The strategy game genre is a broad one, with a rich history that’s packed with games that have aged well to this day.Indie strategy gamesin particular are becoming increasingly popular, thanks to standout titles such asSlay The Spire,Battle Brothers, andAgainst The Storm, among others.
From city-builders and strategy-RPGs, toreal-time strategy gamesand tabletop-inspired deck-builders, there are plenty of indie strategy games to enjoy. While many of them lend themselves to high replay values, these examples offer some of the most replayable experiences.
This distinctive city-builder featuresa brilliant visual stylethat’s reminiscent of old RTS games, such asWarcraft 3, and a unique gameplay loop that combines the early game of the city-building genre with arogue-lite structure.
Against The Storm’srogue-lite elementshelp to boost its replay value by giving players a clear-cut way to progress through the game. More important, however, isAgainst The Storm’sbite-sized city-building missions. Throughout the game, players will work to build supply chains and small settlements in order to fulfill a variety of objectives. This addictive gameplay loop, and the game’s multitude of biomes, weather conditions, upgrades, and difficulty modifiers make it a replayable city-building experience that’s easy to return to.
This unique indie game allows players tobuild their own shipsusing a streamlined, modular system. These modules include everything from the crew’s quarters and the ship’s repair bay, all the way to weapons and armor.
This ship-building system alone makesAirshipsa replayable experience, but the game’s tight gameplay loop makes it easy to come back to again and again.Airshipsfeatures a solid battle system that allows players to test their creations across three game modes including individual missions, a grand-strategy conquest mode, and online PvP.
This turn-based, strategy-RPG sandbox tasks players with leading and managing a mercenary company in a low-fantasy open world.Battle Brothersfeatures gritty, unforgiving combat that requires deep strategic thinking, and its sandbox nature ensures it has plenty of replay value.
Battle Brothersfeatures a variety of difficulty modifiers and scenarios for players to begin the game with. Once in the game, however,Battle Brothersopens up even more, giving players the freedom to decide which contracts to take, who to recruit, and how to level up their company of soldiers. The game’s faction reputation system, and variety of end-game crises, also help to boost its replay value.
This strategic tactics game from developers, Subset Games (the team behindFTL: Faster Than Light), is a turn-based combination of strategy, tactics, and puzzle gameplay. In the game, players must defend various civilian buildings from an overwhelming alien threat, all while attempting to complete a variety of bonus objectives.
Players do this using a squad of three unique mechs, each with their own pilot. These mechs can be customized and specialized throughout each run, which adds replay value in of itself. However,Into The Breachalso allows players to unlock new squads of unique mechs, choosing from a total of fourteen distinct squads with their own play-styles.
Kenshiis a particularly unique game that focuses on exploration and strategic combat. The game’s combat plays very much like a small-scale real-time strategy game, with players controlling their squad in real-time with pause. The combat is simple, but satisfying, and demands good micromanagement on the part of the player.
Kenshihas been around for many years, originally starting as an Early Access title. In the game, players explore an open-world sandbox in a fully-simulated wasteland.Kenshigives players an abundance of options, ranging from what they want their character to be good at, to where to build a base, to which characters they want in their squad. It’s these options that giveKenshiits tremendous replay value.
Slay The Spireis a cornerstone in therogue-like deck-buildinggenre, and arguably one of the most streamlined deck-building games on the market.Slay The Spire’seasy-to-learn, hard-to-master gameplay is an addictive loop, thanks to a massive variety of cards and playable characters.
Each character inSlay The Spireis incredibly unique, featuring their own pool of available cards that players can use to construct powerful decks. This, along with the game’s Ascension mode (which provides a ladder of increasingly difficult game modifiers), makesSlay The Spireone of the most replayable indie strategy games.
This Poker-themed rogue-like combines the rogue-like deck-building genre with Poker, offering a truly unique experience that’s hard to put down. InBalatro, players form the best Poker hands that they can in score-attack fashion, attempting to create a powerful build as they progress through the game’s rogue-like structure.
Balatrois incredibly replayable, as it features a variety of starting decks and distinctive Jokers. Players build their run through these Jokers, of which they are limited to five (by default), and the game features 150 of them, making for plenty of variety. Furthermore,Balatrofeatures a variety of challenge runs and harder difficulty modes, rewarding players who stick around to master its systems.
This legendary indie game has spent years in development as a result of its variety of complex, simulated systems.Dwarf Fortressis a simulation-heavy combination of strategy game and colony-sim, tasking players with building and managing a colony of dwarves in a procedurally-generated fantasy world.
It’s the game’s deep levels of procedural world generation and simulated elements that make it so replayable, as the game can be dramatically different every time it’s played. The player’s world, the decisions they make, and the dwarves themselves can have a massive impact on the colony they control, making each new colony a land of opportunity. Unfortunately, everything that givesDwarf Fortressits high replay value also contributes to its inaccessibility, though the Steam release of the game in 2022 did its best to streamline the experience.
