Love strategizing? These are the best games of 2021 to do it with.
When it comes to this past year's slate of excellent games, there have been some absolutely fantastic options. Many of them, quite surprisingly, have been within the strategy realm. If you value planning every move in your favorite games or strategizing every time the spotlight falls on you, these are the games you should make it a point to purchase and enjoy this year (and beyond!). Here are our favorite action/strategy games of 2021.
Loop Hero
Loop Hero is one of those games that totally changes up everything you think you know about the genre. In this case, it doesn't resemble a strategy game from the outside, but it certainly ticks all the boxes. It's content to make its own way, however, introducing players to a world where an evil lich has destroyed everything and there's a world in dire need of being rebuilt. It's your job to help a small survivor do just that by using cards that change the hero's actions instead of controlling him directly. In addition to building the world, you've got to keep an eye out for monsters and even other survivors who wish to assist. It all takes place in randomly-generated paths, and creates gameplay loops (hence the name) that you won't want to stop playing through again and again.
Inscryption
The strategy genre has been rife with games that include cards as part of its main setup, and Inscryption is no different. This horror-centric deck-building game finds players trying to escape a terrifying cabin by banishing demonic forces. What could go wrong, right? Most of the fun happens on a special grid where players use certain cards to attack opponents, figuring out the best past forward, and working through checkpoints as the addictive storyline powers forward. Its sacrifice-centric rules give it an exciting twist, and the art style ensures it's gripping, no matter which run you're currently on.
Griftlands
The card battler mechanics continue with Griftlands, another absolutely fantastic roguelike that gives players a chance at splitting their decks in half, which means using different groups of cards for different situations. In addition to changing things up in this creative manner, Griftlands contains some exciting narrative missions as well, with plenty of different types of loot and rewards for powering through each area. Its persistent story ensures you always have a compelling reason to move forward. For that, it's certainly one of the best strategy games of the year, and you should absolutely give it a chance.
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What was your favorite action/strategy game of 2021? Join the official SteelSeries Discord to chat about it.
