The best 4x games

4x stands for eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate. Players of these games control a whole empire by managing resources and technical developments (eXploit), expanding their domains (eXplore and eXpand), and fighting against the computer or other players (eXterminate). Among the most popular 4x games are Civilization and Master of Orion.

Sort by:

Master of Orion 2: Battle at Antares

DOSWindows XP/98/951996protected SimTex

Master of Orion II is a 4X turn-based sci-fi strategy game set in space. Master of Orion 2 gives the player an empire to run by controlling food and production, managing economy and researching new technology. The player can wage ...

Civilization 2

Windows XP/98/951996 MicroProse Software

Civilization II is a turn-based strategy game developed by MicroProse and released in 1996. It's the second installment in the "Civilization" series, created by Sid Meier. The game builds upon the concept of its predecessor, Civil...

Civilization

DOSWindows 3.xMac OS1991 MicroProse Software

Sid Meier’s Civilization is the game that tricked an entire generation into loving history, city planning, and the occasional world domination. Starting with a tribe of stick-wielding settlers, you gradually evolve into a nu...

Conquest of the New World (Deluxe Edition)

DOSWindows XP/98/951996protected Quicksilver Software

Conquest of the New World (Deluxe Edition) invites you to discover new lands, build colonies, and occasionally “accidentally” wipe out entire civilizations while smiling politely. It’s part strategy game, part hi...

Colonization

DOSWindows 3.xLinuxMac OS1994protected MicroProse Software

Sid Meier's Colonization is Civilization’s scrappy, historically charged cousin. You start with a tiny ship and a dream: exploit the New World before the other European powers do. Grow crops, trade with natives, rebel agains...

Master of Magic

DOSWindows XP/98/951994protected SimTex

Master of Magic is a turn based 4x strategy game developed by SimTex and published by the well know Microprose, very similar to Civilization, with a fantasy twist. You play as a wizard and your objective is to evolve your race fro...

Sword of Aragon

DOS1989protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.

Master of Orion 3

Windows XP/98/95Mac OS2003protected Quicksilver Software

Warlords

DOS1990 SSG Strategic Studies Group

Warlords 3: Reign of Heroes

Windows XP/98/951997 SSG Strategic Studies Group

Warlords 3: Reign of Heroes is an abandoned turn-based fantasy strategy game designed by Steve Fawkner, developed by SSG Strategic Studies Group and released by Red Orb Entertainment in 1997 for Windows. Warlords 3: Reign of Heroe...

Ascendancy

DOS1995 The Logic Factory

Ascendancy is the friendlier, trippier cousin of Master of Orion. It’s 4X strategy in space, with bizarre alien races, psychedelic menus, and a soundtrack that sounds like it was composed by a stoned dolphin. The early game ...

Civilization II: Test of Time

Windows XP/98/951999remake Atari

Test of Time is what happens when Civilization II meets a Star Trek convention. This version takes the classic formula and adds space colonization, fantasy realms, and weird alien races. It’s like someone spiked the dev team...

Warlords 2

DOS1993 SSG Strategic Studies Group

Centurion: Defender of Rome

DOS1990 Bits of magic

Rome wasn’t built in a day—but you’ll conquer it in one afternoon. Centurion (1990) lets you play as a Roman commander with delusions of grandeur and a thing for elephants. From Senate politics to gladiator games...

Deadlock: Planetary Conquest

Windows XP/98/95Windows 3.x1996protected Accolade

If you’ve ever wanted to play interstellar Monopoly while arguing with alien neighbors, Deadlock: Planetary Conquest is your ticket. Released in 1996, this strategy gem tosses you into the messy business of colonizing planet...

Master of Orion

DOS1993protected SimTex

Spaceward Ho!

Windows 3.xDOS1992 Delta Tao Software

With a name that sounds like an interstellar pirate greeting, Spaceward Ho! is actually a strategic space colonization game, not an intergalactic dating sim. It's got a simple interface, a surprisingly deep economy, and enough "ju...

Sid Meier's CivNet

Windows XP/98/95Windows 3.x1995 MicroProse Software

CivNet is a multiplayer adaptation of the original Sid Meier's Civilization game, released in 1995. It was developed and published by MicroProse for MS-DOS and Windows. This version of Civilization brought networked multiplayer ga...

Alpha Centauri

Windows XP/98/95Mac OS1999protected Firaxis Games

Sid Meier took one look at Earth and said, “Let’s leave this dump.” Thus, Alpha Centauri (1999, Windows XP) was born - a 4X strategy game that takes Civilization to space, then adds philosophy, moral dilemmas, an...

Emperor of the Fading Suns

Windows XP/98/951996 Holistic Design

Star Trek: Birth of the Federation

Windows XP/98/951999 MicroProse Software

Star Trek: Birth of the Federation is a turn-based strategy video game set in the Star Trek universe. The game was developed by MicroProse Software and published by Infogrames for Windows in 1999. Players take on the role of ...

Stellar Crusade

DOS1988protected SSI Strategic Simulations Inc.

Alien Legacy

DOS1994 Ybarra Productions

Alien Legacy (1994) is like SimCity crashed into Star Trek and nobody called the insurance company. It’s a real-time strategy/simulation game that has you managing a colony in deep space while solving the mystery of what hap...

Anacreon: Reconstruction 4021

DOS1987freeware Thinking Machine Associates

Welcome to the future, where space empires are managed entirely via text and colored dots. Anacreon puts you in charge of an interstellar civilization and lets you conquer galaxies with the graphical intensity of an Excel spreadsh...

Iron Seed

DOS1994freeware

Released in 1994, Iron Seed is a DOS space sim that tried to be both philosophical and technical. You’re leading a fledgling human colony across the stars, tinkering with diplomacy, science, and the occasional space skirmish...

Reach for the Stars

DOS1988 SSG Strategic Studies Group

Imperium

DOS1990 Electronic Arts

Armada 2525

DOS1991

Armada 2525 is what happens when a spreadsheet decides it wants to conquer the galaxy. This is classic 4X strategy with all the bells, whistles, and menus your early '90s heart could desire. You’ll build colonies, research t...