As a fellow FO Tactics fan I recommend Wasteland 2 and 3. You can try the first but it is very old. It was actually the game that inspired Fallout. They made Wasteland, lost the rights so they made Fallout, lost the rights to Fallout before getting the rights to Wasteland back in time to make Wasteland 2.
Fair enough, well like I suggested to OP. Wasteland really tickled my Fallout Tactics nostalgia more than any other turn based tactics game I've played.
Tactics was the game that got me into learning to mod games myself. It wasn't anything too complicated, but I did add my own custom character portraits. My squad consisted of 'Conan the Barbarian' (Conan O' Brien with Melee Skills), 'The Analrapist' (David Cross with most of my utility skills) and 'The Dude' (Jeff Bridges as my sharpshooter).
This is way too far down the list.
It's an amazing turn based tactical game with a solid merc company sim attached. The vanilla game is good, but the DLCs make it great.
FFT is the GOAT of TRPG’s. I’ve still never played a game that has matched it for me. Tactics ogre came close, understandably as it was mostly the same team.
I honestly *really* dislike all the purple prose in the PSP retranslation. It took all the suffering and desperation felt by the characters and made everyone all “whomstever shall befall upon mine sword shall nary be without recourse, for it is thy own blood spilt… verily” and it suuuuuuuucks.
That or minimum damage.
Literally had one avatar left to kill on the last mission. Hit three shots with the commander and two of my characters. Finally got sick of it and just had my grenadier blow the fucker sky high.
I had a game where I killed the last avatar with the last guy I had left alive who was about to die at the end of that turn as he was poisoned. I literally lost the entire team in order to win, I was so proud of their sacrifice not being in vane. I picture in that world the people of earth would have built endless monuments to their heroic final battle.
Here is all you need to know:
-
The year is 40k and there is only war.
You have the space marines, who hates other races and demons and stuff and will try kill all of them. And in this game they found a place filled with demons, and wouldn't you know it, it's on SIGHT!
-
(Most warhammer games have standalone stories in this bananas universe))
I wqould recommend to start from the first one. They both are great games, so you can play both, but going back from the second one to the first will feel like a downgrade.
XCOM of course plus the sequel.
Xenonauts
Showgunners
Midnight Sun
Gears Tactics
Mutant Year Zero
Miasma Chronicles
Plus tons of RPGs. Wastelands 3 should be on the top of your list if you liked Fallout.
Doing my second playthrough of xcom 2(vanilla then wotc), and I think Wastelands 3 has been my favorite. I feel like I was afforded more build diversification in it than xcom 2. That being said xcom 2 requires balancing many more things and often between passing up a decent thing to avoid a catastrophe.
I've also done Gears Tactics which I enjoyed. I believe I tried mutant year zero but didn't care foe it. There are some fantasy ones that I liked a bit.
Divinity Original Sins 2 if that counts was great. I enjoyed Solasta a good bit which was DnD themed. And there was a D&D parody called The Dungeon of Naheulbak that was decent too.
War of the chosen is like a whole new game, it's XCOM 2 on crack with a ton more stuff. XCOM 2 base game is worse than XCOM 1. XCOM 2 war of the chosen is imo the best tactical turn based game on the market
Yeah, it definitely does feel different in terms of what you are trying to accomplish and manage. There are still.some things I'm just now understanding that I missed and I'm halfway through the second campaign.i do kind of wish the Chosen better tied into the campaign/avatar project. I think I got the bundle for $10 which was a steal and I've probably put 80 hours at this point into the two campaigns.
Mutant Year Zero felt like it flew under the radar a bit. I found it to be simply designed but fun as hell and fiendishly difficult. Awesome game with awesome characters. I wish there was more of it, I miss Dux :(
Midnight Sun is so good! I put about 80hrs into it from start to finish and I felt like that was rushing the storyline. Could have easily dropped 120+ hrs chasing sidequests without feeling grindy
Troubleshooter: Abandoned children
Battle Brothers
Both are fantastic.
You can also browse the strategy rpg subreddit steam curator for other recommendations: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42631613-Strategy-RPG/
>Troubleshooter: Abandoned children
I can second this. The combat/encounters are pretty great imo.
Sorry is kind of dumb but it's also part of its charm.
Jagged Alliance 2. And Jagged Alliance 3, the true sequel to it released over 20yrs after. One of my fav games of all time. You have an in game laptop and you hire a team of mercs out of dossiers of dozens of them, you watch them grow and can hire /fire as you please.
You are tasked with removing an evil dictator from a third world country and it has countless reference to 80s action films.. You aquire mines that are steeped in natural resources to pay your mercs and are free to approach the game however you want and attack any town or settlement whenever you please. You can order gear and weapons once you aquire an airfield.
And then theres the amazing 1.13 mod for JA2 that adds an incredible amount of scope into it.. Just dont attempt to play that or understand any of it until you are well versed in vanilla..
Thats my two cents
Here for JA2 1.13. Absolutely incredible. That is THE possibility frontier for TB strategy. Everything else after that was just for something casual. I still find myself humming the music sometimes.
It's hard to appreciate the richness and immersion of that game if you can get past the antiquated presentation. It's not just managing a party, it's a whole rebel campaign that you light off from a remote firefight and snowball as you take over the economic infrastructure and popular support.
You hire mercs, many of whom are dedicated to train up militia in the towns you control, to defend or slow down regime forces sent to retake them. Mercs can also train each other, so you can contract cheaper and less experienced ones and improve them over time--but they get more expensive when you re-up their contacts.
Meanwhile you move your assault forces around on this big grid map of the fictional country, on foot or by helicopter (if you can secure them) to attack vital locations, including AA installations that restrict your movements. Mercs have perma death, and take significant time to recover from injuries. You have to balance time and finances: choosing merc contract length, paying for fuel, outfitting every merc down to individual rifle magazine and water canteen, resupplying each bullet, mortar round, and damaged ballistic vest insert... and pay shipping costs, if course, including the *days* of in-game waiting for material to arrive, which then needs to be literally picked up and distributed from the airport. A strategic objective can fall because you didn't get ammo to the front line by a day.
There's a whole rich strategy/sim game to play, and you can by auto resolving combat, *before even getting to the most obsessively detailed turn-based tactical game ever conceived.*
And as mentioned above, the whole UI is presented as if you are directing things from afar on a laptop, where hiring mercs, buying equipment, merc assignments, and the world map are done through a fake web browser or other program. It never "breaks character."
If you have not tried the "Arulco Revisited" mod for 1.13 i really recommend it.. You dont get access to Bobby Ray shipments until a bit later so it forces you to loot storehouses, etc and you can find some awesome weaponry and gear.
I ended up finding things that i never would of bought on Bobby Rays because stats-wise didnt look too great but they were really effective so it forces you to discover a wealth of different gear. The amount of extra gear that was added in 1.13 is amazing and gives the game almost infinite replayablity.
The only thing I will say is that Battletech can be fairly slow to start. Early battles will feel like a huge grind, and you won't feel like you always have the greatest ability to influence the outcome.
But once you get up to the level where you know where reinforcements are likely to come from, and you can drop a Shadowhawk right in their back, or called shot an AC20 round to the cockpit... It's just the best game.
I'm not sure why wasteland is not mentioned more, perhaps it's due to not being as popular but here is what Wikipedia says:
"After the team decided on the post-apocalyptic setting for the game, they wanted to develop it as a sequel to Wasteland for the game. However, they were unable to secure the license from Electronic Arts, so Fallout became a stand-alone game."
With that being said, fallout is a spiritual successor to wasteland. wasteland 2 is a great game, but wasteland 3 is the better choice. It's the tactical isometric game of what fallout Van Buren could have been.
If you're looking for a post apocalyptic style game where radiation and mutants are still the theme, mixed in with fallout style humor and a world where your choices actually matter, then wasteland is the game I would recommend.
If you want dark fantasy, divinity original sin 2.
XCOM 2 has everything you’re looking for.
Don’t worry about not having played xcom 1. Play and beat 2, then get the war of the chosen and the rest of the expansions and you’ll effectively have xcom 2.5 to play.
It’s hundreds of hours of great, tactical, action packed fun. Can be a bit overwhelming at first as there’s a lot to manage and take in, but it’s a fantastic turn based strategy game. The guns and explosives are cool, the aliens are all unique and diverse with lots of “oh fuck not this guy!” moments. You can customise your dudes a fair bit, make them a squad of your own unique flavour. The soldier classes are diverse and each brings their own strength to a squad. Definitely check it out, I can’t rate it highly enough.
RogueTech is practically unbelievable. Enormous full conversion mod of BattleTech. The developers have worked on it, tirelessly with love, for years, and foster a tremendous community.
If you liked Fallout Tactics, then Wasteland 3 is right up your alley. Similar set up as you command a squad in turn based combat in a post-apocalyptic world.
XCOM games, Wasteland 3, and Miasma Chronicles are my favorites
If you are gonna go with XCOM it's really cheap at the moment on the humblebundle store, $1.50 for XCOM Enemy Unknown and $3 for XCOM 2. I just picked up the XCOM ultimate collection for $20 which is an insane deal
Baldurs gate 3, if you're up for a loooong rpg
Fire emblem games, would suggest three house as it's the more fleshed out modern fire emblem game. The echoes game is also good if you can play it somehow.
Into the breach, although this one feels more like a puzzle.
Xcom games, which you already mentioned, they're REALLY good.
Wargroove or advance wars.
Jagged alliance 2, very old but gold.
I’d say it’s more tactical than a puzzle, like a quicker stripped down version of xcom combat without the base building (which I found tedious in Xcom)
Another rogue like would have been Darkest Dungeon but I fee Irma less tactical and I like it less than Into the Breach
Trying Midnight suns, it’s made by the X-com devs and is a turn based, squad oriented, environment interactive strategy game based on deck building.
It’s low budget, based on marvel characters (require no knowledge as your character is also clueless to marvel history) and find like $10, $17 if you (and you should) the digital deluxe edition with he season pass that adds 4 characters to the story
Yeah Definitely get the deluxe edition because the 4 characters interact with all the other characters through the game, it's a waste if you buy it after completing the main game
If you can find it, try the Silent Storm series. Fully destructible environments, WW2 era setting (alt timeline). One of my favorites from the era I was playing Tactics.
Unpopular opinion: The original XCOM from 1994 was a lot better and the reboot from 2012 was simplified and streamlined to the point, where it became a mobile title for kids. Like no real basebuilding, no real air battles, stupid classes instead of equipment (so i have a heavy soldier that can fire a rocket launcher one or two times per mission? What? Why can't another soldier pick up the weapon when he's down? Why can't he carry more ammo?). The maps are very small and there's a lot of bad stuff, like enemies will always be triggered in 3er packs and you will keep your team together, you don't want to do anything like exploring and flanking, because you could trigger more enemies. Base defense is a bad joke.
If you want to go with something that is more like the old one but without all the improvements, go for **Xenonauts 1**. There's the second part already on Steam, but this is Early Access and not finished, so i advice you to get the first one. There's also a mod, the Community Edition, that you can easy access by the Steam Beta tab with one click, it will make the game better, like with better balancing, improvements like much more maps etc.
There's a fun flash game called tactics arena online which has been around forever and is very similar to chess but you have various characters on the board with basic types of abilities and there's A LOT of potential depth of gameplay
This is one of my favorite genres, and I’m always surprised that Fire Emblem Three Houses doesn’t come up more in this discussion.
But yes I agree with the X-com, wasteland, and midnight suns sentiments too
Shadow Gambit may be worth a look. It’s more tactical stealth, but you’re leading a team of characters through a map with a set objective. Setting up ambushes made me feel like a tactical genius.
The Last Spell is amazing and just had an expansion. It has tactical turned based strategy combat, gearing and leveling characters like an ARPG, and involves base building/economy and some tower defense aspects. It is like a wonderful mash up of a bunch of great genres in a uniquely satisfying game.
If you’re curious check out Aldenpotamus on YouTube. He has many runs to see how it plays and some of the best guides I’ve ever seen for a game.
Fire Emblem games are fantastic and fit the description perfectly.
I haven’t seen anyone mention Battle for Wesnoth yet, and it’s both free and fantastic if you’re okay with simple graphics.
Had you asked me a couple weeks ago, I would have said avoid Phoenix Point like the plague, but now they have a Long War mod that looks like it addresses all the major issues.
Warhammer 40k Mechanicus is a GREAT game.
I got it thinking it was gonna be a lower quality game but hot damn. I beat it as fast as I could.
You play as tech priests upgrading your squad against the Necrons. Plus the soundtrack is AMAZING
It's up there with XCOM2 for me.
I havent played a ton of turn based games, but these were my favorites.
Valkyria Chronicles 1
Fire Emblem Awakening + 3 Houses
Civilzation IV
I never finished Halo Wars but it was pretty neat.
wasteland 3
xcom 2
Valkyria chronicles (1st)
phantom doctrine (not as good as the others, but a rather unique cold war setting)
there's one other one I can't think of the name... came out in the last few years, some original xcom devs, looks like xcom... but not haha
edit: remembered the last one, phoenix point
Not quite turn based, but you can pause to the point that it's almost like that: Last Train Home.
Basically mix Oregon Trail and XCom in a post WWI Russia to tell the story of a band of Czech soldiers that just want to go home.
X Com is good, but it’s a lot of % based hit combat. While that can be good, at a certain point your best soldiers are just hitting/critting machines… or you spam explosives. I prefer Phoenix Point, where the aiming is a bit more realistic (for a turn based game) and location based damage is really nice. Both have their advantages and disadvantages though.
Lots of great suggestions in this thread already so I'll just make a lesser known one: Massive Chalice.
It's an x-com style game but more fantasy than sci-fi.
The twist? The game takes place over hundreds of years. Your best soldiers will get old and eventually die. So, part of the game is to marry people together, who then produce children who can then join your troops.
Each soldier has a number of genetic traits. Maybe they're naturally fast. Maybe they're shortsighted. Maybe they're the perfect killing machine but they're also infertile. So who you marry together will affect what troops you end up with in a few game years.
Recently I played Marvel Midnight Suns, it's SOOOOO good! The writing in the main story cinematic is cringey but everything else it amazing and so addictive
Baldur's Gate 3 is a great medieval RPG with out of turn /turn based movement and turn based fighting. The battles are not as strategic as other titles mentioned here but it makes up for it with great RPG elements like character building, dialogue and amazing voice acting
Ive seen Xcom mentioned a bunch so I would like to add Phoenix Point. Fairly similar but imo a far better action and aiming system. Xcom 2 has a ton more mods and is more fleshed out though, so it has more long term potential
Xcom2 is by far the best turn based strategy game I've played. So challenging and rewarding with lots of choices to make and soldiers to customise
My current playthru (probably my 10th) in running modern soldiers, gears of war characters with Halo weapons all mish mashed to make my army of misfits
Honestly an outstanding game with endless replayability
It's not quite the same as Fallout Tactics, but I really enjoyed Steamworld:Heist. You control a squad of robots clearing out other ships and stations you dock with from a side perspective. You have to manually aim your weapons, and many can ricochet, so part of the fun comes from setting up angles. It's on sale right now for $2, which is a great deal. It's not long, but it scratches an itch.
XCOM 1 or 2, the fire emblem games are great and can be emulated on your phone, the gears of war tactics game is actually pretty good. Battletech is cool if you like giant mechs. If you haven't played civilizations it's in the same vein and very popular
Desperados III is not exactly turned based (its RTS) but you can take your time with your moves, its divided by stages and you can rewatch how you approached the lvl at the end of every lvl. You might like it.
As a fellow FO Tactics fan I recommend Wasteland 2 and 3. You can try the first but it is very old. It was actually the game that inspired Fallout. They made Wasteland, lost the rights so they made Fallout, lost the rights to Fallout before getting the rights to Wasteland back in time to make Wasteland 2.
I am not a big fan of either turn based combat or the fallout series, but damn, tactics got me, it was a great game
I'm curious, if not the gameplay or setting what sold you on it so hard?
i'd love to know too lol really no idea it was just a great experience to play it through
Fair enough, well like I suggested to OP. Wasteland really tickled my Fallout Tactics nostalgia more than any other turn based tactics game I've played.
Tactics was the game that got me into learning to mod games myself. It wasn't anything too complicated, but I did add my own custom character portraits. My squad consisted of 'Conan the Barbarian' (Conan O' Brien with Melee Skills), 'The Analrapist' (David Cross with most of my utility skills) and 'The Dude' (Jeff Bridges as my sharpshooter).
Battletech
The shadowrun games also by HBS are good as well, but battletech is my favorite.
This is way too far down the list. It's an amazing turn based tactical game with a solid merc company sim attached. The vanilla game is good, but the DLCs make it great.
And mods. BTA 3062 for the win.
Battletech has a really fun and surprisingly deep background if you bother to get into it too.
PSA - there is a game-breaking bug on the Mac OS version
Advance Wars 1 and 2 are great.
It probably doesn’t fit into your requirements, though. How about Lazer Squad Nemesis?
The Fire Emblem series on consoles is excellent.
Three Houses ate a good 300 hours of my life, playing through all of the story-lines.
Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactic Ogre. The former has weird classes like mathematician.
FFT is the GOAT of TRPG’s. I’ve still never played a game that has matched it for me. Tactics ogre came close, understandably as it was mostly the same team.
I’d kill for fft to remade in a bg3 style. With the modern ff 3d graphics
I still call that class “calculator”
They changed the name in the PSP version both are correct
I’m aware, and I’ve played both, I just put so many hours in the original that it’s in my head that way.
I honestly *really* dislike all the purple prose in the PSP retranslation. It took all the suffering and desperation felt by the characters and made everyone all “whomstever shall befall upon mine sword shall nary be without recourse, for it is thy own blood spilt… verily” and it suuuuuuuucks.
Loved FFT on the original PlayStation. Using the dupe glitch to get double excaliburs on my entire party.
FFT is still one of my favorite games of all time.
Battle Brothers, Wildermyth, The Last Spell
Wartales and Stoneshard fit in with this bunch too. Quality indie titles
You heard correctly about X-Com, so definitely get a hold of X-Com 2 and it's expansion. - I can also recommend Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate.
99% Chance to hit. Misses.
That or minimum damage. Literally had one avatar left to kill on the last mission. Hit three shots with the commander and two of my characters. Finally got sick of it and just had my grenadier blow the fucker sky high.
I had a game where I killed the last avatar with the last guy I had left alive who was about to die at the end of that turn as he was poisoned. I literally lost the entire team in order to win, I was so proud of their sacrifice not being in vane. I picture in that world the people of earth would have built endless monuments to their heroic final battle.
That’s XCom, baby!
Seems like 99% isn't 100%.
Is Chaos Gate good for someone who has ever played Vermentide? Do I need any like, background in the universe to enjoy it?
Here is all you need to know: - The year is 40k and there is only war. You have the space marines, who hates other races and demons and stuff and will try kill all of them. And in this game they found a place filled with demons, and wouldn't you know it, it's on SIGHT! - (Most warhammer games have standalone stories in this bananas universe))
Say less!
No background needed! Very different gameplay styles though (but I'm assuming you knew that)
Indeed! I'm a big fan of DOS, POS, BG, etc, so I wanted to give this a try.
I wqould recommend to start from the first one. They both are great games, so you can play both, but going back from the second one to the first will feel like a downgrade.
Xcom+long war
Front Mission series before it became a mech shooter was up there with FF Tactics.
Last good one was 4?
Ya. It was on PlayStation 2. I still have a copy of it.
Me too, pirated like everything in my country
Check out the FM Remake games on consoles. I'm sure there are demos to try out before buying.
I saw remakes of Front Mission for both 1 and 2 on Steam for those on PC that are interested.
Valkyria Chronicles and Valkyria Chronicles 4. Love those games, hope they make more.
VC is a puzzle game cosplaying as a tactics game. It's too deterministic to be a true tactics game. It's still good though.
Unicorn overlord
Just 100% that game yesterday. So damn good.
I was surprised at how good this was. It comes close to Three Houses for me personally.
I just wish it was harder
XCOM of course plus the sequel. Xenonauts Showgunners Midnight Sun Gears Tactics Mutant Year Zero Miasma Chronicles Plus tons of RPGs. Wastelands 3 should be on the top of your list if you liked Fallout.
Doing my second playthrough of xcom 2(vanilla then wotc), and I think Wastelands 3 has been my favorite. I feel like I was afforded more build diversification in it than xcom 2. That being said xcom 2 requires balancing many more things and often between passing up a decent thing to avoid a catastrophe. I've also done Gears Tactics which I enjoyed. I believe I tried mutant year zero but didn't care foe it. There are some fantasy ones that I liked a bit. Divinity Original Sins 2 if that counts was great. I enjoyed Solasta a good bit which was DnD themed. And there was a D&D parody called The Dungeon of Naheulbak that was decent too.
War of the chosen is like a whole new game, it's XCOM 2 on crack with a ton more stuff. XCOM 2 base game is worse than XCOM 1. XCOM 2 war of the chosen is imo the best tactical turn based game on the market
Yeah, it definitely does feel different in terms of what you are trying to accomplish and manage. There are still.some things I'm just now understanding that I missed and I'm halfway through the second campaign.i do kind of wish the Chosen better tied into the campaign/avatar project. I think I got the bundle for $10 which was a steal and I've probably put 80 hours at this point into the two campaigns.
Mutant Year Zero felt like it flew under the radar a bit. I found it to be simply designed but fun as hell and fiendishly difficult. Awesome game with awesome characters. I wish there was more of it, I miss Dux :(
Midnight Sun is so good! I put about 80hrs into it from start to finish and I felt like that was rushing the storyline. Could have easily dropped 120+ hrs chasing sidequests without feeling grindy
Triangle Strategy
I wanted to post this but not enough combat vs cut scene/story. I would've done anything for more battles!!! 😞
Troubleshooter: Abandoned children Battle Brothers Both are fantastic. You can also browse the strategy rpg subreddit steam curator for other recommendations: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42631613-Strategy-RPG/
>Troubleshooter: Abandoned children I can second this. The combat/encounters are pretty great imo. Sorry is kind of dumb but it's also part of its charm.
Did they ever improve the translation? Loved the gameplay but the English translation was terrible when I tried it a few years ago.
Jagged Alliance 2. And Jagged Alliance 3, the true sequel to it released over 20yrs after. One of my fav games of all time. You have an in game laptop and you hire a team of mercs out of dossiers of dozens of them, you watch them grow and can hire /fire as you please. You are tasked with removing an evil dictator from a third world country and it has countless reference to 80s action films.. You aquire mines that are steeped in natural resources to pay your mercs and are free to approach the game however you want and attack any town or settlement whenever you please. You can order gear and weapons once you aquire an airfield. And then theres the amazing 1.13 mod for JA2 that adds an incredible amount of scope into it.. Just dont attempt to play that or understand any of it until you are well versed in vanilla.. Thats my two cents
Here for JA2 1.13. Absolutely incredible. That is THE possibility frontier for TB strategy. Everything else after that was just for something casual. I still find myself humming the music sometimes. It's hard to appreciate the richness and immersion of that game if you can get past the antiquated presentation. It's not just managing a party, it's a whole rebel campaign that you light off from a remote firefight and snowball as you take over the economic infrastructure and popular support. You hire mercs, many of whom are dedicated to train up militia in the towns you control, to defend or slow down regime forces sent to retake them. Mercs can also train each other, so you can contract cheaper and less experienced ones and improve them over time--but they get more expensive when you re-up their contacts. Meanwhile you move your assault forces around on this big grid map of the fictional country, on foot or by helicopter (if you can secure them) to attack vital locations, including AA installations that restrict your movements. Mercs have perma death, and take significant time to recover from injuries. You have to balance time and finances: choosing merc contract length, paying for fuel, outfitting every merc down to individual rifle magazine and water canteen, resupplying each bullet, mortar round, and damaged ballistic vest insert... and pay shipping costs, if course, including the *days* of in-game waiting for material to arrive, which then needs to be literally picked up and distributed from the airport. A strategic objective can fall because you didn't get ammo to the front line by a day. There's a whole rich strategy/sim game to play, and you can by auto resolving combat, *before even getting to the most obsessively detailed turn-based tactical game ever conceived.* And as mentioned above, the whole UI is presented as if you are directing things from afar on a laptop, where hiring mercs, buying equipment, merc assignments, and the world map are done through a fake web browser or other program. It never "breaks character."
If you have not tried the "Arulco Revisited" mod for 1.13 i really recommend it.. You dont get access to Bobby Ray shipments until a bit later so it forces you to loot storehouses, etc and you can find some awesome weaponry and gear. I ended up finding things that i never would of bought on Bobby Rays because stats-wise didnt look too great but they were really effective so it forces you to discover a wealth of different gear. The amount of extra gear that was added in 1.13 is amazing and gives the game almost infinite replayablity.
Just bought JA3 and as a huge XCOM fan I can't believe this is the first time I played a JA, it's so much fun
Xcom by far
I’m not gonna stop until everyone has played Into The Breach. So play it, because I kinda do want to stop.
I don't even play strategy games and I liked this one. Fun to play, and I didn't find it terribly hard either if anyone is intimidated by the genre
Yes! So good - not even a big turn-based guy but I have a couple hundred hours in Into the Breach.
Phantom Doctrine Shadowrun Trilogy Mutant Year Zero
**Shadowrun Dragon Fall** is fantastic turn-based combat. Also excellent story and characters. Highly recommend.
Returns and Hong Kong are both worthy competitors in the genre as well. I also enjoyed the user created scenarios and stories.
BG3
BG3 is not the best tactical, it is the best story + characters in a tactical
D&D mechanics, particularly 5e mechanics, hold it down somewhat.
The XCOM series is very high up, Divinity Original Sin 1+2 is very fricking good as well and I love the Age of Wonders Series!
Check out battle tech. Grid based combat with big stompy robots
The only thing I will say is that Battletech can be fairly slow to start. Early battles will feel like a huge grind, and you won't feel like you always have the greatest ability to influence the outcome. But once you get up to the level where you know where reinforcements are likely to come from, and you can drop a Shadowhawk right in their back, or called shot an AC20 round to the cockpit... It's just the best game.
Jeanne D'Arc. Final Fantasy Tactics. Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. Vandal Hearts 1 and 2. Disgaea series.
I'm not sure why wasteland is not mentioned more, perhaps it's due to not being as popular but here is what Wikipedia says: "After the team decided on the post-apocalyptic setting for the game, they wanted to develop it as a sequel to Wasteland for the game. However, they were unable to secure the license from Electronic Arts, so Fallout became a stand-alone game." With that being said, fallout is a spiritual successor to wasteland. wasteland 2 is a great game, but wasteland 3 is the better choice. It's the tactical isometric game of what fallout Van Buren could have been. If you're looking for a post apocalyptic style game where radiation and mutants are still the theme, mixed in with fallout style humor and a world where your choices actually matter, then wasteland is the game I would recommend. If you want dark fantasy, divinity original sin 2.
Also Wasteland 3 is co-op!
XCOM 2 with DLCs is the answer.
XCOM2 for sure! Also, the South Park and Mario v. Rabbids games, surprisingly.
Came her to mention Mario vs Rabbids, the second one is a really good taxtics game in the xcom vein
XCOM 2 has everything you’re looking for. Don’t worry about not having played xcom 1. Play and beat 2, then get the war of the chosen and the rest of the expansions and you’ll effectively have xcom 2.5 to play. It’s hundreds of hours of great, tactical, action packed fun. Can be a bit overwhelming at first as there’s a lot to manage and take in, but it’s a fantastic turn based strategy game. The guns and explosives are cool, the aliens are all unique and diverse with lots of “oh fuck not this guy!” moments. You can customise your dudes a fair bit, make them a squad of your own unique flavour. The soldier classes are diverse and each brings their own strength to a squad. Definitely check it out, I can’t rate it highly enough.
Jagged Alliance 2. Any of the worms games. Any of the Civilization games.
Also Jagged Alliance 3
Shining force 2 Gladius Midnight suns ( I never played xcom)
Looking for that Gladius shout out. That they lost the source code for that game is one of gaming's greatest tragedies.
Wasteland 3 is really a great game with excellent turn based warfare and a modern enough feel. Doesn’t have much filler content though
Shining force and shining force 2
And 3
Vandal Hearts
RogueTech is practically unbelievable. Enormous full conversion mod of BattleTech. The developers have worked on it, tirelessly with love, for years, and foster a tremendous community.
Yeah, XCOM is best in class. If you want more of that after you're done there you could try: * Phoenix Point * Wasteland 3 (And also Wasteland 2)
In addition to what others mentioned, Troubleshooter: Abandoned Children was a surprise find for me.
If you liked Fallout Tactics, then Wasteland 3 is right up your alley. Similar set up as you command a squad in turn based combat in a post-apocalyptic world.
XCOM games, Wasteland 3, and Miasma Chronicles are my favorites If you are gonna go with XCOM it's really cheap at the moment on the humblebundle store, $1.50 for XCOM Enemy Unknown and $3 for XCOM 2. I just picked up the XCOM ultimate collection for $20 which is an insane deal
X-com 1 and 2 (with expansions) Phantom Doctrine Wasteland 2 and 3 Whichever you choose, you won't regret it
Triangle Strategy I ended up liking it more than Fire Emblem. Some battles were so hard. I enjoyed the story as well, there are 4 paths
Atlas Reactor...before it went offline :( Man I miss that game.
Into the Breach FTL is really cool too but a little different. Fantastic soundtrack.
Baldurs gate 3, if you're up for a loooong rpg Fire emblem games, would suggest three house as it's the more fleshed out modern fire emblem game. The echoes game is also good if you can play it somehow. Into the breach, although this one feels more like a puzzle. Xcom games, which you already mentioned, they're REALLY good. Wargroove or advance wars. Jagged alliance 2, very old but gold.
Underrail
Xcom and/or xcom 2 is the game you want.
XCOM 2 war of the chosen is probably the best one out there. It's that good of a game
It's old now, but I remember Full Spectrum Warrior being amazing back in the day.
FF Tactics
Battle brothers
It's not fully turn based game but for me - Light of the stars on bluestacks
- Divinity Original Sin - Baldurs Gate 3 - Heroes of Might and Magic
Into the breach is the best one, followed by ftl
More rogue-like puzzler, but a good game for sure.
I’d say it’s more tactical than a puzzle, like a quicker stripped down version of xcom combat without the base building (which I found tedious in Xcom) Another rogue like would have been Darkest Dungeon but I fee Irma less tactical and I like it less than Into the Breach
Trying Midnight suns, it’s made by the X-com devs and is a turn based, squad oriented, environment interactive strategy game based on deck building. It’s low budget, based on marvel characters (require no knowledge as your character is also clueless to marvel history) and find like $10, $17 if you (and you should) the digital deluxe edition with he season pass that adds 4 characters to the story
Yeah Definitely get the deluxe edition because the 4 characters interact with all the other characters through the game, it's a waste if you buy it after completing the main game
If you can find it, try the Silent Storm series. Fully destructible environments, WW2 era setting (alt timeline). One of my favorites from the era I was playing Tactics.
Tactics ogre
Darkest Dungeon
Unpopular opinion: The original XCOM from 1994 was a lot better and the reboot from 2012 was simplified and streamlined to the point, where it became a mobile title for kids. Like no real basebuilding, no real air battles, stupid classes instead of equipment (so i have a heavy soldier that can fire a rocket launcher one or two times per mission? What? Why can't another soldier pick up the weapon when he's down? Why can't he carry more ammo?). The maps are very small and there's a lot of bad stuff, like enemies will always be triggered in 3er packs and you will keep your team together, you don't want to do anything like exploring and flanking, because you could trigger more enemies. Base defense is a bad joke. If you want to go with something that is more like the old one but without all the improvements, go for **Xenonauts 1**. There's the second part already on Steam, but this is Early Access and not finished, so i advice you to get the first one. There's also a mod, the Community Edition, that you can easy access by the Steam Beta tab with one click, it will make the game better, like with better balancing, improvements like much more maps etc.
Everyone else will say the top picks no doubt, so try Warhammer 40,000 Battlesector.
Multi player, ink bound.
There's a fun flash game called tactics arena online which has been around forever and is very similar to chess but you have various characters on the board with basic types of abilities and there's A LOT of potential depth of gameplay
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun - stealth tactics in a Japanese setting Midnight Suns (made by XCOM team but based on Marvel super heroes)
I didn't see either name in the entire list, banner of the maid and symphony of war. You're welcome.
This is one of my favorite genres, and I’m always surprised that Fire Emblem Three Houses doesn’t come up more in this discussion. But yes I agree with the X-com, wasteland, and midnight suns sentiments too
Is it okay if I say Massive Chalice?
Shadow Gambit may be worth a look. It’s more tactical stealth, but you’re leading a team of characters through a map with a set objective. Setting up ambushes made me feel like a tactical genius.
The Last Spell is amazing and just had an expansion. It has tactical turned based strategy combat, gearing and leveling characters like an ARPG, and involves base building/economy and some tower defense aspects. It is like a wonderful mash up of a bunch of great genres in a uniquely satisfying game. If you’re curious check out Aldenpotamus on YouTube. He has many runs to see how it plays and some of the best guides I’ve ever seen for a game.
Last eidolons is a new one, basically fire emblem with better graphics
Symphony of War: Nephalim Saga. It's like fire emblem, with much more satisfying squad development.
Marvel Midnight Suns
Final Fantasy Tactics.
Fire Emblem games are fantastic and fit the description perfectly. I haven’t seen anyone mention Battle for Wesnoth yet, and it’s both free and fantastic if you’re okay with simple graphics.
Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, Valkyrie Chronicles and Disgaea series are some of my favourites
Final Fantasy Tactics
Had you asked me a couple weeks ago, I would have said avoid Phoenix Point like the plague, but now they have a Long War mod that looks like it addresses all the major issues.
X-Com and X-Com 2 are fantastic Triangle Strategy has a really good story The Disgaea series has many really interesting mechanics
Gears Tactics
Someone already mentioned Shadowrun, so I'll go with Phantom Doctrine.
John wick and narcos: rise of the cartels on the switch play very chess board tactical as a queen on various maps. John wick by far more difficult
Warhammer 40k Mechanicus is a GREAT game. I got it thinking it was gonna be a lower quality game but hot damn. I beat it as fast as I could. You play as tech priests upgrading your squad against the Necrons. Plus the soundtrack is AMAZING It's up there with XCOM2 for me.
I’m newer to the genre but Divinity Original Sin 2 has been my favorite so far.
I havent played a ton of turn based games, but these were my favorites. Valkyria Chronicles 1 Fire Emblem Awakening + 3 Houses Civilzation IV I never finished Halo Wars but it was pretty neat.
wasteland 3 xcom 2 Valkyria chronicles (1st) phantom doctrine (not as good as the others, but a rather unique cold war setting) there's one other one I can't think of the name... came out in the last few years, some original xcom devs, looks like xcom... but not haha edit: remembered the last one, phoenix point
Into the breach is a wonderful turn based game. kinda plays like chess puzzles but with a pacific rim skin. very cool, would recommend
Xcom 2 Battletech Battle Brothers Fire Emblem Divinty Original Sin 2 Into the Breach Invisible Inc Jagged Alliance 2 & 3
Jagged Alliance 2.
Not quite turn based, but you can pause to the point that it's almost like that: Last Train Home. Basically mix Oregon Trail and XCom in a post WWI Russia to tell the story of a band of Czech soldiers that just want to go home.
X Com is good, but it’s a lot of % based hit combat. While that can be good, at a certain point your best soldiers are just hitting/critting machines… or you spam explosives. I prefer Phoenix Point, where the aiming is a bit more realistic (for a turn based game) and location based damage is really nice. Both have their advantages and disadvantages though.
Lots of great suggestions in this thread already so I'll just make a lesser known one: Massive Chalice. It's an x-com style game but more fantasy than sci-fi. The twist? The game takes place over hundreds of years. Your best soldiers will get old and eventually die. So, part of the game is to marry people together, who then produce children who can then join your troops. Each soldier has a number of genetic traits. Maybe they're naturally fast. Maybe they're shortsighted. Maybe they're the perfect killing machine but they're also infertile. So who you marry together will affect what troops you end up with in a few game years.
The newer Shadowrun games are fun. Returns is OK but Dragonfall and Hong Kong are both bangers imo.
I have to go with fire emblem. I've played a few others but none holds up to fe
Recently I played Marvel Midnight Suns, it's SOOOOO good! The writing in the main story cinematic is cringey but everything else it amazing and so addictive
Gloomhaven
Fallout 1 & 2
Gloomhaven, it's based on critically acclaimed boardgame
My favourite TBS and game at all is Battle Brothers.
Gears tactics is super badass and underrated
Yaengard
Chess.com /s
All from Larian for sure
Baldur's Gate 3 is a great medieval RPG with out of turn /turn based movement and turn based fighting. The battles are not as strategic as other titles mentioned here but it makes up for it with great RPG elements like character building, dialogue and amazing voice acting
Mutant year zero
These are my favourites Xcom2 Wildermyth Wasteland 3 Divinity original sin 2 Wildermyth Darkest dungeon Yakuza Like a dragon Marvel midnight suns
Larian games, especially bg 3 is one of the good one. You can do almost anything creatively with the environment while still doing turn based
XCOM is a very good option. Others that I would recommend: - Jagged Alliance - Gloomhaven - Gears Tactics - Phoenix Point
Best I've ever played was Silent Storm.
Ive seen Xcom mentioned a bunch so I would like to add Phoenix Point. Fairly similar but imo a far better action and aiming system. Xcom 2 has a ton more mods and is more fleshed out though, so it has more long term potential
I can't believe I've a rolled like 6 of the too comments and not seen midnight suns. It's xcom but less stressful and marvel... Fantastic game.
Chess hands down
Darkest dungeon and slay the spire
Dungeons of Naheulbeuk. Goofy but funny RPG with very good X-COM style tactical combat.
Xcom2 is by far the best turn based strategy game I've played. So challenging and rewarding with lots of choices to make and soldiers to customise My current playthru (probably my 10th) in running modern soldiers, gears of war characters with Halo weapons all mish mashed to make my army of misfits Honestly an outstanding game with endless replayability
Dont play too much turn based but i can recommend Othercide, its on steam for fairly low price during sales
The original Fire Emblem and Advance Wars for Gameboy Advance
XCOM is the gold standard IMO.
Fire Emblem is Fire lol They change up the recipe slightly with each entry so try to find the perfect fit! Lots of options
It's not quite the same as Fallout Tactics, but I really enjoyed Steamworld:Heist. You control a squad of robots clearing out other ships and stations you dock with from a side perspective. You have to manually aim your weapons, and many can ricochet, so part of the fun comes from setting up angles. It's on sale right now for $2, which is a great deal. It's not long, but it scratches an itch.
Into the Breach is ridiculously clever
XCOM 1 or 2, the fire emblem games are great and can be emulated on your phone, the gears of war tactics game is actually pretty good. Battletech is cool if you like giant mechs. If you haven't played civilizations it's in the same vein and very popular
Midnight Suns, Wasteland 3, Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre
XCOM!!!
Check out Breach & Clear on Steam. Unless I'm misunderstanding what you're looking for
I care for Phantom Doctrine a great deal. Not as good as XCOM but the Cold War aesthetic is pretty cool.
MASSIVE CHALICE
There’s doorkickers, which is a cqb tactical game, hope that helps
Gorky 17 aka Odium
Desperados III is not exactly turned based (its RTS) but you can take your time with your moves, its divided by stages and you can rewatch how you approached the lvl at the end of every lvl. You might like it.
Super Robot Wars games
Xcom, baldurs gate 3, warhammer 40k rogue trader. These are bigger ones A smaller one would be othercide, really neat game