AI Dungeon, a text adventure game with near infinite possibilities, is now available on iOS and Android. The game uses machine learning to respond to users' prompts, letting you explore fantasy. We're here to discuss the best strategy games for your iPhone and iPad today, and it was a surprisingly easily list to write. Just look at all the brilliant strategy games that are available on the platform. Some of these are direct ports of PC and console games, with all the attendant depth and nuance that brings.
25 essential games to have in your iOS collection
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Mobile gaming is typically associated with quick, light, bite-sized genres that you can consume between bus stops. Your match-three puzzlers, or your idle clickers. But we all know that's doing our beloved iPhones a gross disservice, don't we? There are loads of deep, thoughtful games on the App Store. We're here to discuss the best strategy games for your iPhone and iPad today, and it was a surprisingly easily list to write.Just look at all the brilliant strategy games that are available on the platform. Some of these are direct ports of PC and console games, with all the attendant depth and nuance that brings.
But even the many mobile-specific strategy games out there boast plenty of meat to get your teeth into. Or at least, the best examples do.
And that's where we come in. The following list contains some of the best strategy games available for your iPhone and iPad.
Whether you're into turn-based tactics, real time strategy, or some weird genre hybrid in between, there's something for you below. So click below to find out what, in our opinion, are the best strategy games for your iPhone or iPad.
Think we've missed something? Let us know what should be on the list in the comments below.
Sid Meier's Civilization VI
It's Civilization VI on your iPad. Like, the actual Civilization VI, not some streamlined approximation. It's nothing less than one of the best and deepest strategy games on any platform.
XCOM: Enemy Within
XCOM has a reputation for being one of the finest squad-based strategy games around, with tense turn-based battles rendered in glorious 3D. This iOS conversion brings it to mobile without compromise.
FTL: Faster Than Light
FTL tasks you with running your very own spaceship, allocating resources to the departments that need it most. But the real thrill is that you have to do this while fleeing through a hostile star system.
Iron Marines
The maker of the peerless Kingdom Rush series proves that it can do classic RTS as well as its does tower defence. Iron Marines is brilliantly balanced, great to look at, and generally quite special.
Bad North
Bad North is a uniquely brilliant mish-mash of RTS, tower defence and roguelike elements as you defend your island communities from Viking attack.
SteamWorld Heist
SteamWorld Heist demonstrates that strategy games can be a zoomed-in, action-packed and even funny. This brilliant 2D squad-based game as you taking on robotic pirates with expertly placed ricochet shots.
Invisible, Inc.
Klei combines turn-based strategy with high-tech stealth in this beautiful isometric cyber-punk adventure.
ROME: Total War
One of the greatest and deepest real time strategy games ever made makes its way onto iPad, and it works shockingly well. ROME: Total War is the real deal.
Crying Suns
We still don't have an Android version of FTL yet, but Crying Suns is arguably the best alternative yet. This tactical rogue-lite has the star-maps and event systems of that strategy classic, but with an absorbing story and compelling flight-squadron combat.
Warbits
It doesn't look like we'll ever get Advance Wars on mobile, but Warbits is as close as it gets. This is colourful, intuitive turn-based strategy with a surprising amount of tactical depth.
Dungeon Warfare 2
You could well make the argument that Dungeon Warfare 2 is a tower defence game. But constructing the ultimate death-filled dungeon here proves to be so much more strategic and nuanced than your average lane runner.
Chaos Reborn: Adventures
A dauntingly deep and involving strategy game that punishes mistakes and rewards smart thinking. Its hex-based 3D battles have an impressive amount of tactical scope.
Company of Heroes
World War II-set Company of Heroes is one of the most beloved RTS games of all time. Its tight, squad-based tactics work well on modern iOS devices, barring a few touch control issues.
Kingdom: Two Crowns
A side-scrolling micro strategy game that strips a lot of the fiddly stuff out of the strategy genre. In its place is an intuitive 2D side-scrolling system and a pleasantly accessible learning curve, as you trot back and forth building up your empire.
Tropico
Easily the best city builder on the market, Tropico is a richly detailed, responsive, engaging, and fun PC port that feels perfectly at home on iPad. It looks and sounds beautiful, too.
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Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower
A true strategy game titan with a mobile-first focus from Perchang. Its tight turn-based battles play out gloriously on the wee screen.
Tharsis
Strategy games don't need to be ponderous and small scale. First Strike concerns a global nuclear conflict, and each battle can be swept through in frighteningly quick time.
Pocket City
Though it's less viscerally impressive than Tropico, Pocket City remains an absolute treat of a premium city builder. In particular, it manages to combine intuitiveness with strategic depth better than most.
Sid Meier's Starships
Sci-fi strategy on a grand scale, Sid Meier's Starships has got interplanetary diplomacy, deep space exploration, and plenty of pew pew laser battles.
Crush Your Enemies
Pocket real time strategy in its purest form, Crush Your Enemies whittles things down to a series of feisty minutes-long battles. It's just not a sharply-made RTS, but a funny game filled with foul-mouthed, half-drunk barbarians.
Plague Inc.
We're all used to defending life in our strategy games - Plague Inc. tasks you with destroying as much of it as possible by spreading and mutating a horrible virus. It's dark, man.
Frozen Synapse
Some strategy games simulate the big, the epic, the expansive. Frozen Synapse goes in tight, letting you plan the individual seconds of a frantic gunfight between computer simulated warriors. Game specs requirements.
Battleplans
Battleplans is a thoroughly modern mobile strategy game hybrid, blending RTS, MOBA and base defence elements into a gloriously colourful whole.
The Bonfire: Forsaken Lands
An engaging and intuitive strategy game that offers genuine consequences for your decisions as you strive to keep your village alive and thriving. It's also beautiful, in its own sparse way.
Xenowerk Tactics
A brilliant turn-based strategy game set within Pixelbite's tense sci-fi Xenowerk universe. There's more than a hint of XCOM to its tight squad manoeuvring, but with a slightly more arcadey edge.
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What are the Best Mobile RPGs in 2020? RPGs are without doubt the best video games genre of all time. They offer an unparalleled amount of content – with the longest stretching well past the 100 hour mark – alongside lots of player customisation options, addictive progression systems, and stories and characters that would make even Tolkien proud.
So popular is the genre that many of its tropes have been absorbed into other genres. Try and think of a shooter without a perk system, or an action adventure without a skill system. Even free to play games have levelling systems to keep you addicted – the mechanics are everywhere.
While mobile is best suited to dip in, dip out play, there are times that you want a game with a bit of meat on its bones. Perhaps you have a lengthy commute or are jetting off on holiday and want something to keep you occupied.
Well, there are plenty of solid options from mobile exclusives all the way to full on console ports. Here are our favourites in no particular order.
Oceanhorn 2
Oceanhorn 2 is one of the finest mobile games going, and those of you who own an iOS device are privileged to have it as an exclusive. It expands on the original in pretty much every area, with new weapons, vastly improved visuals, and a much bigger world to explore.
Get it on the App Store.
Various Daylife
Various Daylife was one of the surprise hits of Apple Arcade. It's a full-blown JRPG by the makers of Octopath Traveler and Bravely Default in which you play as a mercenary tasked with exploring the new world and making it safe.
There are numerous characters to get to know and recruit, a wide variety of biomes to explore, and tons of jobs to unlock and level up. There's a lot going on in Various Daylife, and there's easily hundreds of hours of gameplay here.
Get it on the App Store.
Yaga The Roleplaying Folktale
Yaga The Roleplaying Folktale is yet another Apple Arcade exclusive well worth playing. It draws influence from Slavic mythology, with you playing as a one-handed blacksmith who has to perform numerous tasks for the tzar.
This takes you on a lengthy adventure in which you'll beat up a bunch of mythological creatures, alter the story depending on the decisions you make, forge your own weapons, and equip a bunch of powerful gear.
Get it on the App Store.
Star Traders: Frontier
If you like your RPGs deep and strategic, check out Star Traders: Frontier. This space-themed RPG basically lets you do anything you want from behind the wheel of your own spaceship. You can become a pirate, merchant, bounty hunter, explorer, and more.
There's a huge universe to explore, even more characters to meet, and tons of customisation on offer, from the layout of your ship to the abilities of your character and crew. It's incredibly deep stuff.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar
Battle Chasers: Nightwar recently made the leap from console to mobile, and it's a pretty solid port. It's inspired by the classics, with you exploring an open world and venturing into various dungeons to battle monsters. You'll level up, collect gear, and craft new equipment.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Shieldwall Chronicles
Shieldwall Chronicles is a deep strategic adventure that takes place in the northlands of Tarren, a frozen landscape that's full of undead, demons, lizardmen, and more to battle. You lead a band of mercenaries and battle your way through a lengthy campaign.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is probably the best RPG on mobile, and it's up there with the best on all time greats lists.
It's pre-Dragon Age and Mass Effect Bioware in its prime, and let's you become a freaking Jedi, force and all.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
The Banner Saga 1 & 2
The Banner Saga is an indie strategy RPG franchise that takes place in a frozen Viking-inspired environment. The artwork is absolutely gorgeous, the story as brutal as Game of Thrones, and the gameplay challenging in all of the right ways.
- The Banner Saga – App Store / Google Play
- The Banner Saga 2 – App Store / Google Play
Final Fantasy Series
Final Fantasy is the grand daddy of JRPGs and pretty much all of the classics are available on mobile. If you don't know where to begin, we recommend either the best in VI, VII, or IX, or the mobile remake of XV.
Really, you can't go very far wrong with Final Fantasy. Heck, there's even a full on strategy RPG in Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions.
- Final Fantasy – App Store / Google Play
- Final Fantasy II – App Store / Google Play
- Final Fantasy III – App Store / Google Play
- Final Fantasy IV – App Store / Google Play
- Final Fantasy IV: The After Years – App Store / Google Play
- Final Fantasy V – App Store / Google Play
- Final Fantasy VI – App Store / Google Play
- Final Fantasy VII – App Store / Google Play
- Final Fantasy IX – App Store / Google Play
- Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition – App Store / Google Play
- Final Fantasy Tactics – App Store / Google Play
- Final Fantasy Dimensions – App Store / Google Play
- Final Fantasy Dimensions II – App Store / Google Play
Dragon Quest Series
Dragon Quest is Final Fantasy's sequel over in Japan, where it sells by the bucketload. It hasn't quite set the rest of the world on fire though, but they're still well worth checking out.
If you don't know where to begin, V or VIII are solid entries.
- Dragon Quest – App Store / Google Play
- Dragon Quest II – App Store / Google Play
- Dragon Quest III – App Store/ Google Play
- Dragon Quest IV – App Store/ Google Play
- Dragon Quest V – App Store/ Google Play
- Dragon Quest VI – App Store/ Google Play
- Dragon Quest VIII – App Store / Google Play
Evoland 1 & 2
The Evoland series is an intriguing one, as it blends a bunch of genres together to keep things interesting. At it's core, it's an RPG though, and it riffs off the genre throughout history, starting with 8-bit all the way up to the gorgeous visuals we're used to today.
- Evoland – App Store/ Google Play
- Evoland 2 – App Store/ Google Play
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth
Valkyrie Profile is another classic Square Enix JRPG franchise well worth playing, and Lenneth is the place to start on mobile. It riffs on Norse mythology but keeps that distinct Japanese flavour we know and love.
Get it on the App Storeor Google Play.
Warhammer Quest 1 & 2
Warhammer Quest and its sequel are mobile exclusive RPGs that produce some of the best top-down dungeon crawling you'll experience on the platform. Vce player for windows 7 crack activation. You'll build a party of hardened warriors and beat up terrifying foes on your way through the darkest dungeons.
- Warhammer Quest – App Store/ Google Play
- Warhammer Quest 2 – App Store/ Google Play
Darkest Dungeon
Speaking of dark dungeons, Darkest Dungeon has the, errrr, darkest. This is a horror RPG that makes a bunch of innovations. You'll send a team of RPG stalwarts into the dungeons of a castle to loot treasure.
The biggest threat isn't the enemies lurking in the darkness though – it's the darkness itself. The further your party travels underground, the more it will affect their mental health. If they start to lose it, it will affect them and your party negatively so keep an eye on the poor fools.
Get it on the App Store.
Cat Quest Series
Cat Quest is another RPG built firmly with mobile in mind. It's got some excellent touchscreen controls and marries the old school Final Fantasy overworld with Zelda-style gameplay to create something completely unique.
With Apple Arcade comes Cat Quest II, which is exclusive to iOS. It introduced two playable characters to the mix, including a dog this time around, and the full game can be played in co-op. There's also a wealth of new content, including weapon types, spells, and passive abilities. https://besttload721.weebly.com/beatunes-5-2-6-equals.html.
- Cat Quest – App Store / Google Play
- Cat Quest II – App Store
Galaxy / Knights of Pen & Paper
The Pen & Paper franchise turns D&D role playing into a mobile game. You play as a team of nerds playing a pen and paper RPG in which the events actually come to life.
You've got Knights for the fantasy fans and Galaxy for sci-fi nerds. Whichever you pick, you'll have a blast with this laugh-a-minute RPG franchise.
- Knights of Pen & Paper +1 – App Store / Google Play
- Knights of Pen & Paper 2 – App Store/ Google Play
- Galaxy of Pen & Paper – App Store / Google Play
Severed
Severed is just so suited to the touchscreen. Minecraft workers mod. It draws a ton of influence from Zelda: Skyward Sword's combat system, with you targeting enemy weak spots with accurate swipes of your finger.
It also offers a lengthy adventure complete with a story about the protagonist trying to locate her family in a terrifying world.
Get it on the App Store.
Infinity Engine Series
The Infinity Engine games offer a taste of early Bioware in its prime, when the likes of Baldur's Gate II and Planescape: Torment were spoken of with the same admiration of the likes of Witcher III.
This is where western RPGs first found their footing. While the games are showing their age a bit, they're still well worth checking out.
- Baldur's Gate – App Store / Google Play
- Baldur's Gate II – App Store/ Google Play
- Siege of Dragonspear – App Store/ Google Play
- Icewind Dale – App Store/Google Play
- Planescape: Torment – App Store/ Google Play
- Neverwinter Nights – Google Play
Jade Empire
Jade Empire is from around the same time as Knights of the Old Republic, and shows a Bioware experimenting with a more action-focused combat system than its previously turn-based offerings.
If you love eastern culture, you'll have a blast with this one.
Get it on the App Store.
Titan Quest
Titan Quest takes place in a world that blends human mythology together to create something entirely unique. If your tastes swing closer to Diablo than Skyrim, this is the one for you.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
The Bard's Tale
The Bard's Tale is an action RPG that borrows liberally from the likes of Diablo, though with a greater focus on story than loot. It's absolutely hilarious too, with the awesome Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride, Liar Liar) lending his pipes to regularly crack us up.
Get it on the App Storeor Google Play. Is playtech asia legit.
Eternium
Eternium is, without doubt, the best Diablo-alternative on mobile. Not only does it have an absolute ton of content and loot, it also features an innovative touch control scheme that lets you cast skills and spells by drawing shapes on the screen.
Get it on the App Storeor Google Play.
Dungeon Rushers
Dungeon Rushers is a Final Fantasy-style RPG that takes place solely in dungeons. You'll collect a party of heroes, and make your way through a dungeon methodically, using their unique skills to counteract traps and other obstacles.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger is often named as the finest JRPG of all time, and for good reason. Not only does it have an awesome time-hopping plot but it also provided much-needed innovation to the tired turn-based fighting system that was all the rage back then.
Get it on the App Store or Google Play.
Bastion and Transistor
It wouldn't be right not to include Supergiant's efforts, as they're some of the best games on mobile. You've got the excellent Bastion, which is one of the early indie darlings, and Transistor, one of its latest efforts that added a bit more strategy to the action.
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- Bastion – App Store
- Transistor – App Store