Lately I have been really enjoying mewgenics. Very deep game
Hogs of War
Divinity Original Sin. Old 80s RPGs
Chess
NetHack
I’ve been playing Disgaea which is really solid.
Golden Sun is my favorite turn-based system of all time. It gets really deep without being too complex to understand. You can get really creative, I always respecced Mia to be a DPS with volcano attacks instead of a water healer like she’s supposed to be. And once you know what you’re doing, you can change character class in the middle of battle.
The original Persona 3 combat system was also really good. If you played P3P or P3Re, it’s not the same. P3 and P3FES are the only ones with the original “one more” system. They ruined it in 4, bloated it in 5, and bloated it beyond recognition in P5R.
Worms. Literally any Worms title.
Additionally: Transistor
Seriously, nobody plays Dragonquest here? Not even 11?
Right now, I guess Pokémon counts?
I used to enjoy an Angry Birds spin-off called “Epic”, that was one of the better ones.
I usually don’t like turn-based combat at all, but I still enjoyed Clair Obscur, simply because it’s an amazing game otherwise. I found the battles to be a bit repetitive after a while, but it was still kinda fun.
X-COM. CRPGs. Pathfinder, BG. Have Ledgerbound and the new FF on the line.
Turn based, visual novels or some light hack and slash games are my usual poison.
XCOM (most enjoyed Enemy Within, with Long War, other versions also generally good), just a masterpiece.
Into the Breach, probably the cleanest, and a great theme.
Lots of deck-ish based battlers: Slay the Spire (1 and 2), Backpack Hero, Monster Train
The Last Spell, Battle Brothers
Lots of D&D or adjacent stuff that board/tabletop-like: Balder’s Gate 3, Gloomhaven/Frosthaven.
Edit: Wasteland series and Shadowrun series also great.
Backpack hero doesn’t get enough love. I love to see it!
Brogue, Hoplite, Stone Soup and other roguelikes
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Battle for Wesnoth
Heroes of Might and Magic
various card games
basically, any game with significant tactical depth can benefit from well-done turn-based timing
I came here to say Battle for Wesnoth. Something about the game has kept me hooked for like a decade
I generally prefer turn based, so no specific game
What do you find engaging about it?
There’s no pressure to act fast
I want to think about my moves. It’s deeply rewarding to puzzle your way out of a pickle in FTL, just to make one small example
Divinity: Original Sin 2. Combat system isn’t perfect (my main criticism is that you can unchain your characters to set your party members up in advantageous positions and then trigger combat, which feels cheaty) but it has some cool mechanics. A lot of elemental interactions, interactions with and creation of different surfaces, factoring in high ground for an advantage, etc. I know BG3 is highly acclaimed also by Larian but I haven’t played it so can’t attest to that combat system.
