20 Best Classic PC Strategy Games

Table of Contents

• 20 Best Classic PC Strategy Games
• 19. Heroes of Might and Magic II
• 18. Master of Orion II
• 17. Shogun: Total War
• 16. Age of Empires II
• 15.The Settlers (1993)
• 14. Age of Empires III
• 13. Command & Conquer: Red Alert
• 12. Company of Heroes
• 11. Dungeon Keeper (1997)
• 10. The Settlers II
• 9. Black & White
• 8. Command & Conquer (1995)
• 7. Sid Meier's Civilization (1991)
• 6. Dune II
• 5. StarCraft II
• 4. StarCraft
• 3. UFO: Enemy Unknown
• 2. Heroes of Might and Magic III
• 1. Warcraft III

2. Heroes of Might and Magic III

If any game deserves to be called a work of art, it is Heroes of Might and Magic III.

A book and doctoral thesis could easily be written about the game that comes in second place in our ranking, and you still wouldn't run out of subject matter. Heroes III is not only a piece of the history of digital entertainment, but also a phenomenon that continues to this day.

The third installment of Heroes offers arguably the best turn-based gameplay ever. The fantastic combination of city management with tactical battles and character progression can be literally addictive. Although the same can be said about the aforementioned UFO: Enemy Unknown, these are completely different games.

Heroes III is set in a fantasy setting (straight from another classic series, Might and Magic), and the gameplay is a mix of 4X games with classic RPG. So we have cities where we can recruit a hero and an accompanying army of various fantastic creatures. In order to acquire better and better creatures, we need to develop our city, for which we in turn need the resources we acquire during the expansion led by our heroes.

The simple gameplay rules combined with the vast variety of available cities and characters make the game offer almost endless strategic and tactical possibilities. This can be seen especially in multiplayer, which almost always looks different and evolves with how the players themselves learn. Visiting new areas, collecting powerful artifacts and erecting new buildings also comes with the "one more turn "syndrome. Let's face it, it's really hard to get away from this game.

Although Heroes III was the series' peak achievement, it was also its last installment to reach the status of a true legend. Despite the brilliant gameplay formula, none of the subsequent parts repeated the spectacular success of the third part.

In any other case it would be bad news, but this time it does not matter, because it is a title so good that even without a worthy sequel it will last for many years to come. Heroes III is still alive and kicking. A loyal and quite numerous community gathered around the game, and even when I was writing this text, my colleagues were in the process of organizing a small Heroes III tournament.