What is the Steam Winter Sale?
The Steam Winter Sale is an annual event hosted by Steam, a popular online gaming platform. During the sale, people can purchase games at discounted prices, including strategy games.
This is an article for the uninitiated! For the strategy game enjoyers soon-to-be. Veterans that know the differences between an Ausf. A and Ausf. G won’t be surprised, and much less entertained by some of the video games mentioned here. However, if you can’t spot a Dyrenkov from a Sherman in a crowded museum, this article is for you. Take full advantage of the Steam Winter Sale and pack your library full of great games.
This is a great opportunity for gamers to expand their game collection and try out new titles. In this article, I’ll provide you with 25 video game recommendations that you can purchase during the Steam Winter Sale.
My Top 25 Must-Have Recommendations
To create this list of recommendations, I looked at a variety of factors, including gameplay mechanics (and how different they might be from one another), graphics, positive reviews, and popularity. The goal was to provide you with a diverse selection of strategy games that appeal to different types of people, from a beginner just getting started, to a scar-ridden veteran. These are in the order I would prioritize getting. If you’re on a limited budget, the last 5 offer the best bang for your buck.
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25 – The Great War: Western Front
The Great War: Western Front is a nifty little thing you can pick it up, play a couple of battles and go back to having a swim on the beach or whatever you were doing. Getting over a single campaign is probably going to take around 20 or so hours, even more so if you decide to play every battle. However, have in mind that this is a World War 1 game set on the Western Front, meaning that most battles will inevitably turn into a meat-grinding slog. The Great War is also the only video game on the market that gives you the possibility of playing out your strategy on a grand map while taking tactical control of your units on the ground. It’s a very interesting mix that works surprisingly well if you can stomach somewhat repetitive battles, but the persistency of terrain damage and trench layouts across a campaign is sure to shake up things well enough that fighting over the same piece of terrain time and time again doesn’t become too boring. But then again, isn’t that what WWI was all about after 1914?
24 – Stronghold: Definitive Edition
Stronghold, even nearly a quarter of a century later, still stands as a great strategy game that every enthusiast of the genre should, at least once, experience. It remains a highly enjoyable and timeless game with design decisions that have proven to withstand the test of time.
Stronghold is one of my favourite games of all time (alongside Crusader) and one that I still play to this day and age, every year, without exception. Join those two together, and it’s not hard to see why S: DE is going to keep the Stronghold tradition of being installed in every system I own alive and kicking off the next couple of years. It’s a lot of the same, but the new campaign and the low price of just 13 dollars make this a no-brainer if you played the original title two decades ago.
23 – Grand Tactician: The Civil War (1861-1865)
Don’t be fooled by the naysayers that shout how inferior Grand Tactician: The Civil War (1861-1865) is inferior to its tactical counterparts like Scourge of War: Gettysburg, and Sid Meier’s. Name me one other game that allows you to take control of either side in a Grand Campaign while also giving players the ability to lead their troops from the front?
Despite its rocky launch, the team behind the game has been steadily toiling away and have launched massive patches adding new weapons, quality of life upgrades, 3D models and even going as far as revamping the whole economy.
22 – The Troop
Probably, the game that most surprised me this year right after the number one. The Troop is an approachable wargame and acts almost as a direct successor of Battle Academy, or at least, it would be if Battle Academy was ported over to the 2020s by a team of people who really love the Band of Brothers and Saving Private Ryan drab-green aesthetic. The Troop had big shoes to fill and mostly managed to. I went as far as to call it one of the best World War II from the last decade. A phrase that earned me quite a bit of criticism that I find unwarranted.
The sheer amount of content (36 hand-crafted missions playable by either side), 4 dynamic campaigns consisting of 7 missions each, and a unit pool that probably surpasses the 100 unit mark is a lot of D-Day for just 40 dollars. Add to that that the game features one of the most impressive AI I’ve seen in any game, ever, and a couple of great twists in traditional wargame mechanics that do the game’s realism a ton of favour, while at the same time streamlining the gameplay (movement and shooting, especially), and it’s not hard to see why it became a beloved game by fans of the genre.
21 – Battle Academy
Speaking of which…Have a go with Battle Academy, the friendliest of wargames. Battle Academy deserves a spot in every beginners’ library and for less than a cheap, unhealthy breakfast, there’s really no excuse. The game offers a diverse range of units, including infantry, tanks, artillery, and aircraft, each with strengths and weaknesses. One of the key features of Battle Academy is its innovative control system, which allows players to easily select units, move them around the battlefield, and engage in combat. The game’s interface is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, allowing players to focus on strategy and tactics rather than wrestling with complicated controls. For the low price of a dollar, what more can you ask?
20 – FTL
THE Kickstarter success story, FTL is a rogue-like experience that puts the players in the shoes of a ship captain and tasks them with managing its various crew members and modules, choosing weapon targets, managing power distribution, fending off boarding parties, keeping fires under control and, above anything else- avoid dying at all costs. It has the best video game soundtrack of all time. It’s just glorious to listen to and never fails to make me smile while writing at the sound of it.
I’ll also create another list with a more diverse selection of games from other genres like Tycoon and Management, and another one with other ad-hoc recommendations. This is mainly focused on combat-oriented strategy games.
19 – Darkest Dungeon
The pioneer of the PTSD-RPG genre, Early Access Sweetheart, and one of the best RPGs/ Turn-based strategy games ever made, Darkest Dungeon will take you exploring the darkest corners of the deepest caves. Sending other human beings deeper and deeper into the wells of madness as they venture forth, hopeless and scared against the ancient creatures of eons past. All while trying to unravel what happened that lead your family estate into ruin. The striking aesthetic, the unusual character classes, the punishing combat, the management aspect, and the idea that your heroes are nothing more than frail-minded humans that can, in one second. deliver a critical strike that wins the day and, in the next dungeon run they can encounter a short near-death experience that will send them down into an unsavory mental breakdown. This focus on the mental health of your characters and the real impact it has on gameplay help carry on the idea that madness and death play along, hand in hand, in the Darkest of Dungeons.
18 – Endless Legend
Endless Legend is a turn-based 4X strategy video game developed by Amplitude Studios and released in 2014. The game is set in the fantasy world of Auriga, a mysterious and beautiful land that is full of ancient ruins and secrets waiting to be discovered. One of the unique features of Endless Legend is the inclusion of minor factions, independent groups that can be befriended or conquered. These factions can provide unique bonuses and units, making them valuable allies or dangerous enemies. Endless Legend is a highly strategic 4X that offers a unique blend of exploration, diplomacy, and combat
17 – Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun
If there’s anything I learned from playing both Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun and Desperados 3 is that Mimimi Games are masters at their craft and that they have perfected the Stealth-Strategy genre, reviving a bracket in gaming that had long perished. The reason I’m advising you to pick up Shadow Tactics instead of Desperados 3 is simply because of the price. if you have the budget and can get Desperados you won’t go wrong either, if you don’t, then Shadow Tactics is just excellent in its own right. Also, if you’re uncertain if this is the right genre for you, Shadow Tactics will make sure that it is.
16 – Cauldrons of War
Cauldrons of War are weird and delightful games. On one hand, it’s a really different kind of game from what I’m used to and if something is new, it usually excites me. On the other hand, it’s so fast-paced and so simple I tend to lose interest in the campaign I’m playing currently, and every time I boot the game up I start a new one. The game even describes itself as a “turn-based strategic wargame you will launch whenever you want your WW2 shot but don’t have time for a monster strategy game”. It’s a nice mix between a choose-your-own misadventure World War 2 game paired up with a turn-based, grand strategy with some superficial management when it comes to battles. It gives you the feeling of being in Berlin or Moscow making high-level, strategic decisions without all the fluff and micromanagement games like Hearts of Iron entail.
15 – Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy
Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy is a war game that takes players back to the historical events of World War II. As the name suggests, this game is set in Normandy, France, during the summer of 1944. Players can choose to command either Allied or Axis forces, with each side having its own unique set of units and equipment. The game offers an immersive and realistic battlefield experience, where players must use strategy, tactics, and a bit of luck to achieve their objectives. Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy is an excellent choice for wargame WW2 enthusiasts who are looking for a realistic and immersive experience. The game offers a wide range of scenarios and campaigns and a powerful scenario editor that allows players to create their own battles. There’s also a healthy modding community with hundreds of custom-made scenarios.
14 – Bad North: Jotunn Edition
Bad North: Jotunn Edition is a real-time strategy game with a rogue-lite meta-layer where players take the role of a tribe chieftain and are forced to defend their multi-island Kingdom from Viking invaders. A pretty neat concept, that brilliantly executes its minimalist real-time tactics by limiting the gameplay loop by having the player is always on the defensive and the objective is to always prevent the Vikings from setting fire to the buildings on each island.
13 – Crusader Kings 3
My favorite Paradox title, Crusader Kings III is a grand strategy game set in the medieval world, where players can control a dynasty and rule over their lands. The game offers a deep and immersive story, with a complex web of relationships and politics to navigate.
12 – Company of Heroes Complete Pack
The end all be all of the RTS genres, yet to be surpassed a decade and a half later. Right at the end of the World War 2 fad that permeated the gaming industry in the late nineties and early two-thousands, Company of Heroes not only innovated the genre but absolutely revolutionized it. Getting rid of all the fat and zooming in the combat mechanics, it did its best to transpose the tactical conundrums of small-scale engagements. The four Fs (Fire; Fix; Flank; Finish) of infantry combat were perfectly implemented. The cover system was expertly implemented, lending the combat s new layer of depth and realism games never had until then. It was (and still is) a glorious display, watching US paratroopers taking potshots while ducking under walls and ditches while German MG 42s pinned them in place. A flanking element would chug grenades into the enemy position and a picturesque image of Saving Private Ryan and the HBO series, Band of Brothers would take hold of your imagination.
11 – Graviteam Tactics: Mius-Front
This is the ultimate World War II tactical experience with a 1:1 scale. No game does it better, not even Combat Mission. It’s hard to get into and it’s going to require some tutorial watching and manual reading but there’s nothing quite like it. Before playing this better learn how units will spend some time laying wires on the field, which squads are in shouting range, and which ones need radio contact to do their job. No line of communication? How will your artillery commander know when and where to fire? It’s that kind of game. And it’s better to go in with some understanding of WWII tactics and unit organization. Graviteam Tactics: Mius Front pulls no punches but it’s marvelous.
Strategy Games | Strategy and Wargaming 
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