Introduction
Strategy fans, prepare your sleep schedules for total collapse. We are currently witnessing an unprecedented golden age for strategy gaming, spanning classic 90s-style RTS revivals, sprawling grand strategy epics, granular city builders, and tabletop wargame adaptations. From long-awaited sequels to creative indie surprises, here are 20 of the most exciting upcoming strategy games that will dominate your screen and keep you saying “just one more turn” until sunrise.
Dust Front RTS
If you miss the golden era of classic 90s real-time strategy but crave deep 4X grand campaign mechanics, Dust Front RTS is about to consume every spare hour you have. Set on a bleak, post-apocalyptic planet, this gritty strategy game combines old-school base building and RTS combat (with huge artillery vehicles) with a non-linear global campaign map, random map generation, and branching narrative paths. You’ll direct relentless strike groups, secure scarce resources, and unleash devastating bombardments against hostile factions and turn an already demolished world into something far, far worse. Between its dark industrial aesthetic and beautiful animations, high replayability, and hyper-satisfying destruction physics, Dust Front RTS delivers the exact “just one more turn” tactical obsession that will keep you up until sunrise.
Sanctuary: Shattered Sun
The ultimate spiritual successor to Supreme Commander and Total Annihilation, Sanctuary: Shattered Sun lets you command up to 10,000 units across massive 40km x 40km battlefields on a star-encircling Dyson Sphere. Focusing on high-level macro strategy and dynamic terrain manipulation, you can freeze oceans to open new invasion routes or fire superweapons that literally fracture the map, sending enemy bases plunging straight into the sun below. Between colossal Titan units, physics-driven artillery battles, and seamless strategic zooming, it offers ruinous, grand-scale destruction that will completely wipe out the free time of old-school RTS enthusiasts.
Crown of Hispania
Blending the deep dynastic intrigue of Crusader Kings with the grand campaign scope of Europa Universalis, Crown of Hispania drops you right into the chaotic clash of 11th-century Iberia. Following the collapse of the Caliphate of Cordoba and the death of King Sancho III, you must guide one of over 30 playable Christian kingdoms or Muslim taifas across 300 hand-crafted provinces. With dynamic population simulation, free gridless army movements, and deep economic and religious management, every choice directly influences your court, vassals, and border wars.
Ascenders: Beyond the Peak
Ditch horizontal expansion and prepare to master the vertical in Ascenders: Beyond the Peak, a turn-based strategy game that flips the traditional blueprint on its head. In this beautiful comic-art style, you scale an impossible, colossal mountain filled with Lovecraftian nightmares and the dangers of nature. With limited footholds and equipment, unpredictable weather events, and an environment that is as treacherous as it is beautiful, Ascenders: Beyond the Peak was a game that, when I played it during the Steam Next Fest, I found to be demanding in planning, caution when executing, and forceful when it came to making the most of my abilities. I have no doubt the final project will eat at my nights like the Necronomicon eats at my sanity.
Stronghold 4
Firefly Studios is returning to the franchise’s roots with Stronghold 4, built from the ground up in Unreal Engine 5 to deliver the ultimate medieval castle simulator. Serving as a narrative prequel set in feudal England, you follow the journey of Penryn of Wethel from humble shepherd to glorious knight. You’ll be doing regular Stronghold things, which is all we fans of the series have ever wanted to: balancing delicate economic chains, deciding on taxes, putting armies together, and building sprawling castles equipped with deadly traps, defensive towers, and moats. And attacking castles too! Featuring a 22-mission campaign, 8-player AI skirmishes, and visceral, physics-driven siege mechanics, it’s going to be a deeply addictive return to form!
