Strategy games are notorious time sinks. They’re the kind of games you boot up for an hour and somehow end up playing until 3 a.m. But some of them take that time commitment to a whole new level. I’m talking campaigns that span generations, matches that last literal days, and grand strategies where you barely scratch the surface at 100 hours.
After years of playing these games (and a few all-nighters I don’t regret too much), I’ve put together a list of the longest strategy games ever made, ranked by how much time you’ll realistically spend if you try to see them through.
No list like this would be complete without Civ, the franchise that popularized the phrase “just one more turn.” I’ve stayed up until sunrise more than once trying to finish a game I swore I’d wrap up before midnight.
Civ 6 isn’t themost complex strategy gameout there, but with its multiple win conditions and dozens of civs to try, it’s ridiculously replayable. Even a “quick” match can stretch way beyond its welcome, and you won’t mind.
Battle Brothers is deceptively simple: a grim,turn-based tactics gamewhere you lead a company of mercenaries across a dying world. But don’t be fooled. This game is brutally hard and painfully slow in the best way.
Every brother matters, and losing your best archer to a lucky goblin stab stings more than it should. I once restarted a run after 40 hours just because I missed one key decision early on. Fair warning: it’s not for the faint-hearted.
Don’t let the smoother UI fool you. Age of Wonders 4 has the bones of a deep, crunchy strategy game. You’re creating custom factions, shaping realms, casting world-altering magic, and trying to keep everything from falling apart diplomatically.
One playthrough is already meaty, but it’s the replayability (and all the weird combos you can build) that turns this into a long-haul experience. My frog necromancer empire still haunts my dreams.
Between the massive Realms of Chaos campaign, sprawling Immortal Empires map, and constant DLC updates, Total War: Warhammer 3 isn’t just acasual game. Even a single campaign with one faction can balloon into dozens of hours, especially if you like experimenting with diplomacy, building optimization, or just watching your dragons roast an army in real-time.
And let’s be honest: you’re not playing just one faction. With so much todoin the game, it’s easy for it to become a time suck.
If you’ve ever wanted to build a beautiful city while slowly losing your mind over trade routes, Anno 1800 is your game. It starts simple. A fishing village here, a few farms there. And suddenly you’re balancing six continents and angry investors who want lightbulbs right now.
I once spent two hours just fixing a shortage of sewing machines. It’s logistics hell in the most satisfying way.
This is less of a game and more of a medieval soap opera with spreadsheets. You’re not just managing a kingdom. You’re forging alliances, murdering rivals, raising kids with questionable traits, and dying (a lot).
I once lost five generations trying to make my dynasty rule the entire Iberian Peninsula. No regrets. CK3 is endlessly replayable because every run spirals in wildly different directions, even if you swear you’ll behave this time.
In theory, Stellaris is about building a space empire. In practice, it’s about pausing every ten seconds to micromanage your planets or read 300-word pop-up events about psychic empires and sentient black holes.
It’s overwhelming at first. I bounced off my first two attempts. But once it clicks, you’ll spend entire weekends trying to terraform the galaxy into a utopia (or turn everyone into obedient AI). No judgment.
HOI4 looks like a war game on the surface, but underneath the maps and factories is a tangle of political intrigue and historical what-ifs (and a lot of math). Whether you’re trying to restore the German Empire or conquer Europe as Communist Italy, no two runs ever go the same way.
I spent an embarrassing amount of time tweaking supply lines before even starting a battle. It’s dense, yes, but also surprisingly addictive once it clicks.
The ASCII graphics might scare you off, but if you stick around long enough to understand what all the little symbols mean, you’re in for one of the deepest, most absurd simulation games ever made.
Your dwarves have personalities, grudges, dreams, and a death wish for building fortresses in lava-prone areas. I spent hours just reading a combat log where a goose won a fight. It’s a game of legends (literally).
One run of Europa Universalis 4 can take 50+ hours, and that’s if you know what you’re doing. I didn’t. I failed miserably as Venice, tried again as Portugal, then finally made progress as Sweden.
The sheer number of mechanics (trade routes, wars, monarch points, reforms) takes serious dedication, but it’s deeply rewarding. There’s a reason people have thousands of hours logged and still haven’t tried every nation. Just expect to spend a lot of your beginning hours clicking through menus.
