The Real-Time with Pause Zone
Games where real-time action can pause for planning, orders, and tactics.
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Latest Standouts
Recent releases that landed well, newest first, filtered to games with enough reviews to trust the score.
Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes - In Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes, take command of a fleet escaping the annihilation of the Twelve Colonies. Manage crises on board as you prepare for the next encounter with the Cylon Fleet. Times are dire, and hard choices must be made. Your only hope: rejoin the Battlestar Galactica.
May 11, 2026
Extinction Day - End humanity using disasters, plagues, and war. Spread chaos worldwide, combine catastrophic events, and stop them before they escape to the Ark.
Apr 10, 2026
Here Comes The Swarm - Here Comes the Swarm is a survival RTS with a pause button! Create your strategy, build, manage, and defend your settlements at your own pace. Take the fight to the hive mind and lead expeditions to deliver a deadly blow and eradicate your foes. Will you reclaim Ulora from the relentless Swarm?
Mar 5, 2026
House of Legacy - Step into the shoes of a fallen clan leader, starting with nothing but a crumbling estate and a handful of hopes, rising through careful planning, trade, and diplomacy to become one of the most powerful families in the land. Now it’s time to forge a legendary dynasty that leaves its mark on history.
May 14, 2025
On Sale Now
Discounted 25% or more right now, limited to well-reviewed games, steepest cuts first.
A Total War Saga: TROY - Inspired by The Iliad and brought to life through the award-winning strategy game series, A Total War Saga: TROY brings a blend of grand, turn-based empire management and spectacular real-time battles to the heart of the Trojan War.
Sep 2, 2021
S.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster - S.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster is the new edition of the challenging classic strategy game S.W.I.N.E! The filthiest of all wars between the Rabbit and the Pig armies is a sophisticated real-time strategy with completely revised textures, detailed unit models, a 16:9 adapted interface.
May 23, 2019
RollerCoaster Tycoon®: Deluxe - One of the best games from acclaimed Tycoon series, with well designed gameplay mechanics, appealing graphics, and really high re-playability value. There’s no limit to what you can create so design and build the most thrilling roller coaster the world has ever seen!
May 21, 2014
Crusader Kings III - Love, fight, scheme, and claim greatness. Determine your noble house’s legacy in the sprawling grand strategy of Crusader Kings III. Death is only the beginning as you guide your dynasty’s bloodline in the rich and larger-than-life simulation of the Middle Ages.
Sep 1, 2020
Rebel Inc: Escalation - A unique and deeply engaging political/military strategic simulation from the creator of Plague Inc. Balance competing civilian and military priorities and deal with a deadly insurgency in order to stabilise a war-torn country.
Oct 13, 2021
Cities: Skylines - Cities: Skylines is a modern take on the classic city simulation. The game introduces new game play elements to realize the thrill and hardships of creating and maintaining a real city whilst expanding on some well-established tropes of the city building experience.
Mar 10, 2015
Europa Universalis III Complete - Europa Universalis III Complete includes the original Europa Universalis III as well as the expansions In Nomine and Napoleons Ambition Europa Universalis III delves deeply into the areas of exploration, trade, warfare and diplomacy.
Feb 4, 2009
Cossacks 3 - Cossacks 3 is the return of RTS classics. Obtain resources, build cities and research technologies while taking command of great armies, crushing enemies in grand historical warfares on land and sea!
Sep 20, 2016
Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation - Build, scavenge, craft, and perform occult rituals to survive in a demon-infested, post-apocalyptic colony simulation. Will you survive Judgment day?
May 3, 2018
Cataclismo - Design and build fortresses brick by brick to stand against endless hordes of Horrors in this real-time strategy game with resource management, siege defense, and exploration. Lead from the ramparts, push back the darkness, and hold fast against the creatures of the Mist.
Mar 20, 2025
Tropico 4 - The world is changing and Tropico is moving with the times - geographical powers rise and fall and the world market is dominated by new players with new demands and offers - and you, as El Presidente, face a whole new set of challenges.
Sep 1, 2011
Top Rated
Defining examples of the genre, all rated 85%+ across 1,000+ reviews.
From Glory To Goo - From Glory To Goo is a Sci-Fi survival RTS set on an alien world. Serve as humanity's bulwark by establishing a colony and supporting your colonists still in orbit. But beware, for The Goo, a relentless and shape-shifting force approaches from all sides, even above and below.
Apr 2, 2024
Door Kickers 2: Task Force North - Command military Special Ops Teams in gripping tactical combat against a Middle East-based terrorist network. Sequel to RockPaperShotgun's "Best Tactics Game of 2014".
Feb 10, 2025
Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal - Creeper World 3 is what happens when cellular automata takes over a strategy simulation. Instead of discrete units that attack your base, a fluid-like substance spreads over the terraformable terrain. Your base, your weapons, your strategy... you must adapt them all.
Mar 27, 2014
FTL: Faster Than Light - This "spaceship simulation roguelike-like" allows you to take your ship and crew on an adventure through a randomly generated galaxy filled with glory and bitter defeat.
Sep 14, 2012
Heat Signature - Heat Signature is a game from the developers of Gunpoint where you break into spaceships, make terrible mistakes, and think of clever ways out of them. You take a mission, fly to the target ship, sneak inside, and make clever use of your gadgets to distract, ambush and take out the crew.
Sep 21, 2017
Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition - Uncover secrets of past lives in this story-rich, tactical roleplaying game set in Sigil, a dark fantasy city at the heart of the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse. Explore the planes, survive combat alongside a party of bizarre companions, and solve puzzles unlike any ever seen in the genre.
Apr 11, 2017
STAR WARS™ Knights of the Old Republic™ II - The Sith Lords™ - 5 years after the events of the award winning original, the Sith are on the verge of crushing the Old Republic. As a lone Jedi, will you follow the light side or succumb to the dark?
Aug 23, 2012
Door Kickers - Door Kickers is an innovative realtime strategy game that puts you in charge of a SWAT team and lets you command them during a tactical intervention.
Oct 20, 2014
Infested Planet - Command a team of 5 elite soldiers against an alien horde of 100,000. Surrounded on all sides, you must outmaneuver and outsmart the enemy.
Mar 6, 2014
Victoria II - Carefully guide your nation from the era of absolute monarchies in the early 19th century, through expansion and colonization, to finally become a truly great power by the dawn of the 20th century. Victoria II is a grand strategy game played during the colonial era of the 19th century, where the player takes control of a country, guiding...
Aug 30, 2010
