15 best strategy games for Android

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Strategy is among the oldest game types in human history. Whether it’s chess, board games, or even some card games, we’ve been playing strategy games since long before there was ever a computer. Strategy games have come a long way, but the basic premise of using your brain to beat your opponents remains true even to this day. It’s a fantastic way to test yourself to see how creative you can be. Here are the best strategy games on Android!


Age of Civilizations

Price: $2.14
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Age of Civilizations is a mix between a strategy game and a board game. It has a lot of the same qualities as Risk, where your job is to obtain territories from other civilizations. You’ll have access to a variety of scenarios, such as World War I and II as well as a modern world scenario. You can also create your own scenarios to challenge yourself. It also contains 193 civilizations, two planets, and some interesting mechanics. It’s complex, difficult, and highly addictive. Best of all, there are no in-app purchases. It's one of the better, simpler strategy games.
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Age of Civilizations

Card Thief

Price: Free / $1.99
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Card Thief is one of the more unique strategy games. It's a mix between strategy and a card game. Your goal is to move around to avoid detection. You'll have equipment, stealth points, and more to help you avoid the guards and finish the level. It boasts a play time of two to three minutes per play. That makes it great for casual gamers. You can can download the game for free and unlock the full version for $1.99.
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Chess Free

Price: Free
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Chess is one of the oldest strategy games. Chess Free is probably the best chess game on mobile. The graphics aren’t a lot to look at. However, you’ll have 12 difficulty levels across two game modes, ELO Ratings, save and load games, local multiplayer, a chess tutor, and a bunch of other cool stuff. It’s about as complete of a chess game as you can find. It utilizes the Treebeard Chess Engine. It's the same one from MSN Chess. It's completely free with no in-app purchases or advertisements.
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Chess Free

Don't Starve: Pocket Edition

Price: $4.99
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Don't Starve: Pocket Edition is a strategy survival game. It starts with you being thrown into the wilderness of some random planet. Your job is to survive. You'll have to gather resources, craft things, build structures, and even find sources of food. It does so with a fun tongue-in-cheek flavor. The graphics aren't half bad either. It was a very popular game on PC and the Pocket Edition is pretty much the same game. You'll have to fork out $4.99 to play, but at least there are no in-app purchases.
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Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Hearthstone is one of the most popular card dueling strategy games on mobile. With this title, you build decks of cards and then use them to duel other players online. You unlock cards as you go and gradually get better and stronger. This game also has cross-platform support. You can log in using your Battle.net account and play on PC or mobile. Blizzard has done a decent job of adding in new content to keep the game fresh and it remains among the best card duel options available right now.
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Kairosoft Co games

Price: Varies
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Kairosoft is a game development studio that has a ton of interesting strategy games. Some of their more popular titles include Game Dev Story, Ninja Village, Anime Studio Story, Grand Prix Story, and others. Currently, their collection spans dozens of games with free and paid versions of most of them. The games are challenging, but not too difficult, and it’s easy to sink several hours into pretty much any of them. We recommend giving Game Dev Story and Ninja Village a try first. Click the button below to view their entire collection!
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Kingdom Rush games

Price: Free / $1.99 / $2.99 with in-app purchases
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Kingdom Rush is one of the most successful tower defense franchises out there. There are three games in the series. They include Kingdom Rush, Kingdom Rush Frontier, and Kingdom Rush Origins. They all have the same basic mechanics. You'll build towers and employ heroes to defend yourself against wave after wave of bad guys. Each title has plenty of levels and upgrades to unlock. The first Kingdom Rush game is currently free while the others will cost you a few bucks. The only downside is that they all have in-app purchases, even after you pay for them. Otherwise, they're great strategy games.
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Machines at War 3

Price: $6.99
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Machines at War 3 is one of the better real-time strategy games. Your job is to beat the bad guys and save some scientists. It features a deep story that covers 21 missions. It also features 130 different types of units and tech to build, unlimited random map skirmishes, online multiplayer, and more. There is even an unlimited random skirmish mode in case you just want to kill a few minutes. The game is delightfully challenging as any good strategy game should be. It's a tad expensive at $6.99 but there are no in-app purchases.
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Out There: Ω Edition

Price: $3.99
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Out There: Ω Edition is one of the most difficult strategy games that we've played. The objective in this game is to survive in the vastness of space after your character wakes up from a cryo-chamber. You’ll have to manage things like your oxygen levels and other resources as you travel, encounter various forms of alien life, and slowly repair your ship. It's about as hard as it sounds. It also has Google Play Games achievements, four alternate endings, and each new game is freshly created so no two plays will be the same.
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Pandemic: The Board Game

Price: $1.99 / $1.99
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Pandemic is among the best board games out there. You and up to three other people play as CDC scientists. Your job is to traverse the world to kill disease. Diseases will crop up as you try to destroy them. If you wait too long, the diseases cause a pandemic and it's game over. There are seven characters to play, up to four players via local or online multiplayer, three difficulty settings, a full rulebook, and more. You can also pay a few extra bucks for expansions that give you more roles, more events, and more content. This is really one of the best strategy games out there.
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Plague Inc

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Plague Inc is one of the most popular and successful strategy games of all time. The premise is that you’re supposed to infect the entire world with a disease. Thus, you must develop and evolve a disease that is strong enough to do that. You’ll have 12 disease types to play around with along with save/load functionality so you can keep going between play sessions. It’s quite a complex game. The developers have also done a great job adding in expansions over the years. Even the CDC likes this game. Yes, really.
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Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic

Price: $5.99 / $5.99
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Rollercoaster Tycoon Classic is a port of the original Rollercoaster Tycoon. The game comes with both the first and second title in the series. There are additional expansions available as in-app purchases as well. For those who have never played, Rollercoaster Tycoon gives you a theme park. There is also a set of conditions that must be met. You must build a park that also fulfills all of those conditions to win the scenario. There are 95 scenarios to play through, tons of coasters and attractions to build, and more. There is even a Park Scenario Editor to create your own scenarios. It's a ton of fun and definitely one of the best strategy games out there.
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Supercell games

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Supercell is the developer of three of the most successful and popular strategy games ever. They are Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, and Boom Beach. Clash of Clans and Boom Beach are RTS strategy games where you build a base, defend it against other players, and then attack other players. Clash Royale is a card game similar in scope to Hearthstone. Each game boasts a massive player base and that's good news because they're all online multiplayer games. Each one is also a freemium game.
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Vainglory

Price: Free with in-app purchases
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Vainglory is arguably the most popular MOBA on Android right now. It features three-on-three online battles that last up to 20 minutes each. You can play as many as you want without restriction. The game boasts 60fps and a sub-30ms control response which caters to the hardcore fans of the genre. There are quite a few heroes available and more are frequently added. You can also customize them with skins if you prefer. There are casual, ranked, and quick play modes depending on what kind of challenge you're looking for. It's also popular with eSports fans.
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XCOM: Enemy Within

Price: $9.99
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Last and certainly not least on our list is XCOM: Enemy Within. This is a tactical strategy game where you move your characters on a chessboard style map and kill off the bad guys. On top of that, you’ll be able to recruit new characters, upgrade a variety of things including your gear and abilities, and more. There is also a campaign mode with tons of stuff to do. It also has online multiplayer in case you feel like doing a little social gaming. It’s a bit expensive, but there are no in-app purchases and the graphics are pretty fantastic. It's one of the best strategy games out there.
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15 best Android tower defense games

February 4, 2017
 

15 best board games for Android

August 1, 2016

If we missed any of the best strategy games for Android, tell us about them in the comments!

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