Into The Breach was our second favourite game of 2018 and remains the best strategy game ever made. So it's exciting news that Into The Breach: Advanced Edition is coming next month with new mechs, weapons and enemies to shove around in a free update.

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Looking back at it now, 2020 doesn’t feel like a banner year for strategy games, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been a few gems. The list below – gathered by a panel of experts and regularly updated – contains games from as recently as 12 months ago alongside classics from as far back as 28 years ago. They’re all games we think you could play and love right now.

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Subset Games’ bug-shootin’, mech-drivin’ roguelike Into The Breach got its 1.2 update yesterday, bringing with it a bunch of new additions and changes. The most interesting is reducing the price of new weapons, cutting them all from a standard two Reputation points to only one. The devs said this is “to encourage more risk-free experimentation of weapons during a run”. I like this idea a lot, I always fall into the habit of sticking with weapons I’m comfortable with, so it’ll be nice to have easier access to stuff I wouldn’t usually pick.

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Times are strange and frightening. But one point of great solace for me has been hearing people celebrating things in their lives. It feels especially important right now to hold on to what makes us all proud about what we do and who we are. And what I really love is people showing off things they’re proud of making.

So I’ve been asking a bunch of developers to pick out something they’ve created that brings them pleasure to look back on. And here they are, including Harvey Smith remembering his input on Deus Ex and Dishonored, Derek Yu on one of his first-ever games. There’s pride in doing something for someone else’s game, in the power of details and in little inventions, and ah gosh, shut up, let’s just tuck into a big slice of escapist positivity. (more…)

Every time I sit down to write, the first thing I do isn’t open up a blank document, it’s find some nice video game music to listen to. And loads of it can be found free on YouTube. Ambient music from Skyrim, relaxing compilations from Animal Crossing, lo-fi Legend of Zelda remixes Sometimes, work or study just can’t get done without my 10-hour loop of Chrono Trigger’s Corridors Of Time.

Looking at the millions of comments, uploads, and views these uploads get, it’s clear that I’m not alone. If you’re reading this on a PC right now, there’s a statistically decent chance that YouTube is currently open and playing some video game tunes in another tab. And it’s only possible because YouTube doesn’t treat video game music as it does other popular music.

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I shouldn’t have sent my mech into the earthquake zone. It was a stupid decision, induced by a greedy desire to punch another bug and scrounge a few extra drops of XP. I hadn’t ignored the risks, I’d just overlooked them. I’d left myself a turn to escape before the tiles plunged away, and the only insect left on the board was tucked into a corner. I forgot it was a flying insect. I forgot it could escape, and block me in.

And so I reached the moment of cinematic hubris pictured above. Into The Breach had left me with a choice of who to save, and the misery of knowing someone’s death would be all my fault.

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For a time it looked as though strategy games had sunk into a kind of deathly malaise, unsure which territory to claim next and which ones it should leave well and truly alone. Fast forward to 2020, though, and strategy games have never looked healthier, which is why we’ve compiled this best strategy games list of all time. Whether you want to conquer the depths of space, wage historical warfare or hulk around in big mechanical robots, there’s a strategy game for you below.

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I told myself I’d put the break to good use. That I’d dedicate my two, largely PC-less weeks to worthy, writerly projects. I thought I’d emerge with half a play under my belt, or the beginnings of a book. Instead, I have unlocked all of the Into The Breach squads on my Switch.

That would be fine, except for the way splendid turn-based Kaiju murder has seeped into my daily life. If we were face to face right now, there is a good chance part of my brain would be thinking about how I could best manoeuvre you into an imaginary pit. I’m very sorry. I cannot stop.

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Mech love, not war. That is the lesson we must learn from the futuristic prophecies of the MechWarrior games. Yes, it is very noble to slam your big steel shoes upon a separatist s bedroom, and to laser him in the head. But would it not bring greater valour, greater unity, greater enlightenment, if those same 65-ton brogues were used to dance!

No. Here is a list of the 9 stompiest mechs in PC games. The heaviest, most murderous machines we know and trust with our frail human bods. But are they are all good at squashing?

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It’s been an eventful decade for PC games, and it would be hard for you to summarise everything that’s happened in the medium across the past ten years. Hard for you>, but a day’s work for us. Below you’ll find our picks for the 50 best games released on PC across the past decade.

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