Strategy games with permadeath aren’t as common as one would hope, but the good ones are among the best in the genre. Permadeath, when done right, is great, as it adds consequences to a player’s decision-making. It also leaves players with the difficult choice of perhaps resetting a difficult battle or carrying on without the character they’ve lost.

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While permadeath can seem punishing at first, it’s a great feature as it adds a sense of tragedy to a game’s story and forces players to think long and hard about their next move. It also leads to underutilized characters being used more often as replacements, or even as bait. Strategy games with permadeath also allow players to carry out Iron Man Mode playthroughs and try out different strategies. Some of the best strategy games out there today are known for their permadeath mechanics.

6 The Banner Saga

A Turn-Based Narrative Strategy Game Where Permadeath Affects The Story

The Banner Saga is one of the best strategy games to release this decade. It follows the tragic tale of a Norse Caravan led by Rook and his daughter Alette. Players are thrown into this melancholic world trying to grapple with an impending apocalypse, as well as human enemies.

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This game is one where a player’s choices and actions have overreaching consequences. If a character dies in battle, they are lost forever. Players can also make decisions leading to new recruits or altered caravan dynamics. It also features an incredible example of permadeath woven into the story of the game near the end. The original Banner Saga was a breathtaking and gloomy game, and player decisions and mistakes in the first title carried forward throughout the trilogy as well.

5 Fire Emblem 7

The First Entry In This Legendary Franchise To Hit The Western Market

Fire Emblem 7, aka Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade or just Fire Emblem, was the first game in the franchise to be released in Western markets. It still holds up today as one of the best GBA games and a great game for newcomers to the strategy genre. This game features a multitude of difficulty levels, and of course, Fire Emblem’s typical permadeath mechanics. Fire Emblem 7 follows the story of three young lords, Hector, Eliwood and Lyn, and how they deal with a continent-wide conflict while grappling with loss, political problems, and growing into their new positions of power.

Fire Emblem 7 is a very solid strategy game, challenging but not overly punishing and featuring a variety of different characters and classes. While this game has permadeath, some characters, such as Marcus and Pent, while ‘dying’ in-game and thus becoming inaccessible to players, still appear in the story.

4 Tactics Ogre: Reborn

A Remake Of A Strategy Classic

Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together is one of the best turn-based strategy games out there. Seen as a compatriot to Final Fantasy Tactics, it heavily features permadeath. This is a challenging game, but it gives the players some leeway. Most important characters have three hearts or three lives, after which they die and become inaccessible. While this may seem like a lot, given how massive the maps are, how long each battle lasts, and the sheer volume of fights, players can lose characters easily.

While this game is known for its incredible story, and the consequential choices players have to make, the gameplay is great too. The recent remake, Tactics Ogre: Reborn features updated balancing, some changes to the class/job system, and critically, it removes the three-heart system. Now, when a unit dies, they’re gone forever. This makes the game much more punishing. Losing a character like Canopus early could spell disaster.

3 Fire Emblem: Path Of Radiance

Larger-Scale Battles Makes This Entry One Of The Best In The Franchise

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance was the ninth installment in the Fire Emblem series, and it is still considered one of the best games in the franchise. This is largely due to its solid story and its gallery of fun, memorable characters, especially the main character, Ike. Players follow Ike’s journey from a simple mercenary mourning the loss of his father to a great general liberating the continent from a tyrannical king.

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Path of Radiance has some of the best turn-based strategy gameplay out there, and is by all means a difficult game when played on higher difficulty levels. It features varied victory objectives and new beast units that players have to manage. What separates it from most other Fire Emblem games is the large regiments of enemies players must fight through in each chapter. This also means players deploy more units than they might be used to in other Fire Emblem games, and hence, permadeath can play a big role. Losing an important unit like Tatiana or Oscar early could spell trouble for the rest of the campaign.

2 Tactics Ogre: The Knight Of Lodis

A Forgotten Gem In The Tactics Ogre Franchise

The Knight of Lodis is a forgotten early 2000s gem. Set in the same world as Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, it follows the tragic tale of Alphonse and his subtle disillusionment with the current world order. This game has tons of customization and a variety of classes on display. Despite how well players can build their army, the game is difficult and the permadeath aspect only adds to that.

Players can lose their best unit in the blink of an eye, and then have to adapt on the fly in the battles to come. While the gameplay isn’t as intricate as other games in the series, it boasts a compelling and empathic narrative and some memorable characters.

1 XCOM 2

XCOM 2 is easily one of the greatest strategy games to come out this decade, precisely why players have been hoping for a sequel or successor for years. In terms of core gameplay, it stands as the best turn-based strategy can offer; from varying procedurally generated maps, shifting terrain vital to combat conditions, a host of different enemies, and, of course, permadeath.

While XCOM 2 doesn’t have original characters intrinsically linked to the narrative, all the characters that players themselves create can die, and they don’t come back. This makes it difficult to fill the void in the team, and obviously, the lost hours of effort customizing and upgrading units hurts. With varying difficulty settings, this is a must-play for any fans of permadeath and grid-based strategy games.

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