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Interesting Realtime Tactics games
Games focused on managing and using limited amount of resources to achieve a goal in real time. More resources can usually be acquired but only at specific time, like between levels or outside combat.
Arx Fatalis (link)
Open world role playing game where you cast spells by drawing rune symbols.
Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition (link)
Has pretty good mage combat system. Mage has various spells that protect against low level spells, bounce spells back or absorb them restoring their own spells. They can also become untargetable thanks to invisibility, protected against physical attacks or straight up immune to certain schools of magic. On the other hand there are spells designed to break down these individual types of defenses. Worth mentioning are also some uncommon spell ideas like summoning a clone with a copy of the mage's memorized spells or preparing spells to be cast automatically on a trigger condition.
Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II (link)
Space ships fighting on a flat plane. Ships have parts that can be destroyed which disables its abilities and morale, losing which can cause the ship to flee the battle. Ships also have crew and can be boarded, less crew means less effective ship until it can’t do anything unless the crew is replenished. Ships have directional weapons and can ram each other. In the campaign you are controlling multiple fleets to capture planets and complete objectives. The game gets harder, if you avoid battles for too long.
Battle of Kingdom (link)
The player moves on a board. Most tiles lead to a battle, where the player controls one of their mosters to defeat the enemy monster. Player earns points during the game, which can be spent on new creatures or in battle to heal or use special attacks.
Cybercon III (link)
You control a mechanical suit with various abilities, like better movement, shield or repair, that consume energy when turned on and can be damaged. In the game you will find key codes which allow you to use objects in the game with the right combination. Your weapon's strength depends on how much power it has. When enemies are badly damaged, but not killed yet, they will drop items. Found fuel cells can be used to replenish energy or as a bomb, exploding when triggered by the right key code. Shield generators can be placed on the ground to generate a wall and so block enemies. Enemies have different sensors, some can not see the player when the suit is powered down. Placeable cameras can be found, that can be used to remotely view a location. There are traps that can be avoided by triggering them with a key code.
DEFCON: Global Nuclear Domination Game (link)
Every player controls part of the world with large cities marked on the map. Game is divided into phases which progress with time. At first each player places down their nuclear silos (which also serve as defense), radars, airfields, ships and nuclear submarines. Then they can start moving fleet around, later engage in combat and send planes to scout unknown territory. Eventually starts the last phase, DEFCON 1, which allows all players to unleash their nuclear warheads, submarines and bombers at enemy military installations and cities. The goal is to have the best ratio of foreign population killed versus your own lost.
Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten (link)
On each map you defend main character with immobile units placed along a path. Enemies come in waves and move through the path to the main character. Your units have a range in which they attack enemies. Killing enemies provides psi points that can be used to place more units, boost them or cast spells. Units level up and can be equipped with items.
Din's Curse (link)
You fight, cast spells, get gear and choose skills on level up. A custom class can be created by selecting any two skill trees, even twice the same one. Your goal is to save a town from destruction. To accomplish that you get random quests which can be failed if you take too long or mess up. Outcome of quests changes the environment. Failing to kill a leader may result in town invasion which forces you to intercept it or return to town, succeeding can weaken the faction and make another one dominant. People in the town can die to monsters but you can equip them so they can defend themselves better. Saving the town can also be failed, if you lose all town leaders. In that case you start over in a new town.
Divinity II: Ego Draconis (link)
Player can summon a custom creature made by combining found body parts and read minds of non-player characters by spending little bit of experience.
Dragon Age: Origins (link)
You control multiple characters that level up, have equipment and attitude towards main character. Levels increase attributes and unlock abilities. Abilities have cooldown and cost mana or will reserve part of the mana bar. The AI of the companions can be customized.
EVE Online (link)
Players fight over systems, build space stations in them and gather their resources. Most things have to be manufactured by players and are traded at markets. When a player is defeated, their ship is destroyed and the wreck can be looted and salvaged. Player character can train skills, which happens over time even when offline.
Evil Islands: Curse of the Lost Soul (link)
You can control multiple characters that have equipment and gain experience. Characters can go prone to avoid detection, aim at specific body parts and use stamina to run and cast spells. Experience is spent directly on buying or improving skills. In the world you will find new spells, runes and materials. Spells can be created by combining spell type with runes that change the effect and cost. The same applies to equipment where you combine template with materials and enchantment. Both can be disassembled.
Fallout 4 (link)
Open world. Shoot, loot, craft/buy equipment, level up and build your own settlement. When you create new character, you assign attribute points and then spend perk point on every level to increase one attribute or get a skill. Skills are locked behind attribute requirements. Weapons can be customized to change their behavior. There is VATS system that slows down time and allows you to auto-aim at enemy body parts. That costs action points, which regenerate over time, and builds a gauge that grants critical hits. You also get power armor, that can be entered and exited as a vehicle and can be modified with jetpack.
Fates of Ort (link)
You control one character that can equip items and can cast spells. Spells cost health, have no cooldown and casting the same spell repeatedly increases its cost. Leveling up gives access to more spell types. Each type has different effect based on which one of the three magic types you have active. When you don’t move the game stops time. Optionally player can choose to use magic that does not cost health but makes the environment more dangerous.
Final Fantasy IX (link)
The player controls a party of characters, who level up and have equipment, that gives them active and passive abilities. The equipment also gains experience and when it has enough its abilities can be used without it. Each character can have only a limited amount of passive abilities enabled. The amount a character can enable at the same time is limited by a point system, where each ability costs a different amount of points to enable.
In battle player selects action for each character, who have to wait some time between each action. Characters can attack, use items and use abilities, which costs them mana. When a character takes enough damage, they turn into a special form with new abilities.
Most NPCs in the game will play a collectible card game with the player. Cards are gained by winning and from defeated enemies. Cards have a different power, class, physical and magical defense and arrows that indicate on which side they can attack. Class determines what attribute the card will attack and there is small randomness in the attack result calculation. The cards are placed onto a grid and they will flip weaker adjacent cards to the player’s color. Grid squares may be elemental which changes power of the card placed there based on its element. When the grid is full, the player with most cards flipped to their color wins. Cards can increase in their strength by winning.
Final Fantasy VII (link)
The player controls a party of characters, who level up to increase their attributes. They have various equipment which has slots for upgrades, that make the character stronger and add active and passive abilities. Upgrade slots are sometimes linked, which combines the upgrade effects, for example making the linked ability affect all enemies. Upgrades level up as they are used.
In battle player selects action for each character, who have to wait some time between each action. Characters can attack, use items and use abilities, which costs them mana. When a character takes enough damage, they can use their special abilities. Some abilities are interactive, like stopping a slot machine at the right time to get the best result.
Final Fantasy VIII (link)
The player controls a party of characters, who can be connected with guardian force. Guardian force levels up, gaining new abilities, which allow the character to use special attacks, increase attributes and allow connecting a spell to an attribute. Spells don’t use mana, instead they have limited amount of casts and more are gained from battle and crafting. Spell increases attribute it is connected to. The more spell casts are left, the larger the bonus.
In battle player selects action for each character, who have to wait some time between each action. Characters can attack, use items and use abilities. When a character has low enough health, they have a chance to use their special abilities. Some abilities are interactive, like stopping a slot machine at the right time to get the best result. Character can summon their guardian force for an attack, which takes some time, during which attacks targeting the character damages guardian force instead and the player can repeatedly press the button to increase the attack’s power.
Most NPCs in the game will play a collectible card game with the player. Cards are gained by winning, from defeated enemies and crafting from items. Cards can also be turned back into items. Cards have an element and different power on each 4 sides of the card. They are placed onto a grid and they will flip weaker adjacent cards to the player’s color. Grid squares may be elemental which changes power of the card placed there based on its element. When the grid is full, the player with most cards flipped to their color wins. Various places in the game have different rules for this card game.
Final Fantasy X-2 (link)
The player controls a party of characters. They can equip classes, which each have different abilities, attributes and appearance. There are no weapons or armor, those are determined by active class, characters can only equip accessories. Using a class levels it up. Classes are equipped by putting them into slots on a grid, which is then equipped by a character.
In battle player selects action for each character, who have to wait some time between each action. Characters can attack, use items and use abilities, which costs them mana. When characters attack shortly after each other, it counts as a combo and each additional attack deals more damage. Characters can switch their class during battle by moving to a different slot on the equipped class grid. Depending on equipped grid, switching classes may give bonuses. Switching through all slots on the grid during single battle allows switching to special class, which replaces all characters by a single strong character.
Some NPCs talk in a fictional language. Items can be found, that will each translate a part of the language. The player can play a collectible coin game with NPCs. Each coin has a number from 1 to 9 and may have special abilities that increase score or change coin’s number. During the game a number is chosen, player chooses 4 of its coins as entry coins and additional coins are randomly selected. The player then has to combine the coins to get a multiple of the chosen number. To win, they have to gather enough points in a limited amount of turns.
Final Fantasy XIII-2 (link)
The player controls a party of characters. They level up and purchase skills on a skill tree. Characters use abilities according to their active role, which can be switched during combat. The party consists of two characters and a monster. Player gets monsters by defeating them, three can be kept as active and can be switched in combat. Monster has a role and can’t switch to a different role. Monsters have a skill tree too, which is level by using items, and monsters can be combined, which grants them some abilities from the other monster.
In battle player selects actions for the lead character, who has to wait some time between each action. Other characters act on their own according to their active role. Their behavior can be customized in a limited way. Characters can attack, use items and use abilities. When fighting, a special bar fills up, which allows using monster’s special attack by pressing the right buttons to get the best effect. Attacking the enemy fills up a bar, that increases the effectiveness of attacks by a percentage. When filled up, the enemy temporarily enters a vulnerable state in which attacks against it are even more effective.
Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age (link)
The player controls a party of characters. Each can choose up to two classes. Each class has its own skill chessboard, where character buys tiles for level up points. Character can buy only tiles next an already bought tile. Tiles give bonuses, abilities, allow using better weapons and spells etc. Characters can buy a tile to summon a creature, if they defeat the creature first, but multiple characters can’t buy the same summon. When a tile can’t be purchased anymore, it disappears, which may make some tiles impossible to buy anymore. When a character has two classes, a tile bought for one class is bought for the second class too, if the class has it. If the second class has the tile on a different place, that allows getting some abilities earlier than normal.
In battle player selects action for each character, who have to wait some time between each action. Characters can attack, use items and use abilities, which costs them mana. Mana is replenished by moving in the world. When fighting, a special bar fills up, which allows using special attacks. Using one starts a timer, during which player can press buttons to use one of randomly selected special attack of each character. Sometimes an option appears to replenish the special attack bar, allowing more attacks to be chained. Depending on what and how many attacks player manages to do, they get various bonus attack at the end. When using a summon, it replaces the other two characters for a limited time.
Killing the same type of enemy multiple times in a row increases the rewards from defeating them until a different enemy is killed or party returns to a town. The weather affects chance to hit and power of some spells. Instead of controlling characters directly, their behavior in combat can be programmed.
Final Fantasy XI Online (link)
MMO game. Player character has equipment and a class which levels up and determines abilities. A second class can be chosen, which is used in combination with the main class, but gives benefits only to the half of the main class level. Players can go in a party with NPCs.
Player has abilities that cost mana and have a cooldown time. Attacking fills a bar for special weapon attacks. These special attacks are elemental and players can combine the right elements to create a combo, which increases damage of the attacks and increases effect of spells which are cast at the end of the combo.
Final Fantasy XIV Online: Endwalker (link)
MMO game. Player character has equipment and a class which levels up and determines abilities. Class and associated equipment can be switched outside combat. Some of the classes are for gathering resources and crafting, so they have no combat abilities. Crafting an item requires using abilities, which increase the chance of high quality result and advance the item’s progress to completion. Using these abilities decreases durability of the item. If it is not finished before durability depletes, the crafting fails and some of the used resources are lost. Players can go in a party with NPCs.
Player has abilities that cost mana and have a cooldown time. Players in a party share a special ability bar, which fills up or depletes based on how well the party is doing. Anyone in the party can use the bar to do their special ability.
Final Fantasy XV (link)
The player controls a character who is accompanied by AI controlled characters. The main character levels up and can spend points in a skill trees that improve various aspects of the main character or the party in general. Characters have equipment. Spells have limited casts, which are crafted, and are equipped as weapons. Main character later gets access to spells that cost mana to cast. Mana gradually refills during combat. The world has day and night cycle, with stronger monsters during the night. As story progresses, nights get longer.
The player can switch between and attack with equipped weapons. Movement changes attack behavior and attacking with the right weapons allows staying in air for a longer period of time. Enemy attacks can be dodged, which costs mana. Cover can be used, which speeds up regeneration. Player can spend mana to teleport, which can be used as an attack, with damage depending on distance, or as a way of changing position. Teleporting to a wall makes the character temporarily hang there by their weapon, which counts as being in cover. Attacking by teleport allows chaining additional attacks from all characters in the party for extra damage. Attacking from behind or after parrying enemy attack allows for special stronger attack with the help of other characters. During combat, a bar fills up which can be used on special abilities of the AI controlled characters. Enemies enter vulnerable state when they get enough damage and some enemies have destructible parts.
During the game player collects special strong weapons, that cost health to use. When player has enough of them, a special bar can be filled during combat which allows temporarily entering a state, in which the player’s character gets much stronger and all the collected weapons attack at the same time. When the state is about to end a special attack with other characters can be performed. Some enemies can be summoned for a powerful attack after defeating them. The ability to attack with a summon can appear in special situations, like being low on health.
Player can play a pinball like game at various places. In the game, player has four monsters, which can be switched between. These have different element, charged launch behavior, health and mana. At the top of the screen are enemies. At the bottom of the screen is a large flipper, that can launch the ball normally or be held down for charged launch. When launched at full power, the ball will either climb walls instead of reflecting, pierce enemies or explode on contact with enemy for more damage. There are bumpers, which give bonuses, when hit enough times. When a monster has full mana bar, a special attack can be used that will damage enemies close to the ball. Enemies periodically do their own version of this attack. Hitting an enemy repeatedly creates a combo, increasing damage.
FTL: Faster Than Light (link)
You have a ship and a crew. You take turns moving between randomly generated sectors in search of resources and to stay ahead of the enemy fleet. When you encounter enemy ship in a sector, you fight it in real time. You can move your crew around the ship to operate various components like weapons or shields and to respond to fires, hull breaks or enemies teleporting in. You can also operate doors to vent atmosphere in parts of the ship and divide available energy to ship systems based on situation. As you play your crew gains experience and your ship gets upgraded and equipped with new weapons or systems.
Grey Hack (link)
Use programs and general linux terminal commands to exploit vulnerabilities in simulated devices and even computers of other players. Earn money from missions to buy more programs and better hardware for your computer.
Guild Wars 2 (link)
MMO game. Player characters are scaled down when doing low level content. You get different abilities based on selected weapon and have special weapon and abilities for underwater combat. Abilities place temporary combo fields that enhance other abilities when used in the field. Special map where players compete to capture bases, which can be upgraded for supply delivered to base by NPCs.
Jars (link)
Before each level you can select creatures that you will have available. Each creature has slots for items that improve them. In the level you need to break all jars and defeat all enemies. Breaking a jar can give you one of three tools, one of your creatures that you can then place on the map or it can spawn an enemy. Enemies are trying to get to the sarcophagus and break it open. If they succeed, you lose.
Kingdom Under Fire: Heroes (link)
The player has a hero and leaders, that can be equipped and leveled up to learn skills. They can lead various kinds of troops that benefit from leader's skills. In battle, the player commands troops and when the hero's troop gets into melee with enemy, the hero can be controlled directly to fight the enemy. When the hero kills enemy troop's leader, the troop retreats.
Legend of Grimrock II (link)
You control a party of four characters in first person view. You and enemies move on a grid. When facing the enemy, two characters are in front row and can melee while the others use ranged attacks from back row. You attack by clicking on appropriate action on the interface while using keyboard to move in and out of enemy range. Otherwise there is loot, leveling, skills and traits, puzzles and secrets.
Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor (link)
You move around in first person view as a group of adventurers. You move and fight in real time but you can also activate turn based combat at any time. Each character has grid based inventory. They have attributes which are primarily increased by drinking from found color coded barrels. Leveling up has to be paid for at a trainer and gives skill points to increase character’s skills. The higher the skill the more points it costs to increase it. Depending on class they can obtain up to 3 levels of mastery in their skills for more benefits and better spells. Dungeons may have secrets and traps which get highlighted when your character has high enough perception. It is also possible to hire paid noncombat characters that provide you with services, rest to regain health/mana and play a special card game at taverns.
Nexus: The Jupiter Incident (link)
You have a small fleet of ships that can move in all three directions of space. Ships have components that can be targeted, can be boarded and can avoid detection depending on running systems. The equipment of ships can be changed between missions.
Overlord II (link)
You have direct control over your character that can fight and cast spells. You also have four types of minions that follow you and can be commanded to attack, interact with environment to solve puzzles or move somewhere. Minions are summoned at specific points for lifeforce obtained from dead enemies. Minions can upgrade themselves through looting and main character is upgraded by sacrificing minions.
Pathfinder: Kingmaker (link)
Party of characters that have skills, equipment and level up. Spells have no cost or cooldown but have limited uses, depending what and how many mages prepared during rest. You get to rule your own kingdom, go adventuring, develop settlements, do diplomacy and handle events. Characters have attitude towards your character, can be assigned positions in kingdom and tasks to solve. Most things have a timer and won’t wait for the player.
Pathologic 2 (link)
You have to manage your reputation, health, hunger and sickness while gathering, crafting and trading items, which are used to progress and keep you and other characters alive. The time does not stop, events can be missed, items change their value and your options change. Apart from starving, you can get killed by muggers and the town succumbs to plague, increasing the risk of infection. There is a mind map system to keep track of information.
Relics: The 2nd Birth (link)
The main character can possess defeated enemies. They can then switch between bodies to improve their attributes and combine their abilities. Two other companions can join the party and help in combat. Up to 4 players can explore dungeons together, keep the found bodies and items, and use them in singleplayer as well.
Reus (link)
There are four giants with different abilities. In a limited time on a limited space player uses them to create the best possible environment, so that the AI controlled people can prosper. The villages may attack each other, if not kept in balance.
Shadow Sorcerer (link)
You are controlling a party of heroes, who are followed by a group of refugees. On the world map, you move a party of heroes and give orders to refugees, which are in a separate group. Refugees must be protected from enemies, supplied with food and depending on the decision of their council may ignore your orders and split up into multiple groups. You are also pursued by groups of enemies, who try to capture the refugees.
You have more heroes than what fits in the party. They can be switched at the refugees. You can enter locations on the world map, where you control your heroes directly to search the area and combat enemies. Heroes level up, have equipment and depending on their class can learn various spells, which are replenished by spending time to memorize them.
Space Station 13 (link)
Multiplayer game, where every player is assigned a job on the station, like janitor, doctor, security, clown and more. Their goal is to do their job and so keep the station running. Players can also get an antagonist role, like traitor, alien, wizard... They try to create havoc instead. Besides other players, nothing keeps the player from ignoring their job and doing anything else. The game has incredible mechanical depth that allows players to do almost anything.
Streets of Rogue (link)
You play in a randomly generated city levels filled with AI characters of various roles. Your goal is to accomplish missions and eventually become the town mayor. Depending on what character you pick, you will have different traits, bonuses or handicaps and get different missions. Characters are diverse, from bartender through cannibal, gorilla to shapeshifter that can possess other characters. And you can make your own too. The city has many interactive elements – trade, talk, sneak, steal, hack, beat or shoot people, break things, start a gang, fill your water pistol with poison, flush yourself down the toilet and more. As you go, you accumulate more items and level up to pick more traits. On some city levels you will encounter random events, like riots, bombing and radiation. If you die, you start over.
Syndicate (link)
In a mission you control up to four agents. For each of them you manage the levels of three drugs that have influence on their effectiveness and behavior. Increasing the dosage will build resistance, lessening the drug effects. To remove the resistance faster, agents can be sedated, which makes them weaker. For emergency cases, there is a command that will maximize drug levels of all agents and order them to open fire.
The city environment can be destroyed and neutral civilians and police can be mind controlled. Min d control is also how new agents are recruited.
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (link)
Your skills get better as you use them. Increasing skills causes increase in level which allows increasing attributes by one or multiple points depending on what skills were increased. Running and fighting depletes stamina which makes you more likely to miss and fail casting spells. Fighting without weapon first depletes enemy stamina, then knocks them down and they start taking damage. The ability to make potions, enchantments and spells combined with effects that increase attributes and skills allows creation of extremely powerful items. To enchant you need to capture souls. Based on your reputation characters may not talk to you but you can bribe them to change that. Traders can be haggled with, vampirism can be contracted significantly changing how you play and many other things.
The Return of Medusa (link)
You have an army with which you move on a map. You can visit and take over towns, where you can trade and hire troops. Resources for trade can be found on the map which can be gained by building a mine. Hostile gangs will try to conquer your towns. There are special characters imprisoned in towns. When freed, they will join and can be used to form a party for exploring dungeons. Dungeons are hidden and their position has to be found using triangulation.
Total War: Warhammer II (link)
The game has turn based strategic map and real tine tactical battles. On the map you develop cities, do diplomacy, research and raise and move armies. In battles you command large formations of troops that have different strengths and weaknesses, morale and abilities. To win you need to make the enemy army rout by demoralizing their units. Terrain can hide or give advantage to units, units gain experience and army general gains levels that allow choosing new combat or leadership abilities. There are many factions that have different economy and units.
UFO: Afterlight (link)
Manage base on Mars and the characters in it. Make them work, research or train, if they gained experience. Equip them and send them on missions to gain control over sectors and the resources in them. As time goes on, alien factions will show up. You can fight them or ally with them which allows you to trade resources and recruit some of them. In missions, you order your characters around, find good positions, pick targets, use grenades and equipment etc. Research will give you better equipment, allow use of alien equipment and production of armed rovers. Your goal is to make Mars habitable in the given time limit.
Universal Combat (link)
Open world game with complicated controls and lot of features. You manage components and crew on large space ship. You have fighters that can be launched and your ship can get boarded which causes combat with your crew. There are ships and space stations owned by various factions that can be attacked or traded with and eventually you can build up a fleet of ships. There are also planets with bases on them. Your ships can enter planet’s atmosphere, visit bases, bomb them from orbit and drop off your crew on surface to fight. On top of that, your character can also pilot a fighter, exit into space in a spacesuit and exit on the surface to fight.
Wreckers (link)
You control a space station crew member and have to cleanse the station of aliens within a time limit. The aliens come from space and can the player can use a turret to destroy them. When they reach the station, they will try to get inside. The player can go into space and fight them at the station surface. When an alien gets inside, it will multiply. The player can shoot aliens inside the station and send robots to defend areas inside the station. Station has various systems that will stop working when aliens take them over, causing issues such as lack of oxygen or gravity, or need regular maintenance. Robots are made by a factory. The player can switch to another crew member when they need healing and when alien kills them, a hybrid is created, which is invulnerable until the other aliens are dead.
Honorable mentions
Animyst
Bravo Romeo Delta
Fallout Online
Gender Wars
Inquisitor
M.U.D.S.: Mean Ugly Dirty Sport
Relics: The Recur of Origin
Space 1889
The Adventures of Robin Hood