Strategy games 2021 on PS4 & PS5: 12 times tactics fodder for the PlayStation

From build-up and real-time strategy to turn-based tactics and management simulations: The world of strategy games is colorful - even on PS4 and PS5. In our list of the best PlayStation strategy games of 2021, you can find out:

  • Which classics and current novelties you can play on the Sony console
  • In which game you can build your own Viking settlement
  • Which two acclaimed tactics games about cowboys and samurai are coming from Munich

A note for PS5 owners: For the latest console from Sony, the game selection is still a bit thin, as we all know - at least if you're looking for games that really only run on the fifth PlayStation. All of the strategy games listed here were originally released for the PS4 and in most cases do not have dedicated PS5 versions.

However, you can still play them on your PlayStation 5thanks to backwards compatibility, and in many cases you will automatically benefit from improved loading times. In the coming years, more strategy games are likely to be released that make full use of the console's strengths.

Age of Wonders: Planetfall

The Age of Wonders series is a classic of 4X strategy - that is, strategy games in which you conquer a world map turn by turn and build an empire. This is also the case in Age of Wonders: Planetfall: the game makes you the commander of one of six factions that fight for supremacy on a distant planet. In turn-based battles you lead your units into the field, but military strength is not everything: often you can also reach your goal with diplomacy.

  • Genre: 4X Strategy
  • Release Year: 2019
  • Suitable for: Planning-savvy sci-fi fans

Cities: Skylines

From the first building block tower to the Lego castle to Cities: Skylines - city building just goes on and on! The successor in spirit to the good old Sim City sets you on a nice piece of land on which you can build your metropolis. Of course, a few buildings are not enough: Provide roads, water supply, electricity and work, so that life comes into the place!

  • Genre: Construction strategy
  • Year of release: 2015 (PS4 version: 2017)
  • Suitable for: Demolition entrepreneurs with a conscience

Civilization 6

When it comes to games that let you build your own civilization, millions of strategy fans have trusted the original for decades: Sid Meier's Civilization! The series with the pragmatically fitting title entered its sixth round in 2016, and Civilization 6 was also released for the PS4 in 2019. Tradition obliges, so here you get the familiar cornerstones of 4X strategy - eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate - in pure culture, but with modern garb and historical settings. So: explore the map, spread out, grab what you can and kill all the enemies!

  • Genre: 4X Strategy
  • Year of release: 2016 (PS4 version: 2019)
  • Suitable for: History fans who want to take matters into their own hands

Desperados 3

The Desperados series was a popular representative of real-time tactics in the early 2000s, moving the gameplay familiar from the Commandos games to a Wild West setting. in 2020, a new part of the series finally appeared with Desperados 3, produced for the first time by Munich-based studio Mimimi Games. And lo and behold, it's still really fun to guide the Desperado team of John Cooper, Kate O'Hara, Doc McCoy and colleagues through fancy isometric levels, trap enemies and combine special abilities for maximum effect (and minimum attention).

  • Genre: Real-time tactics
  • Year of release: 2020
  • Suitable for: Sneaky people with a heart for sand and dust

Frostpunk

When it's really cold, there are few things better than sitting down by a roaring wood-burning stove and sweating the frost out of your bones. The setting of Frostpunk is this winter idyll, so to speak, but for an entire city and with a juicy dash of hopelessness. In an alternate reality of 1886, you have the thankless task of saving a small settlement of survivors from cold death in the eternal winter by building a settlement around a massive heat generator.

It's clear that it's warmer further in the middle than at the edge, that this will sooner or later lead to tensions between your subjects, and that it won't be long before you have to make the first unpleasant decisions. Frostpunk poses unpleasant moral questions and thus creates a strategic survival experience that goes to the substance.

  • Genre: Survival Strategy
  • Release Year: 2018
  • Suitable for: Climate scientists with a masochistic disposition

John Wick Hex

The highlight of the John Wick movies with Keanu Reeves is without a doubt the acrobatic weapons ballet called "Gun-Fu", which the killer performs with his opponents. In John Wick Hex you'll reenact it - as a tactics puzzle! On a timeline you determine how far John Wick ventures through the areas occupied by enemies, when he pulls out his gun or when he throws punches and kicks.

When Wick moves, so do his opponents. If he stops, time freezes and you can plan your next moves. Split-second by split-second, you'll assemble a choreography in this way, which you'll be able to watch in a fluid fast-forward at the end. Very satisfying!

  • Genre: Turn-based strategy
  • Release Year: 2019
  • Suitable for: Action movie fans with a ballet subscription card

Jurassic World Evolution

Dinoparks with real dinosaurs reanimated via genetic engineering have a lasting image problem, and it's no wonder when only amateurs are ever entrusted with them! Prove that you can do better and build your own prehistoric zoo in Jurassic World Evolution. Build enclosures, breed dinos, make sure your visitors are comfortable - and then hope that the electric fences really keep your T-Rex in check. Otherwise, Hollywood may soon be on the scene and shoot an unflattering film series about you ..

  • Genre: Business simulation
  • Year of release: 2017
  • Suitable for: Paleogeneticists with business acumen

Northgard

Take command of a clan of fearless Vikings and settle the newly discovered continent of Northgard. Gather resources, build huts and production facilities, and explore the new land, but beware: You are not alone and will soon have to contend with other clans as well as mythological monsters. With its scurry factor, the game brings back memories of the Settlers series - except that not a single part of it is playable on PlayStation. Point for Northgard!

  • Genre: Real-time strategy
  • Year of release: 2017 (PS4 release: 2019)
  • Suitable for: Berserkers with cool brains

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun

Before Munich-based studio Mimimi got to try their hand at Desperados 3, the developers earned respect in the tactics business with Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. Control a group of samurai and ninja in feudal Japan and complete your mission as undetected as possible. However, you should have a penchant for puzzles: Compared to Desperados 3 and most other genre representatives, Shadow Tactics is quite tricky and requires meticulous planning of your next moves. If you like it that tricky, you might find a new favorite game here.

  • Genre: Real-time tactics
  • Release Year: 2016
  • Suitable for: Chess pros with a penchant for Japan and an expandable work-life balance

Stellaris: Console Edition

Big and deep like space: Stellaris is a 4X strategy game in a class of its own. The sci-fi game sets you out in space with a small fleet and then leaves it up to you to expand your sphere of influence, research, trade and wage wars. Most of the action takes place on world maps, and you make decisions in selection menus. If you need flashy graphics, you'd better look elsewhere. Those looking for strategic depth, on the other hand, are in the right place.

  • Genre: 4X Strategy
  • Year of release: 2016 (PS4 version: 2019)
  • Suitable for: Star map interpreters

Tropico 6

Do you like your build-up strategy a bit flashier? Then Tropico 6 is probably right up your alley! As a dazzling dictator you cling to power on your island state and do what a despot does: subjugate your subjects, do crooked things, fleece tourists and spend the money on what really counts - a new palace with fifteen gold-paneled bathrooms, for example.

  • Genre: building strategy/business simulation
  • Release Year: 2019
  • Suitable for: Small town tyrants with ambition

XCOM 2

Humanity is once again in a bad way in this science fiction tactics game: an alien invasion has driven them into resistance, and of course it's now up to you to fight the occupiers. You do this by leading your team of units into turn-based firefights, positioning your soldiers wisely and using special abilities to turn the tide at the right moment. XCOM 2 was released in 2016 and has left its mark on countless subsequent similar games - and rightly so!

  • Genre: Turn-based tactical shooter
  • Year of release: 2016
  • Suitable for: Guerrilla strategists with the perfect overview

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