Best Strategy Games For Scenario Editors

Strategy game fans often want to go beyond the standard challenges provided by developers. For these players, who enjoy creating their own experiences, the scenario editor is the most important part of the game.

People enjoy strategy games for many reasons – some want to recreate famous historical battles, while others love building challenging scenarios for their friends. The games listed below offer some of the most powerful and user-friendly tools available for creating custom content, letting players become the commanders they’ve always dreamed of.

StarCraft 2

A Toolkit That Features Arcade Publishing

As a huge Blizzard fan, I’ve always loved how they give players the power to create their own experiences. The editor in *StarCraft 2* is seriously amazing – it’s so good, it’s actually led to whole new types of games being made within the game! It’s called the Galaxy Editor, and it’s packed with everything you need – scripting, ways to set up events, tools for making cool cinematics, and the ability to customize units and gameplay in almost any way you can imagine.

Okay, so jumping into the StarCraft 2 editor can seem a little overwhelming at first, I won’t lie. But there are tons of tutorials out there, and the community is super helpful, which really makes it easier to pick up. What’s really cool is that if you’re willing to put in the time, you can actually build a whole new game mode from scratch – custom menus, how you win, even a story! Honestly, for anyone who wants to do more than just play the regular game, the editor is like a secret game development school. It teaches you a lot!

Panzer Corps 2

Granular Control & Fun What-Ifs

As a long-time wargame fan, I was super excited about *Panzer Corps 2* because it really feels like the spiritual successor to the classic *Panzer General*. But honestly, the best part? The scenario editor. It’s a dream come true for us hardcore players. You can completely build your own battles from scratch – design the maps, choose where every unit starts, set the weather, define how you win, and even create complex events that trigger during the battle. It’s perfect whether you want to recreate a historical battle with painstaking detail, or just mess around with crazy alternate history scenarios. Seriously, I’ve been wondering what would happen if Italy invaded Norway back in ’39, and this editor lets me find out!

A vibrant community creates tons of alternate history scenarios and incredibly tough challenges for the game, and surprisingly, many of them are really well-designed and balanced. The game’s interface is modern and user-friendly, so you can easily build your own scenarios without needing to consult a huge instruction manual. Overall, the editor in *Panzer Corps 2* is the best creative tool available for this type of strategy game.

Warcraft 3: Reforged

A Fantasy Lover’s Dream

Even though its release was troubled, *Warcraft 3: Reforged* still shines when it comes to creating custom scenarios. The World Editor is the highlight, as it originally led to incredibly popular mods like Defense of the Ancients. The editor in *Warcraft 3* is easy to use, letting you script events with triggers and change almost anything – from how units behave to the weather. It’s accessible enough for new users to make a good map quickly, but also powerful enough for experienced creators to spend a long time building detailed campaigns or entirely new game types.

The game now boasts significantly improved graphics, and Blizzard continues to support the map editor with updates like patch 1.35, which brought back custom campaigns – even though the original game’s popularity has waned somewhat. This editor is perfect for anyone who wants to recreate iconic battles from franchises like *Lord of the Rings*, design complex role-playing games with branching stories and quests, or simply experiment with massive, chaotic scenarios – like a hundred Tauren facing off against a thousand Footmen.

Age Of Mythology (Extended Edition/Retold)

Freedom Mixed With The Divine

While often overshadowed by the editor for *Age of Empires*, the *Age of Mythology* editor is actually more flexible. It lets players create elaborate mythological stories with programmed gods, creatures, and dramatic environmental events. The *Extended Edition* and *Retold* versions have added helpful improvements, better compatibility, and easier ways to share custom campaigns. The *Extended Edition* uses Steam Workshop, while *Retold* has its own in-game mod browser.

This editor is fun and lets you experiment with creative ideas. It’s great for anyone who wants to build their own epic stories – or just imagine the chaos of giving a whole town god-like powers!

Wargroove 2

A Very Accessible Map Builder

Although Wargroove 2’s strategic battles are easy to pick up, the real fun lies in its campaign and map editor. You can create your own battle maps and even full, branching campaigns, adding dialogue, cutscenes, and challenging goals. The editor is incredibly flexible – players have even turned Wargroove 2 into puzzle, stealth, or RPG-style games, all within the game itself!

This tool is easy to learn – new users can create a working map in just a few minutes. But it’s also powerful enough for experienced creators who want to build complex, epic adventures, similar to classic Nintendo games. Plus, there’s a huge collection of content made by other users, and a helpful Discord community where you can get assistance with even the most complicated storylines.

Combat Mission Series

Plenty Of Campaign Tools For History Buffs

The Combat Mission series by Battlefront is a deeply detailed and challenging experience. Its scenario editor allows for incredibly precise control – you can adjust everything from the landscape and weather to how bravely each unit fights. You can even link custom scenarios together to create complex, multi-part operations with evolving storylines and lasting consequences.

The real strength of the game lies in how much control players have over everything that happens on the battlefield. A small but passionate community is constantly creating excellent, custom-made scenarios that really test the game’s capabilities. If you enjoy strategic thinking – planning out firing positions and managing supplies – *Combat Mission* is definitely worth checking out.

Men Of War: Assault Squad 2

Leverage The GEM Editor For Cinematic Battles

Men of War: Assault Squad 2 delivers intense and realistic World War II combat, offering a lot of freedom in how you play. It also features an incredibly powerful scenario editor. Using the GEM Editor, players can design their own battles, create cinematic cutscenes, and build complex, scripted events. While it takes some effort to learn, the editor’s capabilities are well worth the time invested.

Players who love details can carefully position every sandbag and fence post to feel fully immersed in the game. The *Men of War* community is incredibly creative, constantly making a wide range of content – from realistic historical battles to imaginative scenarios involving aliens and zombies.

Heroes Of Might & Magic 3

The Adventures Never Have To Stop With This Editor

This map editor looks simple to use, but it’s surprisingly powerful. Players can create huge, detailed adventure maps, define how to win or lose, and even build complex storylines with quests and events. The community has used it to recreate classic moments from the original game, and also to build entirely new RPGs and puzzle challenges that change how the game is played.

The mod for *Heroes of Might & Magic 3* called HoMM3 HD, along with the *Horn of the Abyss* expansion created by fans, gives the scenario editor incredible power. Whether you want to create an epic story filled with betrayal, treasure, and dragons, or simply a small map where players start with a huge army, *Heroes of Might & Magic 3* lets you do it.

Age Of Empires 2: Definitive Edition

The Modernized Classic

The classic real-time strategy game has improved over time, and its map editor is better than ever. This updated version keeps the original’s popular tools while adding modern features, enhanced scripting, and helpful improvements that make creating custom campaigns really enjoyable. What truly sets it apart is the ability to create compelling stories and difficult challenges through event triggers and AI scripting.

A vibrant community creates all sorts of content, ranging from grand historical stories to funny memes featuring ducks and siege engines. And with the easy-to-use Mod Manager, players can quickly share their own creations or find inspiration from other people’s maps.

2025-09-28 03:01