Cyberpunk 2077, especially since the launch of Phantom Liberty, has one of the most vibrant and vivid visual styles in gaming. You take all that – the neon lights, the chunky guns, the endless miles of wires and cables – and strap it to the close-quarters, tactics-driven strategy of Firaxis’ iconic XCOM 2, and then add a dash of Payday 3, and its focus on robberies and heists, and this is the result. If you want a beautiful new Steam strategy sim, centered on stealth and cerebral planning, this is for you.
Cyber Knights Flashpoint drops you into the dystopian future of 2231 – if you thought the Night City of CP 2077 and Phantom Liberty was dark, Cyber Knights might just have it beat. As a small team of mercenaries, you need to combine stealth, hacking, and regular strategy game stalwarts like customization and base building in order to pull off a series of daring high-stakes heists.
Every member of your small band of crooks can be upgraded and tailored to suit your personal approach, and their stories and loyalties will change as Cyber Knights progresses. Each job has an effect on their relationships to one another, and you also need to balance your fealty towards a variety of competing, malicious factions.
Missions take place across multiple stages, and you can choose which jobs you take on and which you think are too risky. This is turn-based strategy at the XCOM, Commandos-esque micro level, but combined with a huge variety of possible builds and multiple approaches.
If you want to go quiet, push your team towards stealth and computer wizardry. If the job demands more muscle, cultivate builds around combat and weapons. Everything in Cyber Knights is about balance. From the practicalities of each mission, to maintaining the psyches and relationships of your team and the trust of your employers, every level of the game demands close, strategic thinking. And if you want to give it a try, Cyber Knights Flashpoint is available right now via Steam Early Access.
Alternatively, you might want to go a little bigger with the best grand strategy games, or maybe drill into the very best 4X games on PC.