So you think you’re some kind of Napoleon? Well, you’ve got plenty of opportunities to put it to the test on mobile. Strategy games are absolutely rife on our platform, where the touchscreen can not only emulate a mouse and …
So you think you’re some kind of Napoleon? Well, you’ve got plenty of opportunities to put it to the test on mobile. Strategy games are absolutely rife on our platform, where the touchscreen can not only emulate a mouse and keyboard experience pretty well, but lends itself to new types of experiences.
To help you find something worth playing, we thought we’d put together a list of our favourite mobile strategy games. It’s a difficult list to put together, as strategy is such a huge genre, so we’ve tried to keep it to core strategy experiences.
While there’s some overlap into card games, tower defence, board games, and more, we’re resisting putting the vast majority of these experiences on our list as we’re going to cover them in separate lists.
Company of Heroes is Feral Interactive’s latest mobile strategy game, and it includes the entire campaign of the original World War RTS. With controls redesigned for touch, gorgeous visuals, and multiplayer coming soon, Company of Heroes is well worth checking out for genre fans.
Get it on the App Store.
Mini Motorways is the spiritual successor to Mini Metro, and it’s exclusive to Apple Arcade. You have to create some smart motorways, paying attention to congestion, ensuring cars can get to their destinations, and many more challenges.
Get it on the App Store.
Dota Underlords is Valve’s answer to Auto Chess. It features the same heroes you know and love from Dota 2 and allows full crossplay across PC and mobile. Heck, you can even take over a game halfway through on another of your devices.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Civilisation VI is the ultimate strategy game on mobile. It’s literally the full Civ IV experience from PC or Mac but shrunk down for the smaller screen, and it plays like an absolute dream.
Get it on the App Store.
Prefer to let your huge armies do the talking for you? the Rome: Total War Collection is the choice for you. It’s also our second favourite strategy game series on mobile, and gets bumped into first sport if you don’t own an iOS device.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
On a tight budget? Get The Battle For Polytopia. This genius mobile strategy game takes the excellent formula laid down by Civ and streamlines it. The result is a 4X experience with plenty of depth but none of the accessibility issues of the game that inspired it.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Plague Inc. is for the evil geniuses amongst you. Your goal is to create your own super plague that’s capable of wiping out humanity. There are a bunch of different ways to do this and plenty of strategy, as humanity strives to defend itself from you.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Command & Conquer: Rivals revived the long-dormant strategy franchise on mobile, shrinking down its core components to fit on the small screen. Once again, you’ll manage an army as either the GDI or Brotherhood of Nod as you strive to get all of the Tiberium.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Iron Marines is an awesome tower defence experience by the makers of Kingdom Rush. It trades the volley of arrows and fireballs for machine gun fire and rockets but keeps the superb gameplay and unique art style intact.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Kingdom Rush is a brilliant tower defence franchise that put the genre on the map back in the early days of mobile. You’ll place towers, various different units, and heroes on the battlefield as they strive to defend against waves of fantasy foes.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Trek fans, look no further as there’s a full on Star Trek games experience on mobile. You’ll build your own fleet of ships and explore the galaxy as you strive to uncover resources that allows you to build an even bigger and more powerful fleet.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Rebel Inc. is the follow up to Plague Inc., and it’s a little less bleak. You play as the new ruler of a country that’s recovering from war, and have to try and bring peace and stability to the region. That involves quelling a rebellion and ensuring that your citizens are happy and have the right amenities.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Rise of Kingdoms draws inspiration from Civilisation, with its number of different kingdoms to play as. The gameplay is pure Clash of Clans though, with its free to play take on the strategy genre that rewards playing over a lengthy period of time. Or just spending money – it’s up to you.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
The Reigns series took the swiping mechanic of Tinder and turned it into a gaming experience – and an absolutely solid one at that. You have to rule the kingdom for as long as you can, swiping left or right to make key decisions that will make happy and annoy the various different factions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF1NfBTRdeYGet it on the App Store or Google Play.
Mini Metro has you designing a city subway system, ensuring that it runs as smoothly as possible. The problem is, the city keeps growing so you have to keep adapting your subway to ensure that it meets the needs of the citizens – all while juggling a limited budget.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Clash of Clans is quite a treasure on mobile, as it was one of the first in a new breed of strategy games designed for the unique mobile platform. It’s social, provides small bursts of strategic gameplay, and has a wonderful art style.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Marvel Battle Lines is a card battler with a twist. Rather than play on a board, you’ll play cards on a series of lines, adding a deeper layer of strategy to the experience. You’ll still collect and upgrade cards though – and they’re all based on your favourite Marvel heroes.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Stormbound is also quite similar to Clash Royale in that you create a deck of cards and play them on an arena against other players in real-time battles. Where Stormbound differs though, is in its use of lanes. Once you play a card in a lane, it remains in that lane. That’s markedly different to Clash Royale.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Much like with Clash of Clans, Supercell created its very own sub-genre with Clash Royale. This strategy game takes the deck-building of a card battler and combined it with the strategy of a MOBA to create something entirely different. You’ll build a deck of cards that represent heroes, spells, and troops and play them in an arena against an opponent in real time.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Rollercoaster Tycoon Touch took the classic theme park building franchise and shrunk it onto the smaller screen for mobile, providing an experience that’s a lot better suited to shorter playing sessions.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Bloons is a more kid-friendly tower defence franchise that challenges you to burst balloons rather than living creatures. It also features monkey characters – and what young ‘un doesn’t like monkeys?
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
If you’re the sort of person that deeply missed Advance Wars, then you’ll absolutely be in love with Warbits. It emulates that experience admirably, but streamlines it for mobile with some gorgeous visuals to boot.
Get it on the App Store.
Invisible, Inc. reminds us of the early days of Metal Gear Solid. This top-down stealth game challenges you to infiltrate corporations as one of 10 different unlockable agents.
Get it on the App Store.
Armello is a board game that plays a lot like a strategy RPG. You have to journey across the land of Armello as you strive to take the throne. Along the way, you’ll collect a bunch of heroes, make some difficult political decisions, and participate in turn-based battles.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Really Bad Chess isn’t really all that bad at all. Instead, it’s chess but with completely random pieces. In that sense, it kind of is a bad version of chess because it isn’t accurate, but it’s sure as heck a lot of fun.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
