The Real-Time with Pause Zone

Games where real-time action can pause for planning, orders, and tactics.

Latest Standouts

Recent releases that landed well, newest first, filtered to games with enough reviews to trust the score.

States of Power - Command your nation's armies, economy, and diplomacy in this WWII Grand Strategy Wargame. Easy to start, hard to master and a full match fits in one session. Play singleplayer and multiplayer, or create, play and share your own custom scenarios with the built-in Scenario Editor.
Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes - Players say: Lead a survivor fleet toward the Galactica, balancing crises and supplies between tactical battles against the Cylons. Players like: Battlestar Atmosphere · Tactical Space Battles · Fleet Management ·
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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.

Extinction Day - End humanity using disasters, plagues, and war. Spread chaos worldwide, combine catastrophic events, and stop them before they escape to the Ark.
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?

On Sale Now

Discounted 25% or more right now, limited to well-reviewed games, steepest cuts first.

Distant Worlds: Universe - Players say: Guide a spacefaring empire in pausable real-time, exploring, colonizing, researching, trading, and waging war across a customizable galaxy. Players like: Deep 4X Systems · Enormous Galaxy · Empire Automation ·
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Distant Worlds is a vast, pausable real-time 4X space strategy game. Experience the full depth and detail of turn-based strategy, but with the simplicity and ease of real-time, and on the scale of a massively-multiplayer online game.  

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May 23, 2014
75% 👍
of 1.9k
S.W.I.N.E. HD Remaster - Players say: Command rabbit or pig armor in a no-base RTS, preserving a limited force through tactical campaigns and multiplayer battles. Players like: Rabbit-Pig Humor · No-Base Tactics · Childhood Nostalgia ·
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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.

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May 23, 2019
91% 👍
of 1.3k
RollerCoaster Tycoon®: Deluxe - Players say: Build and manage a theme park, designing roller coasters, meeting visitors’ needs, and completing scenario-specific goals. Players like: Nostalgic Appeal · Creative Park Building · Engaging Management ·
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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!

Distant Worlds 2 - Players say: Build a star-spanning empire in pausable real time, balancing exploration, warfare and physical supply lines with adjustable automation. Players like: Adjustable Automation · Physical Supply Lines · Galaxy-Scale Simulation ·
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Distant Worlds 2 is a vast, pausable real-time 4X space strategy game.

Crusader Kings III - Players say: Lead a medieval noble dynasty across generations, using marriage, diplomacy, intrigue, and war to secure its realm. Players like: Emergent Dynastic Stories · Character-Driven Roleplay · Replayable Campaigns ·
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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.

Rebel Inc: Escalation - Players say: Lead a postwar administration, funding civilian services and directing troops to stabilise regions while containing an insurgency. Players like: Civilian-Military Balance · Demanding Strategic Challenge · Governors and Scenarios ·
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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.

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Oct 13, 2021
82% 👍
of 7.6k
A Total War Saga: TROY - Players say: Command a Greek or Trojan hero through turn-based empire building and real-time battles in the Trojan War. Players like: Greek Mythology Setting · Distinct Faction Mechanics · Historical And Mythic Modes ·
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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.

Judgment: Apocalypse Survival Simulation - Players say: Guide survivors through a demon apocalypse: build a refuge, scavenge supplies, research occult powers, and fight tactical battles. Players like: Distinctive Apocalypse Setting · Base Building · Mixed Colony Systems ·
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Build, scavenge, craft, and perform occult rituals to survive in a demon-infested, post-apocalyptic colony simulation. Will you survive Judgment day?

Diplomacy is Not an Option - Players say: Lead a medieval settlement through resource shortages and siege waves, building defenses and armies in a pauseable RTS. Players like: Strategic City Building · Massive Siege Battles · Comic Campaign Writing ·
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Diplomacy is Not an Option is a strategy game set in a medieval fantasy world. Build your town and defenses, raise huge armies and fight against massive hordes of enemies. How long can you survive?

Battlevoid: Harbinger - Players say: Command a fleet through procedurally generated hostile galaxies, managing routes and equipment before real-time space battles. Players like: Tactical Learning · Ship Loadout Choices · Replayable Space Runs ·
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Battlevoid: Harbinger is a hard sci-fi space exploration game blending roguelike, turn-based, star map strategy, and real-time space battles. You are a young commander venturing out into enemy territories, to unknown galaxies, never knowing what you will face as you jump out from hyperspace.

NEBULOUS: Fleet Command - Players say: Command a custom space fleet, outmaneuver foes with radar and electronic warfare, and fight tactical battles in 3D. Players like: Fleet Customization · Tactical 3D Battles · Sensor Warfare ·
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Take command of your hand-tailored fleet of space warships and use realistic radar, electronic warfare, advanced movement controls in 3D space, and precision targeting to outmaneuver and outwit your opponents in a simulation-heavy tactical space game like no other.

Hidden Gems

Well-liked but under-played: strong scores, small review counts.

Creeper World: Anniversary Edition - Players say: Build an energy-and-weapons network across each map, holding back a spreading fluid enemy as you advance toward mission goals. Players like: Unique Fluid Enemy · Map-Based Strategy · Satisfying Defense Building ·
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Imagine an enemy that is everywhere and moves like a giant, organic mass across the map. Imagine your base and your people surrounded by a blanket of crushing destruction from all directions. Your only hope, well what hope? Then you take the high ground and pound this enemy into oblivion.

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Nov 16, 2016
97% 👍
of 983
Rift Riff - Jump a rift, fight off monsters, plunder their world. A strategic mix of juicy tower loadouts, varied monster behaviors, and forgiving mechanics.
Hegemony Gold: Wars of Ancient Greece - Conquer the ancient Greek world in Hegemony Gold: Wars of Ancient Greece, an epic strategy wargame that expands and refines the award-winning Hegemony: Philip of Macedon with brand new content and features.
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Mar 30, 2012
95% 👍
of 226
BattleGroupVR - Players say: From a VR flagship bridge, command and outfit a fleet of warships in real-time space battles and campaign missions. Players like: VR Fleet Command · Tactical Space Battles · Ship Customization ·
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BattleGroupVR is a first person real-time space strategy where you lead a fleet of powerful warships into battle from the bridge of your own flagship. Assemble your fleet, upgrade your load-outs, train your captains, engage the enemy and secure the sector. Try not to go down with the ship.

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Jul 31, 2023
92% 👍
of 950
Lords of Magic: Special Edition - Players say: Rebuild Urak as a chosen lord, managing a turn-based realm and leading armies into real-time battles against Balkoth. Players like: Fantasy Setting · Strategic Combat · Faction Variety ·
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Urak, once peaceful, is now a land of darkness, chaos and death. The people yearn for a champion to drive away the forces of evil. That champion is you.

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Dec 3, 2015
92% 👍
of 557
Creeper World 2: Anniversary Edition - Players say: Dig through a side-view battlefield, build an energy-powered defense, and push back a flowing enemy before it overwhelms you. Players like: Strategic Defense · Digging Chokepoints · Puzzle-Like Missions ·
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Deceptively simple... amazingly deep. Creeper World 2 thrusts you into the 14th millennium fighting and enemy that flows and oozes through the terrain. Employ advanced weapons,gravity manipulating repulsors, wormhole like rifts, and your own wit against this never yielding enemy.

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Nov 16, 2016
90% 👍
of 506
Darklands - Deep in the twilight of the Black Forest, you and your companions crouch before the robber-knight's tower. Hans, the alchemist, places his mysterious potion by the door. Ebhard the friar implores Saint Dunstan to bless your weapons and armor. And you and Gretchen grip naked long swords, praying your plate mail won't squeak.
Dredgers - Players say: Choose a race, combine classes, and fight through a real-time dungeon crawler where loot and skills shape each descent. Players like: Race-Class Builds · Replayable Runs · Rewarding Progression ·
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Based on traditional rogue-likes, Dredgers is a real-time dungeon crawler where you can play as 30 different races, each having their own stats and skills. With the unique class system you can mix and match classes as you desire, anything from an Archer-Knight to a Berserker-Summoner-Priest is possible!

Masquerada: Songs and Shadows - Players say: As exiled sleuth Cicero, investigate a diplomat’s kidnapping in a magical city and direct a party through pause-and-plan battles. Players like: Voice Acting · Memorable Characters · Soundtrack ·
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Masquerada is a single-player tactical RPG set in a Renaissance-inspired city of magic, where real-time combat can be paused to set up elemental combos powered by Venetian-styled masks. Come for gorgeous hand-drawn art; stay for the rich lore & a thoughtful, fully-voiced tale of intrigue & tragedy.

Escape The Mad Empire - Escape the Mad Empire is a party-based, rogue-like dungeon crawler with intense and deeply tactical combat. Overcome the challenges as a band of heroes, and preserve their lives and sanity by managing resources and growing your base. Can you Escape the Mad Empire?

Top Rated

Defining examples of the genre, all rated 85%+ across 1,000+ reviews.

Door Kickers 2: Task Force North - Players say: Lead special-operations squads through top-down raids, plotting room-by-room tactics you can adjust as real-time firefights unfold. Players like: Tactical Planning · Mission Replayability · Workshop Content ·
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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".

Creeper World 3: Arc Eternal - Players say: Build an energy-linked defense across mutable terrain and push back a spreading liquid enemy before it engulfs your base. Players like: Liquid Enemy Concept · Satisfying Expansion · Community Map Variety ·
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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.

From Glory To Goo - Players say: Build a human colony on a hostile alien planet, expand for resources, and defend against waves of shape-shifting Goo. Players like: Colony Horde Defense · Distinct Faction Playstyles · Replayable Maps and Modes ·
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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.

FTL: Faster Than Light - Players say: Command a Federation ship through a shifting galaxy, balancing crew, power and weapons in paused battles to deliver vital information. Players like: Strategic Ship Management · Varied Runs · Earned Victories ·
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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.

Heat Signature - Players say: Infiltrate procedurally generated spaceships, use stealth, weapons and gadgets to complete missions, and improvise when plans fail. Players like: Creative Gadget Combos · Pause-And-Plan Tactics · Emergent Mission Stories ·
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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.

Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition - Players say: An amnesiac immortal searches Sigil and the planes for his past through dialogue, party roleplay, and paused real-time combat. Players like: Rich, memorable writing · Strange planar setting · Memorable companions ·
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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.

STAR WARS™ Knights of the Old Republic™ II - The Sith Lords™ - Players say: As an exiled Jedi in a galaxy hunted by the Sith, rebuild your connection to the Force, shape a crew, and choose light or dark. Players like: Story and Dialogue · Complex Companions · Moral Choices ·
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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?

Door Kickers - Players say: Command a top-down SWAT squad: plot routes and breaches, then execute raids in real time with pause-ready orders. Players like: Tactical Planning · Satisfying Raid Execution · Custom Maps And Mods ·
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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.

Infested Planet - Players say: Lead five marines through alien territory, capturing outposts and destroying hives while adapting your defenses to a mutating swarm. Players like: Tactical Adaptation · Strategy And Defense · Satisfying Swarm Combat ·
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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.

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Mar 6, 2014
94% 👍
of 3.0k
Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition - Players say: Create a hero, recruit companions, and investigate a threat across the Sword Coast in a party-based, pause-driven D&D RPG. Players like: Open-Ended Exploration · Mystery-Driven Story · Atmospheric Art and Music ·
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The classic returns! Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition restores the full original adventure and Tales of the Sword Coast, now polished with quality‑of‑life upgrades for a smoother timeless Dungeons & Dragons journey.