Lords of Conquest

Released in 1987, Lords of Conquest is strategy in its most distilled, no-nonsense form. This is a game that drops you onto a map, hands you control of armies, and essentially says, “Figure it out.” There’s no narrative dressing things up, no attempt to soften the edges. What you get instead is a pure test of tactical thinking, where every move has consequences and overconfidence is punished swiftly. The AI can be surprisingly ruthless, and matches have a way of escalating from calm planning to desperate damage control. Lords of Conquest doesn’t try to be cinematic or immersive; it’s about dominance, territory, and cold decisions. That austerity is exactly what gives it its charm. If you enjoy strategy stripped of theatrics, this is the kind of game that still holds up surprisingly well.