In one of the best years in gaming ever, there are quite several titles I would like to highlight before the curtain falls on the past 12 months, and another year begins anew. In a year that saw the release of Baldur’s Gate 3, Spider-Man 2, Amnesia: The Bunker, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, Dredge, Dave The Diver, Lies of P, Trepang2, Diablo IV, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, and so many others, what stood out in the Strategy and Wargaming landscape? Well, here are my favourite games of the past 12 months, by order of favouritism.

Every other disclaimer you might have head applies: I haven’t played ALL games that came out this year, and this is MY favourite list, so if you enjoy a spreadsheet simulator like Football Manager and don’t find it here, it’s probably because I’m not a big fan of soccer.

Let me know if you would add anything else to the list!

10 – Company of Heroes 3

• Genre: Real-Time-Strategy
• Developer: Relic Entertainment
• Publisher: SEGA
• Release Date: February 23rd, 2023
• Price: 59,99€/ $59.99/ £49.99
• Buy at: Steam

Is this a problematic choice? Well, maybe, but here we are. Company of Heroes 3 is far from being the best game in the trilogy, in fact, it might even be the worst. But this time the problem isn’t the gameplay or the performance, or even the ahistorical bullshit and myths that filled the second one to the brim. What the problem is, instead, is that Company of Heroes 3 is a Double-A game, with Double-A levels of content, with Double-A levels of polish with a Triple-A price of sixty buckaroos. The team behind CoH3 certainly is taking their sweet time with the updates, and the community is letting them know that the expected levels of content are way off.

Since this is my list, and there are no words that can describe how influential the original Company of Heroes was in my life, and how it shaped my gaming preferences, I have to bend myself over and admit that I’m enjoying Company of Heroes 3. I don’t know what it is, but there’s just something about the CoH formula that clicks with me the right way. I mostly attribute this sentiment of enjoyment to nostalgia for a time gone by when the History Channel broadcasted World War II documentaries all day, HBO’s fantastic Band of Brothers was everywhere, and I was consuming World War II books like they were hotcakes.

My hope is that Company of Heroes 3 does a full one-eighty and improves itself to the point where it’s not only a decent entry in a great series, but becomes the game the team set out to make, side by side with the CoH community. But maybe this is just my wishful thinking. I can recognize the game has a lot of flaws, but sometimes you just love something broken.

9 – Phantom Brigade

• Genre: Turn-Based-Tactics
• Developer: Brace Yourself Games
• Publisher: Brace Yourself Games
• Release Date: February 28th, 2023
• Price: 28,99/ $29.99/ £24.99
• Buy at: Steam

After leaving its self-imposed exile on the Epic Games Store, the Phantom Brigade sneaked its way unto Steam last month. More Into the Breach than XCOM, it’s a turn-based tactics game that rests on the premise that your units have some kind of time device that allows them to look 5 seconds into the future, see the enemy’s actions, and act accordingly in order to counter, intercept or downright prevent them from enacting their evil misdeeds.

Similar to other games in the genre, the action is slip between two layers: the world map, and the tactical plane. On the world map the usual suspects make an appearance: customization of your units, research and development, upgrades, and building new weapons and mechs, all the while going around looking for fights. It’s all pretty vanilla stuff. But the whole customization of all mechs is fantastic. Swap out arms, legs, and torsos, equip a lot of different weapons (each has a very specific use and optimal range), and create your dream squad. It’s all very well implemented and yes, you can even paint them too. What sets it apart from the tactical battles is the unique mechanic where players can see a simulation of how the battle will play out before making their move, opening a lot of avenues for strategic planning and decision-making, not too dissimilar to what you would do in Into The Breach. Phantom Brigade has excellent building destruction and after each battle, the maps will feel like a battle between big stompy machines really took place. There are some minor annoyances here and there, and the timeline control can be a bit finicky (place a move marker on the map, but to fire you have to place the fire action on the timeline first, then select where to attack on the map. The waiting order must be placed on the map too. It’s really clunky and could use some work), but after a couple of hours with it, you get used to it. Also, some hitboxes are not very well made and there’s no saving mid-mission.

First Impressions: Phantom Brigade, Mech Engineer, and Bad North

8 – Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew

• Genre: Real-Time-Stealth-Tactics
• Developer: Mimimi Games
• Publisher: Mimimi Games
• Release Date: August 17th, 2023
• Price: 39,99€/ $39.99/ £34.99
• Buy at: Steam

Ask anyone what company can be considered a master at their craft, skillfully knitting intricate and complex stealth puzzles in the isometric stealth genre, and Mimimi is sure to show up. The team single-handedly revived a genre long dead since Commandos perished in the early 2000s. So it is as surprising to me as it might be for you to learn that Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is so low on the list, but here we are. It was argued by many to be the end all be all of stealth tactics. In my review, I differed from most reviews, arguing that it’s a competent and enjoyable story about intriguing undead pirates, fanatical inquisitors, and cursed treasures.

While the game’s story might be leagues above Shadow Tactics and Desperados 3, the gameplay certainly took a massive hit due to some questionable design decisions, two of which are the most egregious in my eyes: the generous amount of characters and replayable islands. These two factors, when in conjunction, meant that the carefully constructed dioramas of previous games had to give way to more generic challenges to accommodate for a wide range of different skills (that ended up not being that distinct), and the goals were still attainable. It’s an enjoyable experience for a starved genre, but it failed to meet expectations. Unfortunately, Shadow Gambit is the last of Mimimi’s games, which have since gone extinct, with the main reason for the studio shutting down seems the be the rising costs of game development and the high risks of not generating enough revenue. The website already displays a gravestone saying “Making games and crying about it, 2008-2023”.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew Review – Good, But Far From Great

7 – The Great War: Western Front

• Genre: Real-Time-Strategy
• Developer: Petroglyph
• Publisher: Frontier Foundry
• Release Date: March 30th, 2023
• Price: 34,99€/ $34.99/ £29.99
• Buy at: Steam

“The Great War” stands as a unique World War 1 video game, being the only one 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. Tactical maps are persistent, meaning that all the trench networks, machine gun positions, mortars, and destruction will be there every time you fight on that specific map. While the premise of the game sounds amazing (and it is), before buying it 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.

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? If you’re looking for a World War 1 video game, this is probably the best there is right now.

Great War: The Western Front

6 – The Lamplighters League

• Genre: Turn-Based-Tactics
• Developer: Harebrained Schemes
• Publisher: Paradox Interactive
• Release Date: October 3rd, 2023
• Price: 49,99€/ $49.99/ £41.99
• Buy at: Steam

Yes, this is the game that lost Paradox 20 million dollars. And yes, it’s a mid-tier game that I most certainly enjoyed my time with. It’s a pulpy, globe-trotting turn-based tactics adventure set in a fictional early to mid-1900s where your main enemies are off-brand nazis, post-grave capitalists and mummies on fire. Its art style is phenomenal, and the challenge is definitely there, with a couple of difficulty spikes that might catch even the most veteran strategist off guard.

It’s a game that borrows a lot from XCOM and XCOM 2, and it’s all the better because of it. It also expands the formula to include some real-time stealth elements, map exploration and looting. Not to leave you up with the impression that the game is some flawless masterpiece because it isn’t. Despite all that it has going for it, the performance is rather lacklustre, with stutters abounding in every corner. An argument can also be made for limited replayability, with every character role set in stone from the get-go.

I would comfortably say that The Lamplighters League is a great game if you manage to snatch it on sale for half the price of what it’s currently going for.

5 – Stronghold: Definitive Edition

• Genre: Real-Time-Strategy
• Developer: FireFly Studios
• Publisher: FireFly Studios
• Release Date: November 7th, 2023
• Price: 14,99€/ $14.99/ £12.99
• Buy at: Steam

Yes, I know that Stronghold: Definitive Edition is just a shinier version of a game that came out two decades ago. I also know that the original 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 15 euros make this a no-brainer if you played the original title two decades ago.

If you didn’t, however, then Stronghold might be lacking in certain quality-of-life aspects other real-time-strategy titles have improved on for the last twenty years, but the Definitive Edition team decided to leave them by the wayside, like unit grouping and decent unit pathfinding.

Stronghold: Definitive Edition Review – Welcome Back, Sire!

4 – The Troop

• Genre: Turn-Based-Tactics Wargame
• Developer: Giant Flame
• Publisher: PLA Studios
• Release Date: October 18th, 2023 (Early Access 21 December, 2021)
• Price: 33,99€/ $39.99/ £30.99
• Buy at: Steam

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.

When it comes down to it, few other games are attempting what The Troop offers, and it has a lot to offer. If you want to read more about the team, you can always check my interview with them. This will give you a great insight into their design decisions and their ideas.

The Troop Review – The Perfect Middle Ground Between Battle Academy and Second Front

3 – Xenonauts 2

• Genre: Turn-Based-Tactics
• Developer: Goldhawk Interactive
• Publisher: Hooded Horse
• Release Date: Early Access 18th July, 2023
• Price: 39,99€/ $39.99/ £34.99
• Buy at: Steam

The definition of better be safe than sorry. And the reason why that saying is still widely used today. Make no mistake about it, Xenonauts 2 is, for the better and worst, the original Xenonauts, but better in every aspect.

My fear that Xenonauts 2 was going to suffer from the fact that it isn’t XCOM 2011 was quickly dismantled, but I don’t think that fear was unfounded, as every other game games immediately compared to it. Phoenix Point was a decent game (minus the performance issues), and it never garnered much sympathy from its audience. Gears Tactics is fantastic fun, and rather innovative, but it’s now burrowed deep amongst Locust. Even games from the 2K Studios suffer from not being XCOM. Chimera Squad is a phenomenal game with the best story in the series by a light-year, set after the invasion took place, and humans and aliens have to learn how to live with one another, and despite that, Steam reviews hover between mostly positive or mixed. Marvel: Midnight Suns, one of my favorite games of all time was a commercial flop because, instead of opting for the more classic turn-based gameplay, it implemented an (excellent) card system.

Xenonauts 2 might only be halfway through, but I can confidently recommend it. With the existence of Xenonauts 2, there’s almost no reason to return to the first Xenonauts, unless for nostalgia or the setting. I’ll keep on playing it during its 9 month-stay in Early Access. I’ll gladly present it with a 4-star review, with another one to go, to be awarded if the final product ultimately delivers on its promise and potential. Xenonauts 2 presents an unmissable opportunity for both series veterans and newcomers to lead humanity’s charge against the extraterrestrial menace. Xenonauts 2 is shaping up to become a triumphant evolution of a classic.

Xenonauts 2 Review- A Triumphant Evolution of a Classic.

2 – Jagged Alliance 3

• Genre: Turn-Based-Tactics
• Developer: Haemimont Games
• Publisher: THQ Nordic
• Release Date: July 14th, 2023
• Price: 44,99€/ $44.99/ £39.99
• Buy at: Steam

Sometimes, you just got to admit you were wrong. And how wrong I was. When Jagged Alliance 3 was first unveiled at the tail end of 2021, Strategy and Wargaming reacted more with “ugh!” than “yay!” – “Again, similarly to what was said about Men of War II, I don’t think Jagged Alliance 3 will ever be able to capture the magic that made the previous games so great when they first came out. The landscape of gaming just isn’t the same anymore, especially when it comes to the turn-based-tactical sub-genre, where there are so many great games out there that JA3 won’t get away without being compared to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Gears Tactics, Phoenix Point, Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate- Daemon Hunters, Marvel: Midnight Suns and so many other. Can the team behind JA3 differentiate their game enough to make it stand out? By the looks of their 2022 showcase trailer, the answer is firmly negative“-However, after spending more than two dozen hours with the game, it’s fair to say those first impressions were totally wrong, and Jagged Alliance 3 is fantastic. A serviceable meta-layer that’s more tycoon-management/RPG, interwoven with complex turn-based tactical skirmishes creates the basis for one of the year’s best turn-based tactical games.

Jagged Alliance 3 is a fantastic return to form, and proof that in competent hands, the turn-based tactical genre can always get better. Finally, after all these years, we can say that Jagged Alliance is no longer a strategy series that had its high point in the mid-90s, and everything that came after is just the result of untalented studios riding the IP to snatch an easy paycheck. Jagged Alliance 3 is not only one of the best games in the series but one of the best games to come out in 2023. I wholeheartedly recommend it, even at the full price of $44.99.

Jagged Alliance 3 Review – Excellent Return to Form

1 – Second Front

• Genre: Turn-Based-Tactics Wargame
• Developer: Hexdraw
• Publisher: MicroProse Software
• Release Date: October 31st, 2023
• Price: 33,99€/ $34.99/ £29.50
• Buy at: Steam

The best game of the year is *drum roll* -Second Front! A deceivingly traditional wargame, slapped with some digital lipstick and disguised as something new. It is a World War II turn-hex-based, 3D tactical game at the squad level, meaning that every unit you control is either a squad, a vehicle, a gun, a tank, and officers. 

The battles are, for the most part, just your average tactical turn-based World War II affair that you might be expecting. But there are a lot of small things that set Second Front apart from other, similar games, especially its more geriatric counterparts, Battle Academy and Battle Academy 2, that limit themselves to the move and fire turn structure. The several phases add a lot more options to movement to troop movement. At launch, the game features 48 scenarios, 40 different types of infantry units, and more than 200 tanks, vehicles, and guns. Add to that the game launched with Steam Workshop integration working from the get-go (and it already has an extra 53 scenarios), and a very robust mission editor and Second Front is sure to keep you entertained for ages.

I love Second Front but there are a lot of things that still manage to piss me off a lot of times when I’m playing it. This doesn’t mean I don’t love the game, and in fact, I would argue is one of the games with the most potential to come out since I started reviewing games in Strategy and Wargaming all the way back in 2017. It’s an excellent entry in the genre, and its low price point of 33,99€ (or your regional equivalent) only makes Second Front an easy recommendation in my book for more experienced wargamers, but it’s going to be a hard sell for newcomers to the genre and it most certainly won’t dethrone Battle Academy and Battle Academy 2 as the neighborhood friendly wargames.

Second Front Review – A Magnum Opus Despite Its Flaws

Read my review with Jo Bader, the developer behind Second Front if you want to learn more!

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