The best Strategy RPGs and Tactical RPGs on Android

Strategy RPGs and Tactical RPGs are an admittedly niche market. The game play tends to be slower because it focuses more on strategy than it does on sheer action. They operate with a turn-based style of combat and feature a chessboard style map where you move units into tactically advantageous positions to gain the upper hand. There aren’t many available on Android, but some of them are truly excellent. Here are the best strategy RPGs and tactical RPGs on Android! We’d like to give an honorable mention to Banner Saga 1 and 2. They are both outstanding games, even if they are a little old at this point.

The best strategy RPGs and tactical RPGs for Android

Brave Nine

Price: Free to play

Brave Nine (formerly Brown Dust) is a newer strategy RPG. It also Japanese RPG elements, animations, gacha elements, and story style. The game boasts over 300 mercenaries to collect, upgrade, and fight with. In addition, the grid-based fighting system is traditional strategy RPG. We liked this game for its massive story, the 1,200 stages to complete along with all of the weekly and monthly stuff to do. You will have something to do in this game for a very long time. However, it is a free to play game and it has a lot of those free to play elements, especially with the gacha stuff. Beware of that, but otherwise it’s a good RPG.

Disgaea 1 Complete is a port of the first Disgaea game in its entirety. It’s a classic strategy RPG with a narrative story to drive the game and excellent mechanics. The game includes the original Disgaea 1 from PlayStation 2 back in 2003. This variant also includes some modern features such as an auto-battle system for easy grinding, a speed boost function for up to eight times faster speeds, cloud saving, and the good old cheat shop in case you want to buy your way to the end with in-game money. The price tag is among the most expensive of any Android game we’ve ever put on a list. However, it at least doesn’t have any additional in-app purchases or ads. 

Final Fantasy Tactics

Price: $11.99

Final Fantasy Tactics is definitely among the best strategy RPGs. It first came out in 1997. It features a long, story-driven campaign complete with video cut scenes. Square Enix added characters along with additional cut scenes for more options and enjoyment. There are also additional jobs and missions to play. The only caveat is that players on budget devices seem to be having some crashing issues on certain missions, so make sure to read through the customer reviews before dropping $11.99 on the game. Another great, albeit expensive Square Enix SRPG port is SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambition.

Fire Emblem Heroes is one of the newer strategy RPGs. It’s a freemium version of Nintendo’s popular series. It features a bunch of characters and music from the series. There’s a new story line for you to play through. There are also a few play modes to keep things fresh. The main game maintains the classic tactical RPG mechanics of the original franchise. The game is also very clean compared to other mobile RPGs. There is also a lot more content now than on release day. It does have a character collecting mechanic. That’s popular in current freemium RPGs. Otherwise, everything in the game is surprisingly good. This is Nintendo’s most profitable game for a reason.

Heroes of Steel

Price: $3.99 / Up to $1.99

Heroes of Steel is a four episode tactical RPG. All four stories add up to about 120 hours of game play. That’s fairly impressive. The game also includes character customization, retro style graphics, tons of loot to find, and a lot more. The combat mechanics are classic tactical RPG, but still pretty simple. It definitely focuses a little more on the narrative. The base game is $3.99. The in-app purchases are for the other four episodes. It is definitely one of the better strategy RPGs.

Illusion Connect is a pretty good free to play gacha style SRPG. Players collect a variety of characters from a pool and then upgrade them to do battle. The story mode is pretty good and players can get through it in a reasonably decent amount of time. PvP, on the other hand, is full of meta shifting and it can be difficult to compete at higher levels. The game also comes with a full voice cast, some little mini-games to keep things interesting, and above average pull rates. It has flaws, but it’s a good game overall.

Shining Force Classics

Price: Free / Up to $4.99

Shining Force Classics is a remake of the popular strategy RPGs from the SEGA Genesis days. This title includes all three Shining Force games. I played the first two quite a bit when I was younger, but I never gave the third one a real shot. In any case, these are really traditional strategy RPG style games. You recruit characters, save the world, and engage in grid-based combat. Characters can upgrade their class after so many level gains and SEGA left the games relatively untouched from their previous releases. The controls are a bit clunky, but the games play well enough. Each title runs for $1.99 as an in-app purchase or you can buy all three in a single $4.99 bundle.

Templar Battleforce is one only a handful of premium strategy RPGs. It also has regular strategy game elements as well. It features the classic checkerboard map style and movement, but it’s a bit less clunky than traditional strategy RPGs. The game has 55 scenarios to play through, a sci-fi story, boss fights, and a new game+ mode if you want to play again. The skill trees are rather excellent and allow for a high degree of character customization. It’s a bit pricey, but you get what you pay for.

Ticket to Earth

Price: $4.99

Ticket to Earth is a bit of a wild card in this space. It has all of the core mechanics of a tactical or strategy RPG. However, the game also includes board game elements, match-three elements, and more. For instance, your character walks along a path of the same symbols and colors. The longer the path, the more damage the character does. It’s quite neat, actually. This may even end up on our best match three games list one day. In any case, the game runs for $4.99 with no in-app purchases or advertisements. Ticket to Earth is also free via Google Play Pass if you have it.

War of the Visions FFBE is the second game in the Final Fantasy Brave Exvius universe. This one is a riff on Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. You get the classic checkerboard battle style along with an absolutely massive (and growing) cast of characters to collect. It has gacha mechanics as well so you must summon your companions as you go. The game is the newest on the list so it hasn’t been as fleshed out as other, more mature free to play games like Fire Emblem Heroes. However, there is already a ton of content and most of the major release bugs are in the past. Our only complaints are the sheer number of screens you have to click through to start playing, and the absurd number of daily chores that take forever to do.

If we missed any of the best tactical RPGs or Strategy RPGs for Android, tell us about them in the comments! You can also click here to check out our latest Android app and game lists.

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