What are the best PS4 strategy games? The PS4 has a surprising number of options for fans of tactical games. Whether you like real-time strategy or turn-based battles, there are more PS4 strategy games than you might think. Here's our list of what we think are PS4's best strategical experiences. If you want to read up on the best PS4 games in general, hit the link.
Please note that some external links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.
Best PS4 Strategy Games
Below is a list of the best PS4 strategy games, presented in no particular order. These are our favourite tactical PS4 games, as decided by our editorial team.
XCOM 2 (PS4)
Of course, we couldn't possibly leave XCOM 2 off this list — the dangerously addictive tactical strategy game in which you have to fight back against aliens that have taken over the planet. There are a bunch of different soldier classes to bring into battle with you, new enemies to fight, and loads of equipment to research and develop. Just be ready for that inevitable moment when your favourite agent is unceremoniously shot in the back by the alien that you failed to scout.
Bad North (PS4)
If you're new to real-time strategy games, Bad North could be worth a try. Mixing rogue-lite elements with very basic strategy, the game has you moving from island to island, defending each one from an onslaught of baddies. You'll never be quite sure which direction enemies are coming from, and unit types all have their pros and cons. As you slowly build up your forces and knowledge, you'll discover a game with surprising nuance beneath the simple visuals.
PixelJunk Monsters 2 (PS4)
Probably the cutest strategy game on PS4 is PixelJunk Monsters 2. This is a sequel to the beloved tower defence title, and carries over much of what made the original so great. The new art style looks wonderful, and there's a simple joy in plotting out your defences and having them lay waste to all the encroaching bad guys. Easy to learn but surprisingly tricky, this is an addictive, cheerful strategy game you can play alone or in co-op.
Tropico 6 (PS4)
Tropico 6 puts you in the shoes of a dictator in charge of a tropical island, and it's your job to transform it from a poor, dishevelled place into a thriving metropolis. The tongue-in-cheek strategy game will have you using all kinds of nefarious tactics in order to get ahead, including stealing the world's most famous landmarks. The Tropico series often flies under the radar, but it's a quietly brilliant set of strategy games, and the latest is another cracker.
The Banner Saga (PS4)
The Banner Saga is a haunting tactical RPG that's part visual novel — complete with weighty player choice — and part strategic, grid-based battles. You'll assist a great cast of personalities on an epic journey throughout a frozen, Norse-inspired wilderness, making difficult decisions, losing characters in battle, and managing your supplies.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist (PS4)
It's time to d-d-d-d-d-d-d-duel! Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist is, of course, a card battler based on the popular anime and manga property. Build a deck, challenge other players online, and feel really good about yourself when you win. Ridiculous hair products sold separately, sadly.
Hitman Go: Definitive Edition (PS4)
Hitman GO is exactly what you'd imagine a board game based on Hitman would be like. You painstakingly make your way around a board avoiding enemies and traps to reach your assassination target at the end. Enemies move when you move, so you'll have to use cunning to get past them in this unique spin on strategy.
Worms W.M.D (PS4)
If you grew up playing Worms with your friends late into the night, Worms W.M.D is the strategy choice for you. It brings back the hand drawn 2D visuals and introduces new weapons, crafting, vehicles, and buildings to the turn-based action. There's even a campaign, with 30 levels to blast your way through.
Cities: Skylines - PlayStation 4 Edition (PS4)
Hankering for Sim City? Cities: Skylines might just do it for you. You have to build the city of your dreams, from a quiet beach town to an industrial metropolis. Whatever your heart desires, you can build here. You do have to pay close attention to your cities amenities though, if you want people to live there – and happily.
Desperados III (PS4)
The Desperados series makes its grand return on PS4 with the third instalment, and it's a great real-time strategy game. Putting you in the boots of various characters in a deadly wild west environment, you'll work your way through varied maps, whittling down enemies with unique character abilities and stealthy manoeuvres. From the developer behind Shadow Tactics (which also features in this list), this is a rootin' tootin' good time.
Comments (61)
XCOM2 fully deserves top spot and the different the War of the Chosen DLC makes is amazing; it's more like XCOM2.5 after playing it.
I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Tropico though. I've played it through twice with some of the DLC as well but I don't think it's actually that good a game. I do like that it's more mission based than games like City Skylines though.
I'm currently playing Surviving Mars though which probably warrants a place on this list. I'm just terrible at it.
I've owned the first XCOM remake for, like, five years and have still never touched it. I need to change that.
Well, anyway, Valkyria Chronicles would top this list for me, even with its relatively simple and slightly wonky mechanics. It has a ton of heart. I'm expecting great things from VC4!
Disgaea 5 for me. It's unrivalled imo.
I do own Xcom 2. Should probably get to that.
1 x com 2. Valkyria chronicles.3disgaea.4.grand kingdom.5.shadow tactics.word up son
So glad to see Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun at #2. One of my fave games of last year. Such an incredible strategy/stealth experience.
Also XCOM 2 definitely deserves the top spot, although it was only the War of the Chosen expansion that really turned that game into something special, in my opinion. It has a lot of technical issues on PS4 too, but they don't detract from how good it is.
Finally, Tooth and Tail gets mentioned on Push. Sheesh.
I would like to add Aven Colony. Amazing game that plays like it was made for PS4.
There are a lot of titles on this list that I have yet to play. It’s great that strategy games find their way to home consoles and work well without mouse and keyboard.
I HATE strategy games. But I love XCOM so much...
Interesting list. A few there I have never heard of and will investigate further.
Thumbs up for Invisible Inc.- probably my most played PS+ game.
Where is Darkest Dungeon? Darkest Dungeon is easily in the top 5.
Valkyria 4 is a gem just like the original, I love XCOM but the style and the characters or Valkyria just make it a home run. The combat systems of the two games are strangely kinda similar - in a way.
@Feena true, valkyria chronicles is probably the only strategy game that makes me care about what's going on, even if it's a bit cheesy and full of anime tropes.
No Natural Doctrine? Some of these barely qualify as strategy games. ND on the other hand is a deep, complex and challenging PS exclusive.
I would have updated the list to include: Railway Empire, Blood Bowl 2, Jurassic World Evolution, Aven Colony, Grand Ages: Medieval, 8-Bit Armies, Dungeons 3, Mutant Year Zero, Nobunaga's Ambition: Taishi, and Surviving Mars.
Blades of the shogun is such a great game but speed runs on ps4 don't work I cheesed it and because I cheesed it I was denied the platinum but it just was not meant to speed run on the ps4 due to the more hands on control of the characters
I have put about 30 hours into Railway Empire recently without even noticing, its really cheap at the moment too (£10), also, Aven Colony was well worth the tenner spent on it, enjoyable platinum...also really want to try Jurassic world...
How did I not know about Steamworld Heist until this list? I read some reviews, and it seems like a game that is right in my wheelhouse. Thanks Pushsquare!
Updated, now with added Wargroove
@Quintumply
Great, now go and make another update because You can't play Orcs Must Die: Unchained anymore. The servers are switched off.
BTW. I've just registered, wonderful site in general and such small mistakes won't have any impact
@Prime_Objective Whoops! Removed the game from the list. Thanks for that
And thank you for joining us!
If only it was really true that there are 29 better strategy games on PS4 than Darkest Dungeon....
@Milky_Bandit But it's not a strategy game, though. It's a dungeon crawler RPG. Sure it has some strategy to it, but no more than many RPGs. Having some strategy elements doesn't make it a strategy game; nearly every game has elements of strategy, from Street Fighter to Battlefield to FIFA. The devs themselves don't even describe it as a strategy game.
It does look good, though. I like anything with that Lovecraftian feel to it.
I always mistake the cover for Tropico 5 as a Chaz & Dave poster!
Not tried an RTS for years, have any of these been on PS Plus recently I could check out?
@Ralizah If you enjoyed Valkyria Chronicles you really should, I'm a big fan of both games. X-Com is different but has it's own heart and story (plus a great soundtrack). I need to check out VC4 and get the war of the chosen addon for XCom2 but what I really want is a good quality fantasy strategy RPG. Something with a storyline and gameplay outside of battles. Shining Force was my first strategy RPG so Firaxis and Camelot teaming up for Shining Force 4 would fit the bill nicely.
@Welkin I actually played the first XCOM (the remake, I mean, not the old one) since posting that.
...wasn't a fan. Way too many battles without any sort of real narrative context.
I hear XCOM 2 is an improvement, though.
Updated.
I thought the Banner Sage trilogy was terrific, one of my games of this generation for sure. Excellent writing and a proper 'grown up' game. XCOM2 was great too, but the excruciating loading times were preventing me from finishing it. I'm looking forward to playing it on my PS5 with zero loading times (hopefully).
I’m playing Valkyria Chronicles 4 and it is a great game. This is a genre I’ve not spent much time with so I should check out more of these on the list.
@Miiamoto I sold i didnt understand anything about that game. 😭
.... And Civ 6 is coming....
My wallet is ready. Best time sinker ever made
Planetfall and Stellaris are also 2 great 4x games that 4x lovers should play.
A vote from me to also include Mutant: Year Zero. It is a simple, addictive, and well crafted turn based strat in a realized world.
@Flaming_Kaiser It's certainly not very intuitive 😂
@Miiamoto I just gave up. Im the kind of guy that wants too play without much effort. 😆
@ShaiHulud I could agree more! I had to stop.. The loading time just killed for me. I reload a bunch time.. Maybe that why.. Don't want my team to die..
@Quintumply
Stellaris?
And is Civ VI out yet? It’s on my Day 1 list, but it was still “Coming Soon” when I bought the Kingdom Hearts bundle yesterday.
Bravo!
Totally with you about the new #1
@Gatatog Commandos was the best strategy/stealth game I ever played, if this is in any way similar I'm sure I'll enjoy it.
It's a shame no one bought Shadow Tactics, it's really good
@MonkeyDLuffy19 It's doable just very difficult. I've done the first seven or eight missions then had to give it a rest for a while. I'll come back to it.
Great game though. Can't wait for desperados 3, made by the same company
How is Ancestors Legacy not even on this list??! I’d put it at number one myself but to exclude it entirely is absurd. Pushsquare even featured the game last year when it came out. Come on!
Darkest Dungeon, Stellaris, Age of Wonders Planetfall all deserve mention here... Darkest Dungeon is arguably more tactical, but then so's X-COM, which is marred by a very buggy War of the Chosen port. The vanilla version plays well however...
Glad Banner Saga has some spotlight.
Shame it had a really dissapointing ending Banner Saga 3.
But, the journey itself,gameplay challenge and hair-pulling choices was suprisingly good since it's a first delve into this kind of genre from the former Infinity Ward devs.
Also that art-style...man, i wish more Turn-based/strategy games were like this.
Steamworld Heist is amazing - hoping for a sequel!
the banner Saga can just be bought as a trilogy now, probably my favourite game from the PS4 generation, not ground breaking in anyway and not even perfect in it's presentation, just a great game, really enjoyed the journey it took me on
I almost feel guilty I bought Shadow Tactics when it was on sale for 5€, it’s a pretty damn good game and worth full retail
Don t forget Stellaris and Planetfall. Two great scifi XXXX games
Invisible Inc. is an astoundingly well designed game. I think we need to separate tactics from strategy, although I'm aware the strategy genre traditionally covers both and they often go hand in hand.
Ancestors Legacy should really be on that list.
@Dougthead
Yup, I don't see how Darkest Dungeon isn't at the top of this list, utterly stellar title.
I rarely fully play through strategy games because I use them to scratch an itch. But I played through XCOM. That game is so damn good.
Great list. There were several interesting games I had not even heard of before. Looking forward to trying them out. Thank you.
I'm really looking forward to see how strategy games for the 9th gen can make use the DualSense controller's features. It can lead to something fairly groundbreaking.
I’m really surprised that slay the spire featured so low. I echo the opinions regarding darkest dungeon, but the accessibility of slay the spire really makes what can be an intimidating type of game a daily go to for a quick run...or 5! I find it so addictive and even after more than 100 hours cannot get my head around the builds some people put together. An unachievable platinum for me but nevertheless so enjoyable.
Are valkyria games that good? Might have to try them at some point
XCom 2 is a masterpiece of a game, but I'm not sure I could in all good conscience recommend playing it on console when there's such a great modding scene on Steam, and you can play it on any reasonably recent laptop. The vanilla campaign gave me hundreds of hours replaying at different difficulty levels and going through the achievements, but modded campaigns gave me another thousand.
Love me a bit of XCOM 2.
Really looking forward to Phoenix Point tomorrow.
Nobunagas ambition took over my life for a week last month. Also shout out to Stellaris.
@Quintumply I was notified today that Phoenix Point is now available on PlayStation; any chance of a review or an impression of whether it belongs on this list? I hear there have been a lot of changes since its PC launch which make me hesitant to base my decision to purchase or not on these much earlier reviews.
Lots of good stuff on that list. Recently completed Shadow Tactics and it was great.
PC generally has a lot more of these games though. Can't believe Into the Breach still isn't on Playstation ...or at least to my knowledge it isn't?
Valkyria Chronicles hands down the best tactical games on any system really. The Xcoms are great as well.
Tap here to load 61 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...