10 Strategy Games Even Genre-Haters Will Love

When they see the genre "strategy," many gamers will only have a couple of images in their heads: an interface that looks like a submarine cockpit, micro-management of hundreds of units, and a 200-page guide to understand how to build a stable. It's no surprise that many gamers diligently avoid any projects in this genre. But strategy games aren't limited to hardcore 4X and RTS titles. There's a whole universe of games that mask their management depth with simple and engaging gameplay. We've put together a dozen such "entry points" for beginners and those who can't stomach this genre. Read with caution, you may find a game that will keep you hooked all weekend.

1. Two Point Hospital

Release year: 2018
Developer: Two Point Studios
Platforms: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch

Don't like armies, battles, and complex plots? Then forget about them. Here, your army is an endless stream of patients with hilarious fictional illnesses. Yes, no flu or runny noses, just a selection of nonsense from patients: "lightheadedness" (aka a light bulb instead of a head) or "animal magnetism" (all the animals in the area are attracted to the poor patient). Your main task is to build offices, hire staff with extremely dubious skills (such as those whose unfortunate specialist buries their food or runs to the break room dozens of times a day) and, most importantly, squeeze as much money out of patients as possible. That is, of course, until they die and become ghosts that haunt other "clients" in the queue. This is a full-fledged economic strategy game where you will optimize the layout, manage queues, and keep an eye on the budget. However, the entry threshold here is so low that it can almost be called casual.

2. Into the Breach

Release year: 2018
Developer: Subset Games
Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch

If you like chess and robots, then the game simply hates randomness, but at the same time respects your intelligence. You can see where the enemies will attack on the next turn. No "95% chance of hitting - miss." Your task is to perfectly position your mechs in one move to push one monster into the abyss, block another's attack with your body, and expose the third to the fourth's attack. Each battle will be a separate puzzle on an 8x8 field. But there's no base building or studying hundreds of pages of guides. Just you, your brain, and a few moves to save humanity. There are a few moral choices to make: sacrifice a residential building with peaceful residents or your best mech? But trust me, the first option is way more profitable.

3. Mini Metro

Release year: 2015
Developer: Dinosaur Polo Club
Platforms: PC, PS4, Nintendo Switch

Any of us who have stood and waited for our train in the subway for ten or more minutes have started ranting about how illogical and inefficient it is. Here's your chance to do better.

4. Bad North

Release year: 2018
Developer: Plausible Concept
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

This is an RTS that has removed everything you dislike about RTS games. No base building, no resource gathering, no micromanagement. Just you, a little bit of tactics, and your personal "300 Spartans." You only have a few units (archers, spearmen, swordsmen) that you place like chess pieces on a tiny, procedurally generated island to fend off waves of Vikings. No multi-page instructions or manuals, just a little logic and attention. The entire gameplay consists of placing your troops in position. Put the archers on the hill so they can shoot at the landing party. Place the spearmen on the shore to meet the boats. Simple, fast, and terribly addictive.

5. Plague Inc: Evolved

Release year: 2016
Developer: Ndemic Creations
Platforms: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

If you don't feel like commanding any armies or bases at all, then welcome to Your goal is simple but unique: you must secretly infect all of humanity and safely end the existence of all humans. You upgrade symptoms (from a harmless cough to total organ failure), transmission routes (via birds, mosquitoes, airplanes), and drug resistance. It's like a sinister Tamagotchi. From the very first minutes of the game, you watch with excitement and sadistic pleasure as your virus enslaves the world. Plague Inc forces you to think strategically. Did your favorite make it to Greenland? Should you continue developing or is it time to increase lethality? Plague Inc: Evolved has a variety of pathogens for every taste: viruses, bacteria, parasites, and even a zombie virus. With all this exciting gameplay, you somehow forget that the game is actually about genocide.

6. Reigns

Release year: 2016
Developer: Nerial
Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch

At the beginning of each game, you are dealt a deck of random event cards that the king must decide on. Your task is to swipe left or right, making brilliant (or idiotic) decisions. Each choice either adds to or subtracts from one of the components of your balance (Church, People, Army, Treasury). But there's a catch: it's very bad if any of the four pillars of the state reaches zero, but its maximum value is also not good. Full treasury? You died of gluttony. Church at 100? You have been overthrown, and now God is in charge, not the king. You have to keep all four indicators in balance, otherwise you will face a ridiculous and absurd, but still certain death.

7. The Battle of Polytopia

Release year: 2016
Developer: Midjiwan AB
Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch

Polytopia is like Civ, but with all the boring and complicated stuff cut out. And the long stuff too: this game will easily last you through every lunch break. You choose one of the cute cubic tribes, explore the map, and develop a simple tech tree (fishing — seafaring — battleships).