Looking for a 3-player, heavy strategy game that rewards players who are willing to learn the complex ruleset and decision space? Here are our recommendations.
⭐️ Top Picks
Our top recommendations in this category, and games that we personally own to fill this niche.
A Feast for Odin
🟢 Ryan’s #7 All-Time 🔴 Daniel’s #26 All-Time
Summary: Acquire and upgrade tiles to fill the puzzle of your board as you hunt, farm, craft, and explore as a Viking clan.
You Might Like If… you enjoy worker-placement games with a wide breadth of options as well as puzzling pieces into a grid, and want a deep strategy game with a strong sense of progression.
Gaia Project
🟢 Ryan’s #17 All-Time 🔴 Daniel’s #15 All-Time
Summary: Expand, research, upgrade, and settle the galaxy as you strategically allocate the resources and abilities of your unique alien race.
You Might Like If… you enjoy deep strategic games with no random elements after setup, and are looking for a game with satisfying engine-building with variable setup that makes each game unique.
Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization
🔴 Daniel’s #7 All-Time
Summary: Draft cards and build up your civilization while managing your resources, electing leaders, discovering technologies, and constructing wonders.
You Might Like If… you enjoy strategic games with a slow but satisfying progression, and are looking for a civilization-themed game that focus more on building up card effects than fighting on a map.
Millennium Blades
🟢 Ryan’s #28 All-Time 🔴 Daniel’s #13 All-Time
Summary: Play as players of a collectible card game, buying booster packs, building decks and collections, and participating in tournaments.
You Might Like If… you enjoy collectible card games where you build your own deck and search for card combos, and want a really unique meta experience where you get to simulate the whole CCG experience in a single game.
👍 Honorable Mentions
Games that missed being top picks, but that we still think are great choices for a lot of people.
Anachrony
Summary: Strategically time travel and borrower resources from yourself to ensure your vision for the future after the cataclysm.
You Might Like If… you enjoy games worker-placement games with more going on, and want a game with a really cool time-traveling theme that creates a really interesting decision space.
Spirit Island
Summary: Take on the role of Island Spirits joining forces to use their elemental powers to defend their home from invaders.
You Might Like If… you enjoy cooperative games with low amounts of luck, and like the idea of a complex puzzle where the interest comes less from surprises from the opposition and more from how you can combo your cards and abilities together to best clear invaders and manage the board state.
Root
🟢 Ryan’s #44 All-Time
Summary: Play one of four highly asymmetrical woodland factions as you fight for contrasting goals on the map.
You Might Like If… you enjoy games of conflict and jockeying for position with other players, and want a game that has really interesting interactions stemming from the unique factions and thrives with a consistent group that knows the game.
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