The best strategy games in the Windows 10 store

I'm continuing our Windows store game round-ups with a expect at the strategy genre.

As I mentioned in my shooter round-upwardly, the Windows 10 game store is comprised mainly of content from the Windows 8.1 store. Every bit more and more than people pick up Windows 10 and engage with the app store, we can merely hope more quality developers step in to bolster the offering. That said, the Windows 10 store has quite a robust array of strategic game offerings. It's possibly due in part to touch on screen devices, which lend themselves well to strategy game controls.

Without further ado, here's some of the pinnacle-rated strategy games in the Windows ten store! Exist sure to exit a comment and permit us know what your favourite strategy games are also.

Age of Empires: Castle Siege

Age of Empires is one of Microsoft'southward oldest and nearly beloved game franchises. AoE leapt to Windows Phone and Windows eight in the form of Age of Empires: Castle Siege a couple of years back, and information technology's rather awesome.

AoE: CS takes cues from other freemium strategy games like Clash of Clans. In the game, you'll build a culture using units and interfaces familiar to classic Age of Empires titles.

AoE: CS does have a rudimentary history-themed single player campaign, just the beefiness of the game is in its strategic histrion vs. player battles. Once you've congenital up your civilisation, you lot can make armies using the resource and research you lot've accrued to attack other players. Yous don't fight against other players in real-time like mainline Age of Empires PC games. Instead, yous control your units with swipes or mouse clicks to circumvent enemy player'southward defences.

Your base exists in the cloud, assuasive your culture to persist even when you're exterior of the game. Other players will attack your base when you're offline, and yous'll receive a notification for when this occurs. Yous can defend your base with diverse buildings and units, such equally watchtowers and walls, in typical AoE fashion. Your victories and losses can be viewed in an instant replay mode, allowing you to examine where you lot need to improve your strategies.

As previously noted, AoE: CS is entirely deject-based, meaning your progress carries across devices using your Xbox Live Gamertag as the login credentials. As a freemium title, the game is gated in particular ways. Build times and resource accrual can be very slow. Progressing through the afterwards ages of civilisation can require weeks of grinding without cough upward in-app purchases. However, building armies and attacking other players is rapid and seamless, so there'south plenty of fun without paying a dime.

Download Historic period of Empires: Castle Siege from the Windows Store (Complimentary)

Plague Inc.

Plague Inc. is a success story for mobile strategy games. Ndemic Productions brought the popular game to Windows 8 and Windows Phone before this year to much rejoicing.

In Plague Inc., you're tasked with the eradication of humanity - pretty dark huh? To attain this goal, you lot play as one of the games several types of plague. Each micro-organism has a different set of strengths and weaknesses, and you control their development and development. Viruses mutate more apace than other diseases; parasites withstand environmental conditions, and leaner come as a balanced option.

The game takes place with an overview of the world map. You lot can run across the spread of your plague over time, and make adjustments to its evolution to come across resistances. News bulletins go along you up to engagement on the weather condition and other potentially hindering developments. Culture reacts to your plague as well, and so developing symptoms carefully is paramount to spreading undetected by world health organizations. Eventually, you lot'll be identified, and it becomes a race against time to ramp up your lethality before a cure is developed.

Plague Inc. is some other gratis to play title. Different plagues get unlocked over fourth dimension simply by playing, simply you tin go all-in to purchase admission straight away with in-app purchases.

Download Plague Inc. from the Windows Store ($1.99)

Skulls of the Shogun

Skulls of the Shogun is a Xbox Live enabled turn-based strategy game featuring undead samurai. The game was developed past 17-Fleck and hit Xbox 360, Windows Phone and Windows 8.1 equally a Microsoft published title a few years dorsum.

Skulls of the Shogun puts y'all in control of small squads of samurais, locked in an eternal war for control of Japan. The game has cartoony graphics and features a rough, but too charmingly humorous plot. Skulls' even has a cartoon series in development featuring Gears of War's John DiMaggio.

The game centers on strategic, turn-based combat, emphasizing map control, unit countering and positioning every bit important factors. Your undead samurai tin 'haunt' fields and shrines, giving them access to resources and thus new units. Vanquished foes tin can be devoured, assuasive your units to rank up and somewhen transform, gaining new abilities. The game may appear simplistic at first glance, but it's surprisingly deep and unmarried matches tin can take extended periods of time.

As a Xbox Live championship, Skulls of the Shogun synchronizes your campaign progression across all devices and enjoys online and local versus modes. Matches progress even when yous're not inside the app, and evangelize a notification when it'due south your turn. The game carries a premium price tag, merely there are no in-app purchases or pay-to-win mechanics.

Download Skulls of the Shogun from the Windows Store ($4.49)

Call of Duty: Heroes

Phone call of Duty: Heroes is very similar to Age of Empires: Castle Siege simply with some cool differentiators. CoD: Heroes is based on the popular first-person shooter series. Equally such, combat scenarios introduce manual chopper gunners and other abilities that mimic Call of Duty's killstreaks.

Like AoE: CS, y'all build upward a war machine base complete with resource management, troop deployment, research and then on. Y'all tin build a squad and attack enemy role player's bases. Y'all have less control over individual groups of soldiers when compared with AoE: CS, but the "hero" abilities add together interactivity and flair in a different mode. As Call of Duty: Heroes' proper name suggests, the game features characters from beyond the franchise - each upgradeable and with unique abilities. Hero characters can be directed as well with swipes and taps while regular troops deploy and so attack the nearest threats automatically.

Unlike the isometric second Castle Siege, Call of Duty: Heroes is 3D, which (literally) adds another dimension to how information technology plays. You lot can utilize Cost'south chopper gunner power to take control of a helicopter mini-gun, raining down bullets on your enemies base in the process.

For some reason, Activision didn't employ the same UI and audio effects equally the primary games, which makes it feel like it'due south 'Call of Duty' in name simply. Regardless, it's very fun and very well made. In-app purchases lean towards skipping build queues, in what seems to be a staple of the genre. I observe it to be a tad more generous than AoE: CS on the freemium front, simply that might only be because I haven't progressed as far in it. Give it a attempt!

Download Call of Duty: Heroes from the Windows Store (Free)

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