Critical Moves - Strategy Gaming

It's Steam Summer Sale time, and the Critical Moves crew has recommendations. Al, Jack, and Drexy each bring one game they'd recommend to listeners and one they're taking the plunge on themselves this sale. From alien plant invasions to pirate city building, classic RTS nostalgia to gridless town builders, there's something here for every corner of the strategy gaming world. Also: a quick word on the Sanctuary: Shattered Sun Kickstarter launching 14th July. Links below.
Synergy: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1989070
Age of Empires II: https://store.steampowered.com/app/813780
Republic of Pirates: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2103470
Halo Wars: https://store.steampowered.com/app/459220
SpellForce: Conquest of Eo: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1581770
Calyx: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3211850
Town to City: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3115220
X4: Foundations: https://store.steampowered.com/app/392160

Sanctuary: Shattered Sun Kickstarter: https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/37b88887-7add-479a-a91f-47ecebdf9e5e/landing

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Adam, Jack, and Drexy run through the strategy and tactics releases worth watching in 2026 — from Star Wars Zero Company to Stronghold 4, a pirate city builder from the Tropico team, two suspiciously similar space 4X games, and a medieval combat game that might finally give Mount & Blade some competition.
Games covered: Stronghold 4, Star Wars Zero Company, Corsair Cove, Company of Heroes Anniversary Edition, Fragile Existence, Beyond Astra, Chronicles Medieval, Carthage Bellum Punicum, Grand Tactician Napoleonic Wars, Total Victory World in Conflict.

This week on the Critical Moves Podcast, Al, Joe, Nuno, and Drexy dig into everything revealed so far about Total War: Warhammer 40,000. Fresh from the PC Gaming Show 2026 gameplay reveal, the team covers the new Warcore engine, the solar system campaign map, faction design, the glaring absence of ship combat, and whether Creative Assembly can pull off something truly worthy of the 40k universe. Cautiously optimistic. Mostly.

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This week on Critical Moves, we welcome back co-founder Nuno — and introduce brand new host Drexy — for a deep dive into one of strategy gaming's biggest stories: Civilization 7 and the state of Firaxis. Jack defends the game he genuinely loves, the rest of us are less convinced, and we dig into what the numbers actually say about Civ 7's launch, the Test of Time update, Take-Two's financial crisis, and whether the studio that gave us Civ and XCOM still has a future. Also: someone was coughing in the menu music at launch. We are not making that up.
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Critical Moves examines strategy games through weekly Friday episodes and Monday news updates. Six hosts across multiple continents analyze recent releases, forgotten classics, and industry developments without the typical podcast theatrics. We cover real-time strategy, 4X civilization builders, turn-based tactics, and hybrid games that blur genre boundaries.

This week Jack and Al sit down with Matt, Creative Director at Saigon Dragon Studios, to talk about Space Tales — an early access RTS inspired by StarCraft, built by a Vietnamese studio with 11 years of outsourcing experience and a whole lot of passion for the genre.
They get into the game's retro-cartoonish art style versus its surprisingly dark Lovecraftian themes, the failed Kickstarter that became a learning curve, the decision to ditch publisher pitching and go it alone, and why the team hired a professional screenwriter to save their first mission from being five minutes of dialogue nobody was reading.
Space Tales is available now in Early Access on Steam, with a full 1.0 release targeting end of July 2026.
🔗 Space Tales on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2457960/Space_Tales/
🔗 Saigon Dragon Studios Discord: https://discord.gg/4be9rucj22
More from Critical Moves Podcast:
Web: https://criticalmovespodcast.com
Forum: https://criticalmovesforum.com
Newsletter: https://criticalmoves.beehiiv.com
Spotify: https://criticalmovespodcast.com/spotify
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Amazon: https://criticalmovespodcast.com/amazon
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/CriticalMoves_
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Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/CriticalMoves
Critical Moves examines strategy games through weekly Friday episodes and Monday news updates. Six hosts across multiple continents analyze recent releases, forgotten classics, and industry developments without the typical podcast theatrics. We cover real-time strategy, 4X civilization builders, turn-based tactics, and hybrid games that blur genre boundaries.