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Interesting Turn Based Tactics games
Games focused on on players taking turns to manage and use limited amount of resources to achieve a goal. More resources can usually be acquired but only at specific time, like between levels or outside combat.
Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura (link)
Depending on the race, gender and intelligence of your character, other characters will have very different reactions. Putting points into technology or magic skills will change character's overall aptitude, which makes spells and gadgets more or less useful depending on which way the character specializes. Aptitude also changes how other characters treat you. Necromancy spells actually allow you to speak to characters after they died. Characters can be talked down with good persuasion skill and finding out the right information beforehand, but you can fail by saying things the character knows are not true. You can spend limited amount of fate points to ensure success of some skills.
Armada (link)
Each player places their ships on a grid and then they take turns shooting at grid coordinates, where they think the enemy is. Each grid can have mines randomly placed in them, which explode when hit. As long as the player has an aircraft carrier, they have an aircraft automatically attacking enemy ships. Players can also see the grid in a low resolution infrared view, which helps them guess the enemy position better. Some ships carry a jammer, which makes the enemy aircraft and infrared view less accurate.
Armello (link)
Four players try to take the throne from dying king either by killing him in various ways or having the most prestige when king dies naturally. A lot of the game relies on randomness – map is randomly generated, players draw random cards, throw dice in combat, some tiles have random effect and each turn king creates a random event. Every turn, players try to do their best with what they have – they choose where to move, who to attack, how to use their cards and what strategy to go with. Cards can be equipped, used directly on players, placed as traps on tiles and burned in combat to guarantee a dice roll. Players can use cards outside their own turn as well but not on the currently active player.
BattleTech (link)
Manage a bunch of mercenary pilots and their mechs, do missions, earn money, get salvage from battles. In battle, the mechs take turns based on their weight class. Moving long distances makes mech harder to hit. Mechs have multiple parts that can be hit and destroyed, which disables the equipment and weapons installed in those parts. As mechs fight they build up heat, too much will lead to shutdown. Taking hits also builds up stability meter which can lead to the mech falling over.
Bomberman Wars (link)
In battle each side has four units and a king unit. Units have a special ability, can move up to certain distance in four directions, place bombs certain distance away and use bought items. Goal is to defeat the king or all units besides the king. Placed bombs have a timer that goes down each turn. When a bomb blows up, it triggers all bombs and kills any unit caught in the blast. Maps have destructible blocks that can contain money or a power up for unit that picks it up. Battle has a time limit. Running out of time will make bombs fall randomly on the map each turn.
Cosmostruction (link)
Two players take turns building a single pipeline. They get mines to place at the beginning of the game and each turn they get five randomly selected pipes. A player gains points for each pipe they place and gains extra points by placing the pipe through asteroids. Placing a pipe through alien spaceship starts a minigame which adds points for winning or removes points for losing.
Crypt of the NecroDancer (link)
Every turn you do one action or move but the turn end is dictated by music beat. All enemies move in synchronization with the beat and your character must too, otherwise they will suffer consequences for not reacting to beat depending on character type. Every level has a time limit for exploring it, when the song ends you are forced into the next one.
Crystal Warriors (link)
You have a party of units which can be moved on the battlefield and fight enemy units. There are also neutral monsters that, when defeated, will join the unit that defeated it. When fighting, unit can use a tamed monster to fight instead. Units and monsters are associated with an element. Each element is strong against one element and weak against another. Enemy units show as unknown type, until they start fighting or are identified with a spell. Units die permanently, but money can be spent to hire new ones and buy equipment or spells.
Darkest Dungeon (link)
Upgrading city and managing heroes with randomly gained traits. You send the heroes to dungeons to level them up and get gold to cover expenses. In dungeon you have a mission to do for a reward but you can leave early when things go badly. Inventory is limited, have to choose between items that help you survive and treasure. Heroes accumulate stress and negative effects which make them more likely to die on mission but can be treated in exchange for gold and time. In combat the heroes stand in a row, their abilities differ in reach and number of position they affect.
Divinity: Original Sin II (link)
Characters have physical and magical armor, that has to be removed by damage before status effects (like stun) can affect the character. During combat various abilities and items can create fields of water, oil, ice etc. on the ground. These interact with characters standing in them and other elemental abilities. Throwing fireball into pool of water creates sight obscuring fog, lighting paralyzes characters standing in water, oil spilled next to a fire will spread it. Characters also spill blood on the ground when hit, which acts similarly to water. Also, objects and enemies can be teleported on top of each other to cause fall damage and high ground gives advantages to ranged attacks.
Empire of Magic (link)
Units have energy which is restored after every turn and is used to move on map screen and to strike in combat screen. When a unit runs out of energy, it can not retaliate in combat screen. Combat lasts until one side is dead or both sides runs out of energy.
Units and money is transferred between missions. Units level up and can be hired and upgraded in cities.
Expeditions: Conquistador (link)
Player has a team of characters, each has one of multiple classes and few traits. The group explores the map and sets up a camp at the end of each day. The class determines their abilities during combat and success chance of actions during camping. Player has to manage resources like food and medicine. Experience gained during the game can be spent on promoting characters, which improves their abilities. Only a limited number of characters can have the highest promotion levels. Similarly, equipment is represented by points which are spent on upgrading armor, melee or ranged weapon of characters.
Final Fantasy X (link)
The player controls a party of characters, who level up and have equipment, that has slots for upgrades, that give passive abilities. Leveling gives points that can be spent to move the character on a skill tree, the visited nodes give bonuses to the character, some nodes are empty and will give bonus depending on what item is put in them and some need to be unlocked to allow moving past them. All characters use the same skill tree, but start at different positions and can help each other by unlocking paths, jumping in the tree or activating node that some other character already activated regardless of position.
In battle, depending on speed and used ability, characters can take turn more or less often than normal. Characters can attack, use items and use abilities, which costs them mana. There are 3 characters in battle, but they switch with a character in reserve during the battle. Characters have a special meter, that is filled up by preselected actions and allows special attacks that require pressing the right buttons to get the best effect. One of the characters is able to summon creatures, which replace the party in combat and player gives commands to it. Summons can learn new abilities.
Some NPCs talk in a fictional language. Items can be found, that will each translate a part of the language.
Frozen Synapse (link)
Game runs in turns that last few seconds each. Both players plan out where their characters move, where they will aim and in what stance, with options like stopping on enemy sight or waiting for a bit. Once planned out the turn will execute with all units moving at the same time. After that players plan the next few seconds.
Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters (link)
The player is defending the map against a few very powerful units. In combat, units get various bonuses depending on matching symbols in a slot machine.
Hard West (link)
Characters have luck that decreases the chance of being hit. It is decreased when enemy misses the character and increased when they hit. Metal objects in the level can be used to ricochet bullet, which allows hitting enemies in cover.
Incubation: Time is Running Out (link)
Mission based with equipment purchase between missions. Soldiers can overwatch, interact with things and most weapons have limited ammo. Enemies are mixture of melee and ranged with special abilities like jumping or impenetrable front armor. Missions are designed around utilization of tactics like splitting enemies up using moving platforms, baiting them with soldiers to expose their back or blocking off paths with explosive barrels. Sometimes it forces you to keep moving by using enemies that shoot on last position of your soldiers or overwhelming you with enemies spawning from destructible vents.
Laser Chess (link)
Like normal chess, but there is an extra piece that can shoot laser. Most pieces reflect the laser from one or more sides and get destroyed when hit from the other sides.
Minefield (link)
Two players try to get their tanks on the other side of their grid board. Each player first places 5 mines on the opponent’s board and then they take turns trying to cross it with their tanks. Tank can move only straight or diagonally up and when the tank exits a tile, the tile disappears. Each tank can also fire two shots, which check whether selected tile is safe or has a mine on it. When a tank moves onto a tile that is mined or empty, it is destroyed. The player, who saves the most tanks, wins.
Nadir (link)
Player has a deck of cards that have two effects, blue and red. Enemy always has three red/blue cards visible. When playing a card, player chooses enemy card. That selects the effect and adds a counter to the enemy card. When enemy card has enough counters, it is played and flipped to the other color. Cards have cost of 1 to 3 counters. Red card of cost 3 requires 3 red enemy cards to be played. Deck is customized by connecting found blue and red effects into a new card.
Nethack (SLASH'EM Extended Variant) (link)
Randomly generated dungeon with huge amount of different items and monsters. Monsters are generated by randomly choosing their abilities. Items have randomly chosen appearance. Player can name encountered items and monsters to remember what they can do. Player has a number of commands, like eat, use, drink, engrave or talk, which can be used on any item or monster and in most cases it will result in a special effect.
Renowned Explorers: International Society (link)
You go on expeditions where you move between map points using supplies, solving encounters using your character’s skills and looking for the objective. On expeditions you gain items and resources to spend between missions on upgrades.
Combat has a mood that changes based on your and enemy actions taken, makes some attack types more or less effective, toggles status effects and changes combat outcome. Attacks bestow status effects, may be used on your characters to buff them or on enemy to damage but also buff them.
Romancing SaGa: -Minstrel Song- (link)
Defeating monsters increases event rank which determines what quests are available, how they end and increases strength of random enemies. Enemies are visible on the map and can be avoided. Party can also flee from the fight unless fighting multiple enemies at once. Killing one type of enemy makes their encounters less common and their predators are less common, but their prey gets more common. In combat you select action for each character and then the turn plays out. Abilities can create a combo for more damage and the right combination of abilities create a special combo with extra effects. Some abilities add their properties, like area effect, to abilities they are combined with. Characters have life points, loosing all hp costs 1 life point, as does fleeing from battle. Some abilities cost life points and they can be restored in towns.
Characters gain abilities randomly during battles and increase stats by winning battles. Abilities cost either mana, that regenerates, or weapon durability, which needs to be repaired in towns. There 3 types of abilities and weapons can be aligned to one of these types. Characters can be set to different positions in the formation which give them different bonuses. Items available from traders depend on the amount of trading player did with them. Characters can have multiple classes and skills which are improved by spending jewels. Upgrading a class allows then upgrading associated skills. Weapons are improved by using the right ore.
Romancing SaGa 3 (link)
You have a party of characters. They can be in various formations, which make individual party members faster or more protected. In combat you select action for all characters and then the actions for that turn are performed. When a character dies, they loose a life point. Running out of life points makes their death permanent. When using elemental spells in combat, they can change the element of the battlefield, which makes abilities of the same element stronger and enemies and characters with the same element are healed every turn. Characters randomly improve their stats and learn skills in combat, the chance changes depending on enemies fought, weapons and spells used etc. When a skill is used long enough, the character can then teach it to other characters.
SaGa: Scarlet Grace (link)
Player has a party of characters, which visits locations on a map, which might contain enemies that must be defeated. The player has a limited amount of action points for which they select actions the characters will use in this turn. Each turn action points are refilled and increased by one. Characters and enemies act in certain order which changes according to their attributes and used actions. During the turn, if the order changes so that two or more characters become adjacent, they execute a combo attack against random enemy and have cheaper actions for the next turn. Some actions work as an interrupt (they are used when enemy does certain type of attack) or counterattack (used when attacked by enemy) and can be interrupted themselves. Enemies can also combo and interrupt. Some spells take effect after a few turns.
New abilities are gained and improved by using them in combat. Characters have life points, which are decreased when defeated in combat. Party has different formations that give bonuses.
Slay the Spire (link)
You fight using cards that cost various amounts of energy which gets replenished every turn of combat. During the game you gain more cards by choosing one from the few random cards offered to you and build your deck with them. Every game you go through a randomly generated map. Between replays you unlock more characters, cards and items to find in the game.
Space Rangers 2: Dominators (link)
There are two sides at war over star systems, both invade enemy systems, defend their own and improve their ships over time. Player controls a ship on the Coalition side, trying to earn money to buy equipment and help to defeat the enemy. You can trade, steal, do text based and real-time strategy missions and donate to Coalition’s research and military. There are AI controlled ships doing the same which can join you to form a small fleet. In space your ship follows the path you set, firing at enemies in range every turn. Turn lasts few seconds of real time but a day of game time. The war continues as you play with systems changing their owner and other events happening.
Unlimited Saga (link)
Player has a party of characters, which visits towns and dungeons. In dungeons they move between rooms, where enemies may attack them. In combat the player selects 5 actions at the beginning of each turn, distributed among one or more party members, which are then executed together with enemy actions according to their speed. Party members with no assigned action are removed from fight for that turn. Attacks can be executed or held, which allows combo with other attacks. Enemy attacks that interrupt combo are more powerful. When an action is executed, the player has to stop a reel which determines whether action succeeded or, in case of attacks, whether a normal attack or a more powerful version of it is used. When character runs out of hit points, their life points are damaged instead. Hit points are restored easily, life points only in towns.
The character development is done by equipping abilities into 7 slots arranged in a circle. Around the circle are individual character attributes, like strength or elemental power. These are increased by skills which are placed closest to it. Each skill gives different bonuses to individual attributes and can be leveled up. Arranging skills of the same type in a pattern, like 3 in a row, gives additional bonuses. Each character also has different placement of elemental attributes and different modifier to their improvement.
Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus (link)
As you play a meter goes up, during a mission it makes it harder, outside missions it shows how much time before final mission. Some actions and generally taking longer in missions makes it go up faster. In combat you can spend cognition points on various abilities or extra movement. You gain cognition points by interacting with objects in the level and downed enemies. Enemies will resurrect unless destroyed completely.
Worms: Clan Wars (link)
Every player has a number of worms and they take turns moving each of them and using weapons to kill their opponent’s worms. The terrain is fully destructible with deep water under it that instantly kills any worm falling in. Weapons range from mundane to weird and most have limited use. The map is littered with explosives and randomly appearing crates containing weapons or coins to buy them with. There are pockets of water that can flush away worms as it flows and destructible objects that can be moved around. Players can make their team out of four types of worms with different strength, speed and abilities.
Worms Forts: Under Siege (link)
Every player has a number of worms and they take turns moving each of them and using weapons to destroy the enemy stronghold. Players can spread from stronghold by placing towers connected to it. Placing a tower on victory point unlocks more powerful towers which can mount more powerful weapons. Special buildings can also be placed that allow to resurrect worms or spawn crates.
Honorable mentions
46 Okunen Monogatari: The Shinkaron
Barcode World
Battle Chess: Game of Kings
Dragon Sōseiki
Escape from Hell
Floor 13
GayBlade
Last Armageddon
Sacred Fire: A Role Playing Game
SaGa 3: Jikuu no Hasha - Shadow or Light
Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
World of Horror