Best PC Exclusive Turn-Based Indie Games

Highlights

• PC games excel in niche and complex titles, offering more accessible and innovative indie games for low-end PCs.
• Tactical games like Your Only Move Is Hustle and Xenonauts 2 provide turn-based combat and strategic gameplay.
• Games like The Iron Oath and Hadean Tactics offer unique tactical experiences in various genres, including fantasy, sci-fi, and cyberpunk.

PC games have always managed to cover more niche and complex titles, with consoles tending to take on more accessible, higher-budget titles and games more suited to a controller. While the line between console and PC games is becoming increasingly thinner, and more indie games are now getting their time in the sun, so many games are released every year that it would be easy to miss the great games that have yet to make the leap to console.

Tactics games in particular have always been better suited for the PC since controlling multiple units and managing an often dense user interface can be a chore with a controller. These indie tactics games are a joy to play, and even better, many (if not all) of them can be played on low-end PCs.

8 Your Only Move Is Hustle – A Tactical Fighting Game

Steam User Rating: 96%

This 2D fighting game may have deceptively simplistic graphics with its stick-fight visual style, but Your Only Move Is Hustle is a complex, innovative game with a great deal of depth. This is in large part thanks to its turn-based approach to fighting games.

In Your Only Move Is Hustle, battles are determined not by who can memorize the best and most powerful combos, but by how well players read their opponents in the heat of battle; this makes Your Only Move Is Hustle both one of the most accessible and most innovative fighting games that money can buy. While Your Only Move Is Hustle is an extremely tactical game, it doesn’t allow players to control multiple units, making the overall experience quite different from the more tactics-focused games on this list.

Steam User Rating: 78%

This Early Access sequel to Xenonauts is another spiritual successor to old-school XCOM games, with an isometric perspective, tile-based tactics, and asymmetric sides battling it out on the war-torn streets of planet Earth.

Similarly to XCOM, Xenonauts 2 has players fighting off an asymmetric alien threat in tactical turn-based combat. Players will also have to manage an over-world map, shoot down UFOs, research new technologies, and train soldiers. Xenonauts 2 is currently in Early Access on Steam, but shows promise as a challenging and tactical game for fans of older XCOM titles.

6 The Iron Oath – A Fantasy-Themed Tactical RPG

Steam User Rating: 79%

The Iron Oath plays very similarly to Battle Brothers but with a focus on fantasy that allows for magical abilities and a less grounded setting. The game’s combat is turn-based and extremely tactical, with the majority of the game taking place in push-your-luck dungeons.

The Iron Oath has players managing a band of mercenaries and slowly improving their roster over the course of their playthrough with a series of well-crafted RPG systems. Although Battle Brothers might be a more rounded overall experience, The Iron Oath is, at the time of writing, a PC exclusive that fans of higher fantasy might prefer.

5 Stellar Tactics

Steam User Rating: 81%

Stellar Tactics is a science fiction sandbox RPG that features tactical ground combat and brutal ship-to-ship space combat. Although Stellar Tactics is in Early Access at the time of writing, the game’s expansive universe, solid RPG systems, and tactical turn-based combat make it worth a try.

In Stellar Tactics, players will build out a crew of mercenaries, exploring space and completing quests that often involve getting into a fight. The abundance of gear and progression to be had for crew members makes the game’s combat deeply rewarding, as planning and building out the right team for the job is almost as important as the moment-to-moment decisions made in combat.

4 Mortal Glory – A Gladiatorial Tactics Game

Steam User Rating: 87%

This turn-based, tactical roguelite RPG tasks players with controlling and managing a team of gladiators in a fantasy setting packed with a variety of races and items. The game’s management systems are minimalist but strategic, allowing players to strategize without analyzing too many systems.

Mortal Glory’s turn-based combat features minimal controls, allowing players to move their units around and use a variety of powerful abilities in small, contained environments. Mortal Glory might not have the most staying power on this list, but its accessible gameplay and low price point make it an indie game worth checking out.

3 Cyber Knights: Flashpoint – A Cyberpunk-Themed Stealth Tactics Game

Steam User Rating: 89%

This squad-based indie cyberpunk game combines turn-based tactics with RPG elements and stealth mechanics similar to games such as Klei Entertainment’s Invisible Inc. Although Cyber Knights: Flashpoint is currently in Early Access, it’s already shaping up to be a deeply tactical and unique RPG.

Although Cyber Knights: Flashpoint does allow players to run and gun through missions, there is a heavy emphasis on stealth and hacking, with gameplay designed to encourage careful planning and tactical thinking. According to the developer’s website at the time of writing, however, Cyber Knights: Flashpoint could find its way to mobile and consoles sometime in the future.

2 Hadean Tactics – A Tactical Auto-Battler

Steam User Rating: 91%

This great auto-battler is arguably one of the most tactical on the market, with a roguelike structure and deckbuilding mechanics that enable it to stand out and distinguish itself from the busy crowd.

Although many auto-battlers focus on positioning and strategic planning before fights, Hadean Tactics arguably improves on the genre by adding in a hefty amount of tactical thinking through its deckbuilding system, allowing players to play cards that influence their units in combat.

1 NEBULOUS: Fleet Command – Slow-Burning Sci-Fi Tactics In Space

Steam User Rating: 91%

This real-time strategy game is an extremely tactical experience in which players must command a fleet of spaceships with heavily simulated gameplay using realistic radar technology and advanced controls in 3D environments.

NEBULOUS: Fleet Command is not an easy game to learn, but fans of science fiction TV shows like The Expanse will be right at home with the game’s visuals and overall atmosphere, with combat that plays out in a visceral manner.

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