Critical Moves Podcast - Strategy Videogames

Most gamers over 40 get five hours a week to play games. That's 300 hours for the entire year. We picked strategy titles that work when you can only play in short bursts between work, family, and everything else competing for your time.
Al recommends Empire: Total War for its blend of grand strategy and tactical battles, plus it runs on iPad. Jack argues for Cities: Skylines because you can jump back in after a week and know exactly where you left off. Joe champions Dwarf Fortress for its ant-farm gameplay and the ability to set small goals each session.
We also cover Paradox's predatory move with Colossal Order, stripping Cities: Skylines from the original developer and relocating it to Ice Flake Studios in the same city. The plan appears designed to poach talent and kill the studio that built the franchise.

Jack, Al, and Sid go through strategy games shipping in 2026. Sanctuary Shattered Sun from the Supreme Commander lineage. Dawn of War 4 returning to classic RTS after Relic lost the license. Total War 40K launching with four factions, no confirmed fleet battles. Three space strategy indies trying different approaches: Falling Frontier's physics-based combat, Fragile Existence's solo dev survival angle, Beyond Astra's grand strategy focus. Heroes of Might and Magic Olden Era already proved itself in the demo. Stronghold coming back.
We question whether small teams can deliver on ambitious scopes, why King Art keeps releasing updates while others go silent, and what Total War 40K needs to do right given Warhammer Fantasy's foundation.

The Critical Moves team reviews our first full year covering strategy gaming and explains why "the gaming industry is dying" headlines miss the point completely.
We interviewed developers from Luke Hughes (Burden of Command) to Brandon Castile (Tempest Rising) to Thomas Vandenberg (Kingdom series). Covered games from solo developers and Xbox Game Studios teams. Went from zero listeners to half a million YouTube views in 14 months without spending money on advertising.
The discussion covers why AAA layoffs do not equal industry collapse. How 100,000 copies sold can sustain an indie strategy studio. Why we rejected review codes for poor games instead of lying to our audience. What makes strategy gaming coverage different when you answer to listeners instead of publishers.
Strategy gamers, indie developers, and anyone tired of gaming journalism that inflates scores and avoids criticism will find this conversation relevant.
We turned down opportunities to compromise. We will continue doing that in 2026.

Our best games of 2025 are a DLC for a 2023 game, a DLC for a 2022 game, and a remaster of a 2004 game. That tells you everything about the state of strategy gaming this year.
Adam picked Spell Force Conquest of Eo's Children of Norn expansion because the developers keep supporting a game that deserves more players. The complexity puts it somewhere between Heroes of Might and Magic and Age of Wonders 4, with combat that stays interesting instead of devolving into auto-resolve spam. Tim went with Victoria 3's Charter of Commerce, the mechanics pack that fixed the global economy and turned trade from a micromanagement nightmare into something that works. Al chose Dawn of War Definitive Edition, which proves a 21-year-old RTS still plays better than most modern releases when you update the graphics and preserve mod support.
Civilization 7 was up for Game Awards strategy game of the year despite being a cash grab that copied Humankind's worst ideas. They've already patched in the ability to keep the same leader across ages because the backlash was immediate. Tempest Rising almost made Al's top pick but lacks the campiness that made Command and Conquer memorable. Broken Arrow exists but you still can't save during campaign missions. Final Fantasy Tactics Reborn won the Game Awards, which is fine, but it's another remaster.
The podcast covers why Spell Force's combat stays fresh, how Victoria 3's economy finally works, what Relic got right with the Dawn of War remaster, and why 2026 looks significantly better with Total War 40K, Dawn of War 4, and other releases on the horizon.

Creative Assembly announced Medieval 3 and Total War Warhammer 40K within two weeks. We break down what we know, what's missing, and whether the new Warcore engine can handle what these games need to deliver.
Medieval 3 won't arrive until 2027 at the earliest, possibly 2028. The game promises more than just map painting with systems borrowed from Crusader Kings territory, but the challenge is finding the middle ground between Medieval 2 Definitive Edition and overcomplicated mechanics that alienate the core audience.
Total War Warhammer 40K launches in 2026 with four factions at release. The excitement is real, but so are the concerns. The lack of confirmed player-controlled space combat is a problem when Battlefleet Gothic Armada managed proper naval warfare a decade ago. Creative Assembly has talked about fleets moving between planets, but they haven't said the words that matter: you will control ships in battle.
The simultaneous PC and console release raises questions about complexity being sacrificed for accessibility. The DLC model from Warhammer Fantasy could get expensive fast when you're dealing with a galaxy worth of factions. Chaos Space Marines missing at launch signals what's coming.
We cover the new Warcore engine, whether Creative Assembly learned from the Rome 2 disaster, and what needs to happen for these games to work. The potential is there. The execution remains to be seen.