14 Best Grand Strategy Games With Co-Op

Europa Universalis 4

• Release Year: 2013
• Platforms: PC
• Theme & Setting: Late Middle Ages to Early Modern Period

Europa Universalis 4 is one of Paradox Interactive’s many great grand strategy games. This company is known for making some of the best games in this genre. The game takes place around the time when the world was entering the modern age. This means that players will have their hands full trying to be as polite as possible while colonizing areas and making their trade routes as profitable as possible.

It takes a lot of work to learn how to play Europa Universalis 4, but once you do, the hours will fly by! If the game wasn’t as fun as it is, players could start a session with a few friends and do some heartfelt diplomacy. They would work together to coordinate what’s going on in their countries and, hopefully, fight a shared enemy.

Civilization 6

• Release Year: 2016
• Platforms: PC, Mobile, Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• Theme & Setting: Encompasses everything from the Archaic Age to the Future

One of the most famous and easy-to-play series of grand strategy games is the Civilization series. The scope of these games is huge. Players start at the beginning of humanity’s history and slowly find the best technologies while making their country as big and powerful as possible.

Civilization is a well-liked series because it has both classic grand strategy elements and a bit of weirdness. The sixth game in the series continues the trend of excellence that this brand is known for. Players can play Civilization 6 with their friends, making deals to help each other and get rid of any countries that are too eager to go to war for no clear reason.

Endless Legend

• Release Year: 2014
• Platforms: PC
• Theme & Setting: Fantasy

Endless Legend does a great job of letting you run a kingdom and fight big battles at the same time.Fans of the developer’s last game, Endless Space, will love how the gameplay in this game has been improved and how the big strategy gameplay feels better than ever! Every group in this game is truly unique, which makes playing it more than once a lot of fun in its own right.

Still, some people think the AI can be too easy to beat in its own way, especially if players decide to work together during a game of Endless Legend and make a long-term partnership. Obviously, only one side can win the game in the end, and players should be aware that they can be betrayed at any time.

Field Of Glory: Empires

• Release Year: 2019
• Platforms: PC
• Theme & Setting: Classical Age

When you talk about big strategy games, you can’t leave out ones that take place in the Classical Age, which is one of the most idealized times in human history. It was a time when Rome and other Mediterranean forces were growing and putting pressure on Hellenistic societies.

Field of Glory: Empires looks at that playground and has a multiplayer mode with a method that works when players aren’t online at the same time. This makes it possible for players to run their missions like chess games. Diplomacy is more smooth and flexible than other strategy games, which makes the connections between players more interesting.

Airships: Conquer The Skies

• Release Year: 2015
• Platforms: PC
• Theme & Setting: Steampunk

Airships: Conquer the Skies is a mix of many different types of games, so it’s hard to put it in just one area. The campaign map adds a layer of big-picture strategy, and one of the main parts of the game is customizing steampunk airships and taking control of them in a tactical and strategic fight.

Because of this, the group mode in Airships: Conquer the Skies is more exciting and fun. Fighting the AI with the help of friends or going head-to-head with them in airship engineering battles is always fun and a nice break from managing.

Old World

• Release Year: 2020
• Platforms: PC
• Theme & Setting: Ancient Age

Old World is a mix of a 4X game and a Grand Strategy game. It is most like games like Civilization. It’s a big enough game that it could be called a grand strategy game. There is also a full team mode, which is similar to how Civilization games work.

But, unlike in Civilization games, Old World’s multiplayer forces players to work together to improve their relationships with each other, instead of just putting them on the same team by default. For those who would rather, there are also play-by-email or cloud games in the online part of Geometry Dash Subzero.

Imperator: Rome

• Release Year: 2019
• Platforms: PC
• Theme & Setting: Classical Age

Here’s a Rome-themed game from Paradox Studios for even more classic-era fun. Since it came out near the end of the 2010s, most people think of it as one of the easier Paradox games to play. But don’t get it wrong, it’s still hard compared to other big strategy games that aren’t as hard.

Even so, Imperator: Rome is one of the best games for an online co-op session with friends because it’s easy to bring in new players. It’s easy to learn and understand how things work.

Total War: Three Kingdoms

• Release Year: 2019
• Platforms: PC
• Theme & Setting: Medieval China

There are other historical Total War games that have co-op that works well, like Shogun 2, but Three Kingdoms gets more points for the added drama. The Romance mode gives the game a fun, semi-fantasy twist that makes the generals almost like superheroes.

Players can also marry their generals and lords to make better partnerships and make more heirs or future lords. So, the romance missions in Total War: Three Kingdoms get an extra layer of intrigue and gameplay similar to Crusader Kings (more on that one later).

Total War: Warhammer 3

• Release Year: 2022
• Platforms: PC
• Theme & Setting: High Fantasy

Total War: Warhammer 3 is the best game in the Total War series so far. It is the most complicated and has the most features. It brings together all of the past Total War: Warhammer games and the gameplay of the historical Total War games in a huge arena called the Thunderdome, where dozens of races fight to be the best.

There are a lot of options here, and it can be hard to decide what to do. That’s even more reason to play an Immortal Empires game with a friend. Because the battles aren’t fair, co-op partners can make armies that have never been seen before in a Total War game or any big strategy game, for that matter.

Crusader Kings 3

• Release Year: 2020
• Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5
• Theme & Setting: Medieval Era

If getting troops together and managing them one by one is too chaotic or boring, Crusader Kings 3 might have a different kind of drama in store. This latest game in the Crusader Kings series is all about courts and family tree drama. It’s a great game to play after watching House of the Dragon or Game of Thrones.

Crusader Kings 3 is mostly a dynasty simulator, like its two predecessors. Players control and grow their dynasties until the year 1453 in the game. Then, players can shape their regions by choosing what kind of government to have, who to marry, and what kind of laws to pass. Or, if they want to be mean, they can have their characters cheat on their wives by sleeping with the spouses of their co-op partners.

Stellaris

• Release Year: 2016
• Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
• Theme & Setting: Space Opera

Stellaris was made by the same people who made Crusader Kings 3, but it gives players more control over how they run their countries. Stellaris has a full-fledged battle system that is similar to that of the Total War games, but it is not as complicated or involved in terms of strategy. After all, expanding your territory and attacking other players are the most important parts of the game.

In order to do this, the game starts out as a 4X game and slowly turns into a grand strategy game as the edges start to touch. Like other grand strategy games with multiplayer, players can bring their friends and start as a team or make alliances and merge their countries later.

Hearts Of Iron 4

• Release Year: 2016
• Platforms: PC
• Theme & Setting: Modern Era, World War 2

Hearts of Iron 4 has something for people who want a strategy game set in the present day. It is a strategy game about World War II. Players can choose their favorite side and try to plan and shoot better than everyone else. In an alternate past, players can even change how World War II turned out if they want to.

Players can start the game in 1936 or 1939, giving them plenty of time to get ready for the start of the war in 1939. Or, they could speed up World War II with the country of their choice. Hearts of Iron is different from other grand strategy games because it is mostly about the economics and logistics of war, as well as the fight itself.

Dominions 5: Warriors Of Faith

• Release Year: 2017
• Platforms: PC
• Theme & Setting: Fantasy

Dominions 5: Warriors of Faith is a great game that doesn’t get enough attention. The goal is to make your master a god. For this to happen, the players must have followers in their domain. This will give their ruler figure enough faith to become a god. The main point of this game is to fight holy wars to see who has the best religion and best imagined friend.

This unique strategy game/4X hybrid has a hot-seat co-op or multiplayer mode called Disciple Mode. In this mode, only one of the human players can become a god as they fight against the AI groups. If there are more than two players, this definitely makes for a strange situation. Players can help each other become gods, but when it’s time to choose a god candidate, they will have to fight a sudden death elimination war.

Endless Space 2

• Release Year: 2017
• Platforms: PC
• Theme & Setting: Space Opera

Endless Space 2 is a mix of 4X and grand strategy, like Stellaris, but it moves more slowly because it’s turn-based like Civilization games. Multiplayer is also less friendly to teams here, but once players have the right technology, they can easily form partnerships with their best friends.

It’s just that the factions in this game have so much history and personality that it’s hard not to suggest it for multiplayer. Even talking to the AI with a friend who is on your side is good roleplaying, which is generally what makes co-op in grand strategy games so fun.