Classic Strategic Games Are Making A Comeback In 2025

Strategic games are those that require players to make strategic decisions with the aim of beating the game or their opponents.

23:42 16 May 2025

Strategic games are those that require players to make strategic decisions with the aim of beating the game or their opponents. They don’t typically rely on luck, or only have very low elements of luck. This genre of games has been popular for thousands of years, with titles like Chess and Go being approximately 1,500 and 6,000 years old, respectively.

Many of these games, as well as modern classics like Age of Empires II, have seen their popularity rise in recent years, typically because of media coverage or because of remakes and enhancements to the original games.

Mahjong

Mahjong was developed in China approximately 200 years ago. Traditionally, it is a four-player game that uses Mahjong dominoes. It has enjoyed increased popularity thanks to its inclusion on websites like Mahjong365, where players can enjoy real-money games against other human opponents, depositing and withdrawing using cryptocurrency.

The solitaire variant of the game has also become popular because it is ideal for play on mobile devices as well as computers, while the tiles and the images on the tiles are aesthetically pleasing despite being relatively simple, compared to the images and graphics required for more graphically intensive games.

Pai Gow

Pai Gow is another game that originated in 19th-century China. It uses Chinese dominoes and was designed primarily for gambling. It is popular in Chinese casinos, especially in Macau, and the domino version can also be found in casinos. However, one reason for the current popularity of the game is that the game has evolved.

Pai Gow Poker is a card game developed in the US in the 1980s. It uses a standard deck of cards but borrows heavily from the gameplay, strategy, and two-handed gameplay of the original domino game. This has also seen some interest in the original game.

Chess

It is estimated that more than 600 million people in the world still play chess, and Grand Masters are still highly revered experts in the game. Although the exact history of the game isn’t clear, it is believed that the first iteration of Chess was played in India approximately 1,500 years ago. The rules have changed over time, but the modern chess rules we know and play today were largely formalized in the 1980s.

The game has always been popular, but it has enjoyed a recent surge in popularity thanks to its use in popular culture. Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit was watched by more than 60 million people within the first month of the show's streaming, while the BBC has launched Chess Masters: The Endgame series.

Bridge

Early forerunners to bridge can be dated back to the 16th Century and games like whist. The game we know today was first played in the 19th Century, predominantly in England. The 1920s saw the game’s popularity rise within tournament settings. Although it tends to rise and fall in popularity, with the 1990s especially seeing another peak in bridge players, bridge’s popularity has never completely waned.

The game is popular because it has social elements, some risk-taking, and it is highly competitive. The game only needs a standard deck of playing cards and can be played by four players. Although it does have an element of luck, bridge is considered a strategic game that requires flexibility and problem-solving skills.

Diplomacy

The board game Diplomacy was published I the 1950s. Every player takes on the role of one of the seven global countries. Players must then negotiate and make deals with other players to ensure their survival and, eventually, to win the game. There are very few game mechanics, but as the name suggests, all of Diplomacy’s gameplay comes down to a player’s diplomacy with the other players around the table.

Ties are forged and broken. Board gaming has enjoyed very strong growth over the past few years, although there are concerns regarding Trump’s tariffs and the impact they will have on the industry. And, as well as the emergence of new board games, this has seen some older titles like Diplomacy make a real comeback.

Age Of Empires II

Digital games may not be as old as traditional card, tile, or even board games, but some of them are no less strategic. Age of Empires is a historical real-time strategy game in which players play as one of more than a dozen historical civilizations. They then attempt to progress their civilization through different ages, from the Dark Ages to the Imperial Ages. Age of Empires II was first launched on Windows in 1999. An expansion, The Conquerors, launched in 2000, and the game has always been considered a genre-defining title.

As such, in 2013, an HD Edition launched on Steam, and in 2019, a console version hit screens featuring new civilizations, online multiplayer, 4K graphics, and a host of other improvements. Although grand strategy games like Age of Empires do benefit from high-quality graphics, gameplay matters most, and because AoE was so well written, it has stood the test of time. The launch of the remastered version has helped ensure that it remains one of the leading titles in the genre, even today.

Command And Conquer Remastered Edition

Command and Conquer is an alternative history strategy game. In the original title, players play in 1995 Italy, after a meteorite crashes to earth. Players can take on the role of the cultist Brotherhood of Nod or the Global Defense Initiative (GDI), who are attempting to take on Nod and rest control of the Tiberium crystals created when the meteorite struck Earth.

The game led to a sequel, although there aren’t any direct links between the events of the two games. While Command & Conquer has a shorter timespan than the likes of Age of Empires, it is considered a leading title in the strategy genre and is another that has benefited from the launch of a remastered version, titled Command And Conquer: Remastered Edition.