Top strategy games for mac

They're not like most shooters that offer mindless gameplay, or the adventure game that has you leaping off cliffs and driving boats. Strategy games require your brain juices at all times to plan each move carefully and analyze what the opponent will do next — quickly. They require you to develop armies, build civilizations and gather resources in the process. But strategy games aren't just about the gameplay: That said, what makes a strategy game great is how it pulls players into its mythology and allows them to carry out missions without overcomplicating it.

Blizzard Entertainment launched the first StarCraft sci-fi military strategy game back in , and while it was extremely popular, the game wasn't the mammoth product StarCraft II has become. With the sequel, Blizzard has released three installments that span one huge campaign: Each of these releases focus on a specific protagonist group: The overall campaign takes place four years after the Brood War expansion pack for the original StarCraft, beginning with Jim Raynor's quest to take down the tyrannical Terran Dominion.

StarCraft II succeeds by combining sharp strategic gameplay and balance with an immersive story and scenery. The game also comes with its own level editor, allowing players to share their maps and mods via the Battle. Here's another popular strategy game from Blizzard, though with a decidedly fantasy theme.

It was released way back in and features a single-player campaign story that's told through the eyes of four races: Humans, Orcs, the Undead, and the Night Elves. As with StarCraft, players are typically faced with a map covered in a black fog, which is slowly removed as you explores the area Diablo does this, too.

You begin by mining resources, building settlements and establishing troops in order to protect your assets and take control of other parts of the map. There are a total of five campaigns in Warcraft III that center on a specific race: Objectives are labeled as "quests" and are rolled out as the player explores a map. The are both main quests an optional quests to perform, the former being required in order to move the story forward — natch. Blizzard even released an expansion pack called The Frozen Throne that was published back in Both the original game and the expansion can be purchased for the PC and Mac via Blizzard's online portal, and in a Battle Chest retail box.

It takes place 20 years after XCOM: Enemy Unknown , and sees the Earth taken over by aliens — what else? In this installment, XCOM is now part of a resistance movement aimed to take back control of the planet.

In the single-player campaign, players assume command of XCOM, a former military organization that is now a mere resistance force. A new Avenger mobile base has been established where from you issue commands while spearheading research and engineering departments to create weapons and other tools that will help fight off the hostile aliens.

What makes XCOM 2 stand out is its maps, which are lush and rich in detail, and it's strategy-rich, turn-based combat. They're also different each time you play them, keeping the game fresh. In addition to the single-player campaign, there's also a peer-to-peer multiplayer mode, pitting players against each other using squads mixed with alien and XCOM units.

If you were disappointed by the messy launch of the thoroughly disappointing SimCity reboot back in , take solace in the fact that two years later a development team with a greater understanding of its audience took charge of the genre in a much more respectable, and less flagrant, manner. Sacrificing all of the always-online DLC quirks in favor of hosting bigger cities and Steam Workshop support for mods, Cities: Skylines is everything classic SimCity players wanted, and would have gotten if it weren't for whatever the hell happened at Maxis.

Skylines retains the appeal of early city building simulations with a handful of modern twists. An in-game social media service for instance called Chirper lets residents get in contact with you, the world designer, to voice complaints. More noteworthy, though, is the thrill of managing traffic routes on a district to district basis. In fact, most of your governance in Cities: Skylines is separated by districts, making taxation as true to the United States as developmentally possible. Developed by Relic Entertainment and published by THQ in , this military sci-fi game is based on the Warhammer 40, tabletop wargame.

The game takes place on the imperial planet of Tartarus that's currently overrun by Orks. In the background, the human-run Imperium is in constant struggle with the Orks — along with those humans serving the demonic Chaos and the Eldar space elves — in a struggle to keep the human race alive. If you have a machine with integrated graphics, our tests concluded you will probably be out of luck with this one…. Fans of WW2 strategy games. There are others that take place in that period, but CoH2 is the top choice.

Also, gamers looking for military strategy games. Hearthstone is a perfect example of how to do it right. Hearthstone is a digital collectible card game based on the popular Warcraft universe. Hearthstone is much simpler than you would imagine. In every match, you pull three or four cards depending on who goes first out of your customized deck of 30 cards. There are different card types weapons, spells and minions , but the goal is clear: You can genuinely spend hours playing Hearthstone without having to spend a dime.

Plus, the cute yet simplistic graphics are perfect for low-powered machines. Fans of strategy card games. Other choices exist, but Hearthstone is the clear winner in this category. The entire Earth is represented and you can own, conquer, and colonize any part of it. That said, the developer did a lot to make it more accessible. The menus and interface were streamlined and the tutorials beefed up.

Top free Strategy games for macOS - agfox.com

Still, this game is hard to get into. If your attention span is as short as mine, you may be overwhelmed early on. Among the games featured here, this is one of the most forgiving entries in terms of system requirements. Gamers looking for the best Mac grand strategy games.

Can your Mac run it?

Ever wanted to be captain of a ship and sail out to conquer the universe? Homeworld may be your way out. Released in the s, Homeworld 1 and 2 turned the strategy genre on its head with huge Star Wars-like space battles at a scale never seen before. Over a decade later, many still remember the excitement Homeworld created. And now that Aspyr has remastered the game and brought it up to modern standards, Homeworld looks just as good as any of the other games featured in this list. The Remastered Collection includes updated graphics, high-res textures, better lighting effects, and a new UI.

This, combined with a great story and atmosphere, makes the Homeworld collection a must for space strategy fans. And as an added bonus, the game has low system requirements that support even the older Intel HD integrated graphics and machines going all the way to Fans of sci-fi space battles. Few games manage to create such epic space battles, and unless you get Star Wars: Battlefront 2 on Windows, Homeworld is your safest bet.

Virtually every single one of the top strategy games is available for MacOS. Because of this, creating a Top 10 selection is particularly hard. This is obviously an excellent problem to have, but that also means a few great games had to be left out.

Games are subjective and Top 10 list even more so. To keep this list as fair as possible and ensure every game listed here is worth it, we made sure the following set of criteria is always met: Every game listed here natively supports MacOS. Just install any of these games on your machine and enjoy. Obviously, we think every game on this list is solid in terms of graphics, gameplay, and stability.

But performance is also a key factor to consider: Mac Gamer HQ is the only place that tests and benchmarks games on several machines and shows you actual performance, not just listed system requirements. Keep in mind that we test all our games on Medium settings because we continue to believe they are an acceptable compromise for testing across a wide variety of machines:. Critical acclaim: To counter the fact that games are extremely subjective, we focus only on the games that have received good reviews by critics and average gamers.

Price tags are not the most important factor, but they still count. We are too. Which strategy game caught your eye? What are you currently playing? What did we miss? Some of the links above are affiliate links, which means that if you choose to make a purchase, I will earn a commission this is how we pay the bills. This commission comes at no additional cost to you. Ric- Great site, longtime lurker.

This classic is approaching 40 years of satisfying gameplay. Would you recommend it to give it a shot today? Great list, Ric! Strategy is my favorite genre of game. I love coming here and seeing all Mac games in one place. Thanks a lot Sten. In this guide: Mac Performance Wrapping Up. StarCraft 2. The rest of the best: Last updated: December 27, After such a great year full of excellent releases, we had to update this guide to include two of the best MacOS games of Real-world MacOS tests Our process is straightforward.

Our absolute favorite Strategy games for Mac. Best all-around Mac Strategy game. Civilization 6 Mac Release date: Aspyr Media Metascore: Expand to see if your Mac run it Testing Conditions: Not Demanding System Requirements: Best Strategy game for MacBook owners. Into the Breach Mac Release date: Subset Games Metascore: Into the Breach benchmark results in FPS: Can your Mac run it?

Even an older MBA will do fine. Any bugs you should be aware of? Expect a bug-free experience on Mac. Best for MacBook. Best free Mac Strategy game.

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Starcraft 2 Mac Release date: Blizzard Metascore: Best Value. Into Strategy games? More great Mac strategy games. Warhammer 2 Mac Release date: Hi-Rez Studios Metascore: Warhammer 2 benchmark results in FPS: Very Demanding System Requirements: Northgard Mac Release date: Shiro Games Metascore: Northgard benchmark results in FPS: Feral Interactive Metascore: Demanding System Requirements: Company of Heroes 2 Mac Release date: If you have a machine with integrated graphics, our tests concluded you will probably be out of luck with this one… A Good Match For: Company of Heroes 2 benchmark results in FPS: Hearthstone Mac Release date: Hearthstone benchmark results in FPS: Europa Universalis 4 Mac Release date: Paradox Metascore: Europa Universalis 4 benchmark results in FPS: Homeworld Remastered Mac Release date: Aspyr Metascore: Homeworld Remastered benchmark results in FPS: The Competition: Faster than Light, comes another excellent turn-based strategy game.

Into the Breach puts you in charge of giant Mechs that will have to fight Alien invaders and save as many humans as possible. This is a game that uses charming retro graphics that accomplish to things. First, you won't need a powerful machine to run it at all. And second, the graphics won't distract you from the excellent gameplay Into the Breach offers.

Add in cross-platform cooperative multiplayer, modding support, and a map editor, and Factorio takes factory building to the next level. How you proceed is largely up to you: RimWorld provides an almost overwhelming amount of detail you can tweak and there are multiple approaches you can take. RimWorld is also known for its personality; players actually get amused at the weird ways their colonies are wiped out after so much careful building and planning.

By day you craft, take care of yourself and your group, and plan for the night, when you venture out to gather resources including food, fuel and weapons. It offers a unique, Mars-based twist on the city building sim. Building a city on Mars offers unique challenges, like making sure your colonists have air to breath, and developer Haemimont Games has thrown in some mysteries inspired by classic science fiction depictions of Mars to keep things interesting and different every time you play.