

This adds a great deal of decision-making to the game and heightens the number of decisions players must make when deck-building by tasking them with managing two decks simultaneously. The RPG systems in particular encourage players to play their own way, with a character reputation system that encourages political play and even the ability to spare or execute rivals.

4

Dune: Imperium

A Deep Well Of Strategic Decision-Making

• Platform(s): PC, Xbox, Mobile
• Released: March 13, 2024
• Developer(s): Dire Wolf
• Genre: Board Game

​​​​​​​Dune: Imperium is a match-based strategy game that combines both worker-placement and deck-building systems to great effect. As a result of this unique combination, Dune: Imperium is able to offer players a deep and strategic puzzle of interconnected mechanics that encourage a multitude of play-styles.

The abundance of powerful cards and board spaces ensures players are almost always presented with more than one option, especially as the game proceeds. This is supported further by a myriad of leaders that facilitate their own variety of play-styles. With such an intricate web of decision-making, Dune: Imperium manages to be a truly expressive strategy game that rewards bold play and risky gambits.

3

Dune: Spice Wars

Truly Distinctive Asymmetric Factions

Dune: Spice Wars

Systems

Released

September 14, 2023

Developer(s)

Shiro Games

Publisher(s)

Funcom, Shiro Games

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

​​​​​​​Dune: Spice Wars is a slow-burning and methodical strategy game that’s able to facilitate expressive gameplay and an abundance of viable play-styles. This is achieved through a winning combination of asymmetric factions and multiple winning conditions.

The game’s many factions and their own set of counselors present players with a veritable toolkit with which to develop an initial strategy. However, the ever-changing state of each skirmish and the strategies that emerge from map spawns result in constant decision-making that allows players to frequently adapt to the state of the game.

2

StarCraft 2

A Competitive RTS That Rewards Creative Thinking

Systems

​​​​​​​StarCraft 2 and many classic real-time strategy games, especially those with a competitive edge, are typically expressive experiences. StarCraft 2 in particular is painstakingly balanced in order to offer players a diverse set of units, structures, and underlying systems. This frequently facilitates dynamic and reactive play that rewards speed, patience, and strategy in near-equal measure.

From learning, adapting, and even developing new build orders, to evolving a particular style of micro or macro management, StarCraft 2 offers a deep well of skills to learn and knowledge to acquire. As a result, players are often able to develop unique play-styles that take advantage of particular skills and avoid their limitations. This is in part why StarCraft 2’s competitive scene is still exciting to watch, despite the fact that the game receives few balance patches.

1

Kenshi

A Sandbox RPG That Champions Player Agency

Systems

Released

December 6, 2018

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

​​​​​​​This open-world sandbox RPG excels with its championing of player agency, allowing players to venture into its harsh and hostile world and make their own way, however they see fit. This is facilitated via emergent gameplay, supported by a variety of simulated elements and a living, breathing world populated by hazards, wandering mobs, and NPCs.

The game is a decidedly slow burn, but players that exercise patience and manage to stick out the many dangers of Kenshi’s world will find a rewarding sandbox underneath. This is due to the game’s slow and methodical progression system, which encourages players to take their time and set goals appropriate to their current situation. With base-building, bounty-hunting, stealth, and a myriad of activities to partake in, Kenshi is a game that rewards players for seeking out their own adventures.

MORE

Open World Sandbox Games With Strategic Combat

The following open-world games are all either inherently sandbox or have sandbox modes, and they all require players to use their heads in combat.