1. XCOM: Enemy Within

Legendary tactical strategy in which you need to defend the Earth from aliens. The player will have to recruit soldiers into the team, equip them and send them on missions. The basis of the gameplay is long-term battles with aliens, during which you can tell the fighters where they need to move and who to shoot.

2. Bad North: Jotunn Edition

You have your own island, the Vikings are pressing on it on Drakkar, and you need to fight them off. Sounds simple, right? But Bad North is not only a strategy and the semblance of Tower Defense, but also partly a “roguelike”, which means that your mistakes will be irreparable. The island is generated randomly every time, and your commanders die forever if the battle is not in your favor. And it adds a real adrenaline rush.

3. Plants vs Zombies 2

The second part of the real-time strategy. The house is attacked by zombies. And it just so happened that only intelligent plants can protect it. The player must buy units and place them on the available cells so that the dead do not reach people. At the same time, you need to have time to collect solar energy, which is spent on the purchase of plants.

Price: Free

4. Bloons TD 6

Continuation of the famous series, which can be safely called one of the best modern Tower Defenses. You play as monkeys who are trying to defend their lands from … balloons. Despite the strange concept, the toy is quite deep and varied, and from a certain stage, it requires a really thoughtful building of defense.

5. Pocket City

City planning simulator. Despite the fact that the game was only released on mobile, it is surprisingly deep. You can do almost everything here as in projects on a PC like SimCity or Cities: Skylines. That is, build roads, industrial, commercial and residential buildings and even raise or lower taxes.

6. By Kickers

On the surface, this strategy is simple. A squad of operatives must eliminate all criminals inside the building. But here’s the catch: the player can only see what the fighters can see. This means that you will not be able to find out where the enemies are in advance. We’ll have to think through all possible situations. But you will tell the operatives where to go, in which direction to aim and, for example, under which door to throw a stun grenade.

7. Gladiabots

Most of the strategies are relatively simple because you can tell the character where to go and who to kill, and he obeys unquestioningly. Gladiabots are harder. You play as a group of fighting robots that you cannot control directly. They have to be pre-programmed to do what you want them to do. Because of this, a minimalistic and unpretentious-looking toy becomes extremely interesting. And complicated.

8. Project Highrise

A simulator in which you have to build your own skyscraper. Everything here works roughly according to the same laws as in city-building games, only instead of roads – stairs and elevators.

It is necessary to provide each floor of the building with water and electricity, and organize garbage collection. At the same time, it is important to strike a balance between the number of technical premises, offices and apartments: if any sphere begins to outweigh, visitors will be unhappy.

9. The Battle of Polytopia

The gameplay of this tactical strategy game will be understandable to anyone who has ever played Civilization. The gameplay of The Battle of Polytopia is divided into turns, during which you need to develop your cities, move units around the cells, build bases and capture enemy villages.

In fact, this is Civilization in miniature: there is even a technology tree, albeit not so large-scale. True, The Battle of Polytopia does not provide for a peaceful way to win, and battles last not an hour, but 10-15 minutes, which is ideal for a mobile game

10. Plague Inc.

A game in which you need to invent a disease and infect the whole world with it. During its passage, you will have to make important tactical decisions: in which country the first victims will be, how best to move to another continent, and so on.

Improvements for illness are available to the player. For example, antibiotic resistance or the possibility of infection through the air. The main thing in Plague Inc. – remember that people will not tolerate a new plague for a long time and will sooner or later begin to develop a cure.

11. Rebel Inc.

A game from the creators of Plague Inc., which also deserves attention. You are the ruler of a dwarf state, on whose territory a war has just occurred. The conflict has now been resolved, but local uprisings break out here and there. And you need to suppress them to prevent more bloodshed.

12. ROME: Total War

A classic strategy game that can now be played on mobile devices. Create your legions, conquer cities and countries, manage the economy – in general, become the ruler of the Roman Empire. And may the whole world unite under her banners.

13. Chaos Reborn: Adventures

It’s a cross between Heroes of Might and Magic and XCOM. At the beginning of the battle, two magicians appear on the playing field – these are the main units of the player and the enemy, the loss of which means defeat.

During the battle, mages use spells to attack and summon creatures. Each creature has unique characteristics: the gnomes are clumsy, but they hit painfully close, the elves are not so strong, but they shoot from the bow. Mages can also influence which force dominates the field: chaos or order. The cost of spells depends on this.

14. The Banner Saga

A unique blend of RPG, strategy and visual novel, highly acclaimed by critics and players alike. The Banner Saga tells the story of a doomed people who travels through a magical world full of references to Scandinavian mythology. The battles here are turn-based, during which you need to find a balance between attack and defense, controlling fighters of different classes.

As you progress through you will have to make difficult decisions. In this gloomy world, the line between good and evil has blurred, and any action can have far-reaching consequences.

Developer: Stoic

15. A Planet of Mine

In A Planet of Mine, you need to populate a small, procedurally generated planet. To do this, you need to extract resources, build mines, houses and quarries. It is also necessary to ensure that the resources on each part of the planet have time to recover. If they run out, they will no longer appear on this cell.

Over time, you will be able to explore space and interact with the inhabitants of other planets. In the end, you can even capture the entire star system.

Price: Free The text of the article was updated on March 26, 2021