This is the genre for the purists. If you like this type of games you know what true hedonism is. Best way to explain turn based strategy game is to imagine a peasant who becomes a space explorer 5 hours later, or a simple villager who becomes a fantasy warlord 5 hours later. When you see some of the games I will list here, you will immediately be struck by nostalgia.
Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Turn based strategy game that everyone knows and loves, building your armies and cities, leveling up your heroes could lead to endless hours of fun and one more turn and I'm done! You would never be done in one more turn, you would spend many more hours just one more turning. This game got improved so much in recent years by HD release, and by so many expansions, just to name one made by fans called Wake of Gods where you can upgrade your lvl 7 units to even stronger versions, for example you can upgrade Behemoth to Ghost Behemoth, a flying super monster, unbalanced but fun.
Disciples 2
Art style of this game is so good that i will post few more screenshots. Just like Heroes of Might and Magic this is a fantasy game where you can pick your race and start adventuring. The difference between them is in this game you gain levels for small number of units that can be upgraded to 3 or 4 levels and with levels they change appearance and they become stronger. Some really cool looking models are being made in this game.
Civilization 5
From stone age to space exploration. Civilization games are some of the most inspiring piece of game artwork. Sid Meier truly is a master of genre. There are so many activities which you can do to improve you civilization, you can go with culture type of win, you can be an aggressor or you can advance faster than opposing civilizations just by being the best in science. One of the everlasting franchises that will never die. They even made another game where you build your civilization on an alien planet called Beyond Earth that is worth mentioning.
X COM The Enemy Unknown
Return of the great X COM did not go unnoticed. This game when it came out returned many old school gamers to see this new depiction of the lovable game. This game surely was hardcore where your soldiers would have very hard time on the battlefield, you would lose so many until you establish your base and upgrade new weaponry and tech. Multi layered strategy game made this one of the best, and X COM 2 continued with the great return of the franchise.
Age of Wonders 3
Fantasy gaming at its best, first few Age of Wonder games were so popular because there were so many fantasy races inside and they were all different. After 10 years of waiting after Age of Wonders 2, finally this game came out and i had quite a lot of fun playing it. Very nice graphics and truly deep combat system where you need to watch your every move and upgrade made this game great. Welcome back Age of Wonders.
King's Bounty
Some of you might not know King's Bounty games and i will try to write why you should give this game a chance. If you like Heroes of Might and Magic clones this is one of the best ones, explore big world and story, gain levels and build your army in Homm style. Battle is almost the same where you can cast spells and some of the heroes special moves like dragon attacks or rage moves. There are few expansions for this game and you can spend days playing them.
