Top 4 Strategy Games on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

Anno 1800

Anno 1800 is a 19th century based city builder and naval strategy game. The best way to describe it is like Tropico with naval battles and military conflicts thrown into the mix.

The city building interface is perhaps one of the most user friendly and easy to operate out of all strategy building games. However the system of expansion and upgrading citizens can be quite complex, relying on various industries and luxuries that different levels of workers need.

You might have a complicated trading arrangement where you can produce everything you need on a particular island, except for the crucial materials such as wood or metal. This will mean having a complex system in place where you are chopping trees down on another island, processing the lumber into planks, then routinely sending these to the new island where they are desperately needed to avoid halting progress altogether.

If you enjoy games like Tropico, City Skylines, or SimCity, but wish there was more of a military element where you can throw your weight around, then Anno 1800 is a good choice.

Apart from the story mode and sandbox gameplay, Anno 1800 also features cooperative and competitive multiplayer.

Anno 1800 is available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and also sold separately.

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Anno 1800

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate 

Dune Spice Wars

(Update - Dune: Spice Wars is no longer available on Xbox Game Pass but still worth checking out)

Dune Spice Wars is perhaps best described as a mixture of C&C style real time troop movements with a 4X campaign running through it similar to Stellaris.

If you enjoy the longer campaigns of Stellaris but find it a bit of a "menu game" and looking for more on the ground action, Dune Spice Wars provides a nice mix of over arching strategy, with intense tactical combat and real time troop movements.

For example, will you enter into a trade agreement or alliance with those war mongering neighbours of yours? Or will you seek to vanquish them in a variety of ways, take over the financial markets or the politics of the planet and bully them out, setup criminal elements within their territory or build up your army and go over there blasting?

Dune Spice Wars is another great strategy game on Xbox that is largely unheard of. It was previously included on Xbox Game Pass although the title has now left the service and only available to purchase separately.

Wartales

Wartales is a brilliant medieval RPG with xcom style turn based combat, available on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (affiliate link)

Build up your band of mercenaries and explore a completely non linear sandbox world where the choices you make really do make a difference.

Many RPG strategy games claim this to be the case when the only real choice is are you going to complete mission A or mission B first. With Wartales however you really do weave your own tale of either heroism and bravery or treachery and deceit.

Will you assist those farmers that gave you the mission or join forces with the raiders if it looks like a better option? Should I buy this expensive armour or just get my thief to steal it and go on the run from the law for weeks?

Wartales allows you to play the game as you see fit and includes everything you would hope for in a medieval survival rpg game. You can fish, hunt, craft, mine, climb mountains, steal things, setup camps, recruit soldiers and customise your gear and armour.

The turn based combat is simple and intuitive without being too clunky or busy on screen. The game comes into its own however as you explore the beautifully rendered 3D map, crafting climbing gear to abseil down the side of cliffs and looking for a suitable spot to hole up, feed your troops and repair your armour.

Mount and Blade II Bannerlord

Mount and Blade II Bannerlord is a strategy game like no other. Even referring to this title as a strategy game is selling it short as the game seamlessly combines 3 different games together. At its heart it is a medieval RPG game, similar to Kingdom Come. As you expand out and begin to recruit soldiers to your warband it becomes a strategy game as you conquer various lands and go to war with different factions, feeding and training your troops, promoting them to generals to command their own armies or governors to run the cities you have conquered.

On top of this, Bannerlord is also an immersive and realistic medieval battle simulator. Imagine being launched into a massive battle with several hundred troops such as those in Total War but you are experiencing it first hand, on the ground with troops and horses clashing around you in first person or third person perspective.

After building up your forces and your own abilities you take part in intense sieges with catapults and trebuchets smashing rocks into the enemy castle before you pour into the breach with your troops, issuing commands on the fly as you tear apart the garrisoned soldiers.

Whether you are taking part in a siege or fighting in the open plains, mountains or forests, leading charges on horseback or with infantry, hanging back as an archer or leading your soldiers on the front line, the battles are always visceral and awesome to behold.

Even after your character has gone down wounded and you are out of the fight, it is still quite entertaining to zoom around watching the battle pan out, as maybe 500 or 1000 combatants could be involved in the battle itself.

With Bannerlord you really set the lore for yourself as you weave your own medieval tale of heroic battles and political intrigue.

For example you might start life on Bannerlord as a lowly criminal, pinching the odd bits of produce from caravans and marketplaces, doing the odd shady deal until you can equip a decent warband and eventually become a mercenary, fighting wars for the king of your chosen faction and getting paid for it.

As you rise through the ranks and gain influence and reputation for your little gang you can become a vassal or land owner, one of the lords of the realm and are given your own properties, castles and towns that are taken in battle.

If you really want to show them who's boss you can branch out from your chosen faction, setup your own kingdom in your own name and even steal the fiefs or castles that have been awarded to you, triggering a war between your newly created faction and your old friends you have betrayed so unscrupulously.

Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord really is a deep, medievel strategy RPG game. It is probably the closest to what you would imagine running a band of viking warriors is like. The character progression is like no other game and as you rise through the ranks your horizons expand, adding further depth to the game.

You start off in control of just yourself, scrabbling around making a living. Halfway through the game you may be in charge of the entire kingdom's army, with several cities, castles, caravan routes and business enterprises you are drawing income from.

Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord (affiliate link) also features a multiplayer mode which is especially entertaining in Captain mode, where up to 12 players can battle it out, in command of their own sections of the greater army.

Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord can be found on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (affiliate link) or sold separately.

For better camera control and movement in strategy games, try these Galaxy Grips featured in our latest review:

Play Test of KontrolFreek Galaxy Grips

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