RPG General News - Top 25 Tactical/Strategy RPGs

HiddenX

The Elder Spy
Staff Member
Original Sin Donor
Original Sin 2 Donor
Joined
October 18, 2006
Messages
19,818
Location
Germany
Joel RPG compiled a top-list of tactical RPGs:

Top 25 Best Tactical/Strategy RPG Games of All Time | 2022 Edition


00:00 Intro

00:36 #25. King Arthur: Knight's Tale (PC)

01:13 #24. Solasta: Crown of the Magister (Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC)

01:52 #23. Hard West 2 (PC)

02:38 #22. Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden (PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One)

03:20 #21. The Banner Saga 3 (PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One)

04:08 #20. Super Robot Wars 30 (PC, Switch, PS4)

04:48 #19. Battletech (PC)

05:33 #18. Expeditions: Rome (PC)

06:22 #17. Heroes of Might & Magic V (PC)

07:06 #16. Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga (PC, Switch)

07:53 #15. Disgaea V (PC, Switch, PS4)

08:34 #14. Phoenix Point (PC, PS4, Xbox One)

09:06 #13. Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters (PC)

09:55 #12. Valkyria Chronicles 4 (PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One)

10:55 #11. TROUBLESHOOTER: ABANDONED CHILDREN (PC)

11:48 #10. Wildermyth (PC, Switch)

12:33 #9. Battle Brothers (PC, PS4, Switch, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S)

13:23 #8. Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (Android, PSP)

14:21 #7. Triangle Strategy (PC, Switch)

15:14 #6. Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Switch)

16:01 #5. Wasteland 3 (PC, PS4, Xbox One)

16:58 #4. XCOM 2 (PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One)

17:50 #3. Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (PC, PS4, Xbox One)

18:32 #2. Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One)

19:21 #1. Divinity Original Sin 2: Definitive Edition (PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One)
More information.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
19,818
Location
Germany
This guy’s definition of tactical is turn-based I guess?
 
Joined
Sep 26, 2007
Messages
3,444
Nice to see Battletech listed. I would probably rank it higher. There are also a couple excellent mods that make the game even better: BTA 3062 and RogueTech.
 
Joined
Feb 7, 2013
Messages
15
Probably one game per series, @Tony. That's common for lists like that. Keeps big series like Final Fantasy and Yakuza from taking over lists where the games do well.

I would rate BattleTech way higher, too, and would rate Pillars of Eternity lower (and replace it with the original game). Dungeon of Naheulbeuk should be somewhere on there, IMHO. So should... (looks around to make sure joxer isn't watching) The Last Remnant, even though the main character is a dolt.

Tactical RPGs seem to be the whole area from RPGs with turn-based combat to squad tactics games with more than a smattering of RPG elements.

(Strategic RPGs are really rare!)
 
Joined
Aug 3, 2008
Messages
8,238
Location
Kansas City
Some good games there, some i finished, some have to play and some will never touch
 
I always thought about making such a list myself, but then you also quickly realize where the limitations are: In the end such a list quickly becomes not "the best tactical RPGS" but instead "some good tactical RPGs I played". To make such a list not in a page like RPGwatch where these are determined by votes, but from own experience, almost necessarily means that the list is strongly biased and incomplete, as you are just not able to play them all. He is already making a necessary step into that direction by not just talking about the games of the year, but the games of all times up until that year, which makes it significanlty easier. Still, even as someone who considers tactical RPGs my main genre I only even played less tha 1/3 of the games on his list as I also got the requirement for myself to finish the games on highest difficulty, or at least play them close to the end (in case of permadeath and similar).

Calling a game called tactical just because it got turnbased combat, is understandable, but the combat in Wasteland 3 for example was so easy in almost all cases except of the beginning, that it would be hard to call it tactical.
Pillars of Eternity 2 was just a total mess on Turn Based on Highest Difficulty as the AI was not able to cope with that. I would not consider that as a good "tactical" game either, if its really about tactics.

I guess you could and probably must add Jagged Alliance 2 on the game, as thats the behemoth of tactics games.

Also any one game from Spiderweb is missing. On hardest difficulty these are extremely tactical.
 
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
4,691
To make such a list not in a page like RPGwatch where these are determined by votes, but from own experience, almost necessarily means that the list is strongly biased and incomplete, as you are just not able to play them all.
I think those lists are either personal and biased, or voted and meaningless because based on the average of a single score parameter that has a different meaning for everyone.

So it's best to see the biased preference of someone we know, or to average a few individual game features (story, combat, exploration, ...).
 
Joined
Aug 29, 2020
Messages
10,162
Location
Good old Europe
I wonder why all these connoisseurs never name their videos/articles/whatever my top 20/69/100
 
Decent list but if Battle Brothers isn't #1, on the trash heap this list goes. Respectfully :)
 
Last edited:
Joined
Aug 28, 2010
Messages
2,839
Location
Wolf Light Woods
The purpose of these lists and posting it here as newsbits is just to discuss a little bit about your favourite (sub)-genre and give everyone a hint what they have possibly missed.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
19,818
Location
Germany
Dungeon Rats for sure, good call.

Also Knights of the Chalice 2.
 
Joined
Sep 26, 2007
Messages
3,444
I've not played the second Knights of Chalice yet I'm surprised that the first one isn't on this list, as I've played it through a few times and have enjoyed each visit.
 
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
18,799
Location
Holly Hill, FL.
I disagree about Dungeon Rats. Yes it put its focus on tactics, but I don't think it's a great game.
Age of Decandence on the other hand only has one character only. I think people define tactics games as having multiple characters with positioning, so I wouldn't consider that game either.
 
Joined
Jun 2, 2012
Messages
4,691
Yeah, I think you really need multiple characters in order to create opportunities for there to be any deep "tactics".
 
Joined
Sep 26, 2007
Messages
3,444
Back
Top Bottom