The most popular abandonware strategy games

The Ancient Art of War is a classic video game that was released in the late 1980s. Developed by Evryware and published by Broderbund, it was available on various platforms, including Apple II, Atari ST, Amiga, and MS-DOS. The Ancient Art of War is a strategy game that takes place in various historical settings, such as ancient China, Greece, and t...

Chessmaster 9000 is a chess game developed by Ubisoft and released in 2002. It's part of the Chessmaster series, which has been around since the 1980s. Chessmaster 9000 was known for its strong chess engine and comprehensive tutorial features, making it popular among both beginners and advanced players. The software also included annotated gam...

Populous is an abandoned strategy game designed by the video game celebrity Peter Molyneux, developed by Bullfrog. Populous was released by Electronic Arts in 1989 for DOS and for a long list of other 16-bit and 8-bit systems, both console and PCs. Populos is a really unique game: it gave the name to the the whole god-game genre since, well, in the...

Civilization II: Test of Time is an abandoned turn-based strategy game developed by Atari and released by MicroProse Software in 1999 for Windows. Civilization II: Test of Time is a remake of the cult classic Civilization 2, without the involvement of Sid Meier (the creator of the Civilization franchise). Test of Time includes fantasy and science f...

Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is the first real-time fantasy strategy game from Blizzard Entertainment. Two separate story lines (Orcs and Humans) evolve with 12 scenarios per side telling the tale of the battle for the Kingdom of Azeroth. Players must mine gold and chop wood in order to construct buildings and create units. Each side tries to destro...

Command HQ was developed by Microplay Software. It was one of the early real-time strategy (RTS) games and focused on global warfare, allowing players to control armies, fleets, and economies in various historical and futuristic scenarios.

Space Hulk is an abandoned real-time tactical strategy game set in the Warhammer  40000 universe, developed and released by Electronic Arts in 1993 for DOS and Amiga systems. In Space Hulk, the player is tasked with wiping out hordes of aliens by the means of a squad of Space Marines armored and armed to the teeth. Space Hulk is the adaptation...

StarCraft is a classic RTS (Real-Time Strategy) game developed by Blizzard Entertainment and released in 1998 for Windows and Macintosh. StarCraft takes the Warcraft experience to a sci-fi setting with an interesting story, three very different races (the militaristic Humans, the alien Zerg and the religious Protoss) and one of the best gameplay ex...

Z is a real-time strategy game developed by The Bitmap Brothers and originally released in 1996 for MS-DOS. It's known for its fast-paced gameplay, humorous style, and distinctive art design.In Z, players control a robot army across various battlefields, aiming to conquer territories and defeat enemy forces. The game features a tongue-in-cheek narr...

Age of Wonders II: The Wizard's Throne is a turn-based strategy game developed by Triumph Studios and published by Gathering of Developers. It was released in 2002 as a sequel to the original Age of Wonders. The game is set in a fantasy world where players take on the role of a leader, either as a wizard or a warlord, and compete for control of the...

Populous 2: Trials of the Olympian Gods is a classic sandbox strategy god game. As the title suggests, its setting is loosely based on ancient Greek mythology, and you play as a deity (hence the "god game" label). Populous 2 is the sequel to the highly acclaimed Populous, designed by Peter Molyneux. It was developed by Bullfrog Productions and publ...

Chess was a niche genre in video gaming. There were lots of chess simulations: black and white very old games, licensed games from chess champions, etc. No one ever attempted to broaden the audience until Interplay published Battle Chess. Battle Chess appeal was almost entirely focused on the animations when two pieces ended on the same square.

Colonization is a turn-based strategy 4x game developed and published by MicroProse in 1994 for DOS, Windows 3.1, Linux and Mac. The setting is the European Colonization of the New World. Colonization gameplay and interface are similar to Civilization, another Sid Meier game. However, there are some differences between Civilization and Colonization...