Our best games of 2025 are a DLC for a 2023 game, a DLC for a 2022 game, and a remaster of a 2004 game. That tells you everything about the state of strategy gaming this year.

Adam picked Spell Force Conquest of Eo's Children of Norn expansion because the developers keep supporting a game that deserves more players. The complexity puts it somewhere between Heroes of Might and Magic and Age of Wonders 4, with combat that stays interesting instead of devolving into auto-resolve spam. Tim went with Victoria 3's Charter of Commerce, the mechanics pack that fixed the global economy and turned trade from a micromanagement nightmare into something that works. Al chose Dawn of War Definitive Edition, which proves a 21-year-old RTS still plays better than most modern releases when you update the graphics and preserve mod support.

Civilizatio ...