We're throwing you a curveball this week. Al, Jack, and Joe share the games they'd recommend to strategy gamers who want to step outside their comfort zone — covering classics, hidden gems, and a few surprises. Plus: is there strategy in almost every game? And how do you pronounce Stellaris?

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Critical Moves examines strategy games through weekly Friday episodes and Monday news updates. Six hosts across multiple continents analyze recent releases, forgotten classics, and industry developments without the typical podcast theatrics. We cover real-time strategy, 4X civilization builders, turn-based tactics, and hybrid games that blur genre boundaries.

Al is joined by Adam and Jack to dig into the world of downloadable content — what makes a great DLC, what makes a cynical one, and how the industry has shifted from the era of the standalone expansion pack to today's drip-fed content model. From Stellaris and Hearts of Iron to Civilisation 7's ongoing struggles, the trio unpacks Paradox's DLC machine, Firaxis's existential crisis, and why Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance might be the gold standard nobody talks about anymore. Plus: City Skylines takes a late hit, Adam drops a hot take, and the beauty-is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder defence gets its moment in court.

https://criticalmovespodcast.com/winning-over-the-heart-of-the-machine/

More from Critical Moves Podcast:

Web: https://criticalmovespodcast.com

Forum: https://criticalmovesforum.com

Newsletter: https://criticalmoves.beehiiv.com

Discord: https://criticalmovespodcast.com/discord

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/criticalmovespodcast

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CriticalMoves_

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/criticalmovespodcast

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/CriticalMoves

Is the RTS genre dying, or is it on the verge of a real breakthrough? Tim and Al are joined by Perafilozof, one of YouTube's most dedicated RTS content creators, to dig into the state of real-time strategy gaming, what's holding it back, and what could push it forward. They cover the funding problem facing indie RTS developers, the tension between single player and multiplayer, the role of big IPs in reviving the genre, and why the audience's nostalgia might be part of the problem. Peter also shares his watchlist of upcoming RTS titles and gives his opinion on some of the most anticipated games in development.

Dr. Ben Angell returns to Critical Moves to lead a discussion on innovation in strategy games, the topic he chose when we interviewed him on his work for the Age of Empires 2 Chronicles DLC. Jack and Tim join him in examining why so many RTS releases are clones of four foundational titles, whether Paradox is genuinely pushing its games forward or just layering complexity, and what cross-genre pollination has produced in recent years. The conversation covers turn-based design, tutorialization, RPG elements in strategy, the challenge of designing a third faction for Beyond All Reason, and the first major post-launch changes arriving in Civ 7's Test of Time update. Ben draws on his development experience at Ensemble Studios, Ubisoft Düsseldorf, and Capture Age to give a behind-the-scenes perspective on why innovation is harder than it looks and where the genre might actually find room to move.

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It's Turnbased Thursday Fest week, and Al, Sid, and Jack are leaning in hard. This episode is a full deep dive into the turn-based genre: what makes it so compelling, why "just one more turn" became gaming's most universal phrase, and whether turn-based has quietly replaced RTS as the dominant strategy genre in 2026. The conversation covers Football Manager as a closet tactics game, Worms as a gateway to strategy, the surge of roguelikes and deck builders, why indie developers keep choosing turn-based over real time, and the debate that will never die: is Total War turn-based or RTS? Come for the strategy chat, stay for Sid trying to wiggle out of naming his favourite turn-based game.

Chris McElligott-Park (Arcen Games) returns to Critical Moves to discuss the 1.0 full release of Heart of the Machine, launching March 6th via Hooded Horse. We dig into what makes this strategy RPG unlike anything else in the genre — its branching morality system, the parallel timeline mechanic, and why Chris deliberately built a game that doesn't lock you into being a hero or a villain. Chris also talks about the complexity modes added to accommodate different playstyles, what a "complete" game means when you're dealing with 20–175 hours of content depending on how deep you go, and how he thinks about post-launch content without FOMOing players into anything. If you've been waiting for 1.0 to dive in, this is the episode to listen to first.

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https://store.steampowered.com/app/2001070/Heart_of_the_Machine/

Timothy, Jack, and Adam review their Steam Nextfest demo experiences across a wide range of strategy titles, from a god game that felt genuinely finished to an RTS sequel that felt like 1994. The discussion moves beyond individual game impressions into a broader debate about what a demo should actually deliver in the current market, whether developers are arriving at Nextfest too early, and what Steam could do to help players navigate the volume of content on offer.

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Al is joined by Joe and space 4X expert Sid to trace the complete history of the space 4X genre — from its board game roots in 1974 through the golden age of Master of Orion, the dry spell of the late 90s, the modernisation wave of 2010, and what the genre looks like today.

Sid also drops his top 5 space 4X games of all time, we debate why space 4X has never cracked the mainstream, and ask whether Star Trek and Star Wars IPs are perfect candidates for the 4X treatment — and why nobody has ever properly done it.

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https://www.myabandonware.com/game/star-trek-the-next-generation-birth-of-the-federation-bcm