When searching for the "Strategy" tag in the eShop, to be honest, I was a bit confused at first. Are there many strategy games on Switch? Yes. But is it chaotic? Also really chaotic. From Fire Emblem to various pixel-art flag-pushing games, from Civilization-like to tower defense, everything is crammed into this category. If you're not particularly familiar with the genre, you can easily browse for half an hour and end up clicking on something that looks decent on the cover but is actually a mobile port from ten years ago.

I spent two weeks going through all the downloadable games marked as "Strategy" in the Hong Kong and US eShops (excluding pure board games and tabletop simulators), and picked out a few truly worth spending money on. There are no "absolute masterpieces" here, only honest opinions after trial and error.

On Switch, the biggest pain points for strategy games are controls and field of view

First, a major premise: the Switch is not the most comfortable device for playing strategy games. On PC, operations like mouse drag-selecting and hotkey unit switching all have to be done with a controller, moving one grid at a time. Some games simply port the UI over, with text so small that in handheld mode you can barely read it—for example, the classic Civilization 6, where the handheld experience is a disaster; you have to hold the screen up to your face. But if you can accept this compromise, there are a few titles that have been specifically optimized for controllers.

For example, Into the Breach. This game is famous on PC, but it's actually even more suitable on the Switch. Each round has a small map and few units; you can see all battle information on one screen without zooming in and out or switching views. You control just three mechs, and there are only seven or eight enemies, but every move requires thinking two steps ahead—pushing an enemy into the sea here, protecting a building from being smashed there. It's the kind of game where "you finish a round in ten minutes, but you spend three minutes stuck on choosing which equipment to use." The downside is that content is somewhat limited; after finishing the campaign, replayability relies on custom squads, but it's not expensive, and the gameplay is hardcore and clean.

Another path: focusing strategy on turn-based gameplay

If your need is "a battle that can be paused, where you can take a sip of water and think for a long time," then turn-based strategy on Switch is much more friendly than real-time strategy. I tried Uniwar. This game is actually an old-timer, but the Switch version has adapted both touch and controller controls. The game is very much like a simplified version of Advanced Wars, with terrain elevation differences, unit counters, and vision blind spots. Each round is not fast-paced, but every move changes the situation. Its biggest problem is that the art style is too "PowerPoint-like"; characters are static small icons, with almost no animations. But if you care more about gameplay than graphics, it can keep you entertained for dozens of hours without getting bored. It also supports cross-platform multiplayer; it's niche but solid.

Another one is Wargroove. It looks like a spiritual successor to Advanced Wars, with exquisite pixel art and similar unit types. But I have to say: its campaign difficulty curve is a bit erratic—too easy in the early stages, then suddenly a later defense mission can require ten restarts. And although its editor mode is powerful, typing on the Switch to create maps is a nightmare. On the flip side, if you and a friend have two Switches for local play and start a quick battle to mess around, it's actually one of the most reliable two-player Switch games right now.

Who is more suitable for playing strategy games on Switch?

Let's put it this way: if you're a hardcore strategy fan and already have a comfortable setup on PC, then strategy games on Switch are likely "playable but won't change anything." Conversely, if you often go out, commute, or just want a game that lets you lie on the couch and think, then the Switch happens to fill that gap. It doesn't require you to sit up straight and stare at the screen; playing a round in short bursts is even more convenient.

Moreover, many strategy games on the eShop are quite cheap, especially indie games. For example, Into the Breach and Uniwar mentioned above can be grabbed for just a few tens of dollars on sale. By filtering with indie game recommendations and game rankings, you'll basically avoid falling into major pitfalls. If you want to thoroughly understand the strategy game ecosystem on Switch, it's recommended to first check the game encyclopedia to confirm the type—whether it's more of an RPG-like grid-based game or a pure board game simulation; the difference is significant.

Another practical issue: some strategy games have terrible tutorials at the start (naming The Banner Saga first, which throws a bunch of terms at you right away), leaving you playing for half an hour without understanding the core mechanics. In this case, it's recommended to go directly to the community and check reviews in Switch game recommendations to see if anyone says "I almost gave up in the tutorial, but after sticking with it, it turned out to be great"—such reviews are usually genuine signals. If you prefer Japanese or first-party titles, the Nintendo game recommendations section also has several games with high strategy elements, such as Pikmin 4 and Mario + Rabbids. The downside is that these are not exactly "traditional strategy"; they lean more toward action-puzzle hybrids.

Finally, an honest word

When choosing strategy games on Switch, don't go for "I want to win," but rather for "Can I comfortably use my brain on a mobile device." It has obvious shortcomings: low information density on screen, poor operational efficiency, and base-destroying RTS games are almost all failures. But if you're willing to accept turn-based, small-scale, or grid-based games with RPG growth elements, there are plenty of underrated indie strategy titles waiting to be discovered.

Before spending money, take a good look at the UI font size in video screenshots on the eShop, and browse the actual playtime of players in game rankings—that's far more reliable than trusting cover copy.