Strategy games, when they’re done right, can offer up a sense of control and mastery that few other genres can match, as you direct your troops or characters around to carefully execute long-planned approaches.

For a long time, the strategy genre (whether real-time or turn-based) was associated with PC gaming primarily, thanks to easier mouse controls, but there are now plenty of great console strategy games. The Nintendo Switch plays host to a bunch of them, so we’ve gathered the best options for you right here.

If you’re thinking about other gaming genres, check out the table of links below for our other Switch guides.

What are the best strategy games on Nintendo Switch?

1. Fire Emblem: Three Houses
2. Tactics Ogre Reborn
3. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
4. Into the Breach
5. Triangle Strategy
6. Valkyria Chronicles 4
7. Wargroove
8. Sid Meier’s Civilization VI
9. The DioField Chronicle

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

This masterful entry in the long-running Fire Emblem series exploded into new popularity thanks to the way it expertly blends deep tactical combat with an almost visual novel-like approach to storytelling, letting you get to know the characters you’re most interested in.

You’ll play as a bunch of students’ teacher, with an absent memory, as a threat against the world divides them and forces them to fight each other, and it’s a nice, affecting story. The strategic fighting, meanwhile, is nuanced but understandable.

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Tactics Ogre: Reborn

A clever, dedicated remake of one of the most beloved and influential strategy games ever, Tactics Ogre: Reborn tells a classic war story about the Valerian Isles. You play a young warrior thrust into the conflict, and the choices you make can have a major impact on the game’s ending.

This remaster has cleverly updated gameplay elements to feel more modern, although the core tactical combat has aged so well that the tweaks aren’t massive. With full voice acting and a memorable plot, this is a wonderful story to experience.

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Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope

The team-up we never knew we needed has more to give in this excellent sequel, which smooths over some of the rough edges from Kingdom Battle. You can now move more freely on your turn without worrying about accidentally wasting a move, and things once again get surprisingly deep.

It’s all told with a sense of real humour, though, and this is the perfect strategy game for someone new to the genre since it has a really gentle learning curve.

• Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope review: Out of this world

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Into the Breach

This minor masterpiece of strategy is a super simple beast, in which you attempt to fight off giant bugs that are invading the crumbling cities of the ruined world. It’s fast-paced and really, really simple, but as you start fighting with more units and against more enemies, it becomes a total mind-bender.

The simplicity of its systems makes it easy to learn, but Into the Breach is a genius bit of design thanks to the way those systems scale up to really complex heights.

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Triangle Strategy

Another modern strategy title from Square Enix, this one is a lot more retro in its stylings, a throwback to the days of Final Fantasy Tactics and more, with a mature and slowly-told story that is punctuated by pitched battles on a grid.

You control a range of troops, often outnumbered, and turn the tides of battle your way. It’s got some fun dialogue and branching choices to make, and a simple but fun battle system.

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Valkyria Chronicles 4

The latest Valkyria Chronicles game brings its blend of real-time and turn-based combat into a new time period with new characters to get to know and a mysterious war-torn story to explore. There are some changes to its combat, to make it a bit more modern, and a new unit class to try out, as well.

It’s got a great formula that it sticks to, making this a stellar entry in a series with a cult following.

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Wargroove

With a visual style that heavily reminds one of the classic Advance Wars games, Wargroove is actually set in a world of knights and castles, with old-school combat options to differentiate itself from the series that inspired it.

The game looks lovely, has a great soundtrack, and is crucially fun to play, with big maps on which you can unfold seriously complex strategies in order to win the day.

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Sid Meier’s Civilization VI

One of the most well-known and historic gaming series ever, Civilization is still alive and well, and the sixth entry in its lineup plays really well on the Switch. With cleverly-designed controls, you can easily direct your grand strategies using analogue sticks and buttons rather than a mouse and keyboard.

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The DioField Chronicle

This is a really interesting title from Square Enix because unlike many of the other options out there, it’s a real-time strategy – you control units as they move around, not on a turn-based system. There’s quick pausing for more intuitive planning, of course, but it makes the flow of a battle very different.

There’s also a fun, engaging story to play through that doesn’t outstay its welcome, and plenty of strategic depth in its rock-paper-scissors system of unit weaknesses.

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For

• Great strategy
• Fun story
• Interesting replayability

Against

• Gets tough in places

This masterful entry in the long-running Fire Emblem series exploded into new popularity thanks to the way it expertly blends deep tactical combat with an almost visual novel-like approach to storytelling, letting you get to know the characters you’re most interested in.

You’ll play as a bunch of students’ teacher, with an absent memory, as a threat against the world divides them and forces them to fight each other, and it’s a nice, affecting story. The strategic fighting, meanwhile, is nuanced but understandable.

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For

• Classic story
• Impressive tactical depth
• Gritty dialogue

Against

• Pretty challenging

A clever, dedicated remake of one of the most beloved and influential strategy games ever, Tactics Ogre: Reborn tells a classic war story about the Valerian Isles. You play a young warrior thrust into the conflict, and the choices you make can have a major impact on the game’s ending.

This remaster has cleverly updated gameplay elements to feel more modern, although the core tactical combat has aged so well that the tweaks aren’t massive. With full voice acting and a memorable plot, this is a wonderful story to experience.

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For

• Great look and feel
• Geniunely funny
• Surprisingly deep

Against

• A slow start

The team-up we never knew we needed has more to give in this excellent sequel, which smooths over some of the rough edges from Kingdom Battle. You can now move more freely on your turn without worrying about accidentally wasting a move, and things once again get surprisingly deep.

It’s all told with a sense of real humour, though, and this is the perfect strategy game for someone new to the genre since it has a really gentle learning curve.

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For

• Real-time fun
• Intuitive controls
• Concise running time

Against

• A little generic

This is a really interesting title from Square Enix because unlike many of the other options out there, it’s a real-time strategy – you control units as they move around, not on a turn-based system. There’s quick pausing for more intuitive planning, of course, but it makes the flow of a battle very different.

There’s also a fun, engaging story to play through that doesn’t outstay its welcome, and plenty of strategic depth in its rock-paper-scissors system of unit weaknesses.

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For

• Looks great
• Fun story
• Excellent gameplay

Against

• Doesn’t innovate much

The latest Valkyria Chronicles game brings its blend of real-time and turn-based combat into a new time period with new characters to get to know and a mysterious war-torn story to explore. There are some changes to its combat, to make it a bit more modern, and a new unit class to try out, as well.

It’s got a great formula that it sticks to, making this a stellar entry in a series with a cult following.