Articles Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave

Since 2009, gamers around the world have come to expect that late August marks the time for gamescom, the world’s largest video game trade show. This year in Cologne, Germany, leading game developers and publishers will gather for the 18th time to announce the release of their projects, along with numerous journalists and gamers who want to stay up to date on the industry’s most significant events.

The best tactical games reward planning over reflexes — here are 24 turn-based tactics games and TRPGs for PC and consoles, from XCOM 2 and Jagged Alliance 3 to Unicorn Overlord. Victory here does not belong to whoever clicks faster, but to whoever plans every move several steps ahead: assessing positions, calculating risks, and making smart use of cover and squad abilities. One wrong order, and a favorite fighter may be left on the battlefield forever. This ranking features 26 of the best tactical games for PC and consoles, divided into five categories: story-driven tactical RPGs, mercenary squads, military and sci-fi tactics in the spirit of XCOM, real-time stealth tactics, and compact tactical puzzle games. The selection ranges from genre classics such as Final Fantasy Tactics and XCOM 2 to new releases from 2025–2026. The list was updated in May 2026.

2025 turned out to be a landmark year for Nintendo fans: the Japanese company finally released the Switch 2 and supported the new console with a lineup of notable releases. What stood out most, however, was not the exclusives but the multiplatform titles — it turned out that Switch 2 handles modern AAA games surprisingly well. In 2026, we can expect this trend to continue, meaning even more ports mixed with games developed directly by Nintendo.