Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Plenty of games let you save the world, but you know what? That’s boring! What about (pretend) world domination? Some games give us a taste of what evil looks like, and whether it’s swallowing rival civilizations or building a secret lair, domination is the only reason you're here. These 20 titles reward anyone who looks at a perfectly good map and immediately starts wondering how to make it theirs.
1. Risk: Global Domination
Few games are as shameless about the objective as Risk: Global Domination. (Though with a name like that, what else did we expect?) Controlling the entire board is quite literally the goal. You gather troops, attack neighboring territories, fortify vulnerable borders, and slowly eliminate every competing power. By the end, there isn't much left to do but own everything.
2. Rise of Nations
The aptly named Conquer the World campaign in Rise of Nations turns global expansion into a massive series of connected battles. You start with a tiny territory and slowly move armies around a world map. All that’s left to do is fight conflicts using the game's real-time strategy system until you’re the last guy standing.
3. Evil Genius
Most strategy games at least pretend you're building a respectable empire, but not Evil Genius. In this one, you’re given a secret island lair and told to get plotting. Your chosen mastermind recruits minions, steals valuable objects, commits Acts of Infamy, and works toward a doomsday scheme.
4. Evil Genius 2: World Domination
Funnily enough, the sequel somehow made its intentions even clearer in the title. The goal is as simple as it ever was: send criminal networks across the globe and construct superweapons beneath your lair. Depending on your chosen Genius, the details change, but becoming the planet's most powerful villain is really the whole point.
5. Age of History II
Age of History II starts you with a country and gives you enough diplomatic tools to turn it into something larger. Provinces change hands, alliances shift, peace treaties redraw borders, and even tiny nations can theoretically become continental monsters. There are a lot of balls in the air, but it’s a small price to pay.
6. Supreme Ruler Ultimate
There isn't much modesty in picking a nation for your own. This game combines military operations with all the hairy obstacles of economics, resource management, and research. Global conquest takes patience, too—armies need fuel, and economies need to function even while you're busy annexing your neighbors.
7. Civilization V
Technically speaking, Civilization V does offer peaceful victories—just not in Domination. Under the Brave New World rules, you need control of every civilization's original capital, making places such as Rome, Beijing, Washington, and Thebes the spots that matter. Watching your empire creep across the map gets dangerously satisfying once the first capital falls.
8. Civilization VI
Oh, we’re not done yet. Domination in Civilization VI asks you to capture every other civilization's original capital while keeping control of your own. That can mean a lot of different things, like progressing from ancient warriors to nukes to giant death robots if a match lasts long enough.
9. Dummynation
Dummynation strips geopolitical conquest down to something pretty direct: take territory. Economy, military power, diplomacy, and expansion all feed into your attempt to become the dominant state on the map. Turning yourself into the last country standing is a lot more entertaining than this one lets on.
10. World Conqueror 4
The title doesn't leave much mystery about what World Conqueror 4 expects from its generals. Campaigns and conquest scenarios throw historical commanders, military units, and resources onto enormous maps inspired by WWII and the Cold War. Once you've stopped thinking defensively, the natural next question is how far your chosen nation can spread.
11. Hearts of Iron IV
Hearts of Iron IV doesn't actually demand every campaign end with one flag covering Earth, but the sandbox makes your conquests one of its most infamous goals. Nations can justify wars, establish puppets, build collaboration governments, and completely rewrite the map during the 1930s and ‘40s.
12. Europa Universalis IV
Painting the map is practically its own hobby in this popular classic! You need to push past all the nasty stuff like colonization, warfare, and relentless expansion before your modest kingdom can stretch across continents. But if you can stomach it, there's even an official "World Conqueror" achievement for owning or having a subject own the entire world.
13. Total War: Rome II
Starting as Rome can eventually turn the Mediterranean into a very large property dispute, so we hope you came prepared. You’ll need your notebook handy, too—you’ll manage provinces and politics on the campaign map before commanding soldiers in real-time battles whenever diplomacy stops being useful.
14. Total War: Warhammer III
Immortal Empires turns Total War: Warhammer III into a massive playground for anyone with…expansionist tendencies. Hundreds of settlements are spread across its combined map, with factions ranging from Karl Franz's Empire to Skarbrand's daemonic armies competing for territory. Things only get crazier as you progress, so you’ll need serious determination.
15. Medieval II: Total War
Taking a few neighboring castles really isn’t enough in this one. If the name didn’t tip you off, this is war! And with it comes all the long campaigns that demand your faction to control 45 regions plus especially important settlements. You’re also free to continue expanding if you’re really bloodthirsty.
16. Empire: Total War
With a campaign stretching across Europe, India, and North America, Empire: Total War gives ambitious players a pretty large canvas to make their own. Armies march between provinces while fleets battle for trade routes, and technological advances make 18th-century warfare more and more deadly.
17. Strategic Conquest
Long before 3D maps were the norm, Strategic Conquest was already asking you to seize an entire procedurally generated world. Don’t knock it ‘til you try it, though! Cities still manufacture armies, fighters, submarines, and battleships, all of which you use to crush your opposition. You’re only crowned the victor when every enemy city has been taken.
18. Imperialism
Imperialism gives you an industrializing nation in the 19th century and very few reasons not to take what isn’t yours. There’s plenty up for grabs, too; railroads, factories, armies, resources, and overseas expansion all contribute to your growing power.
19. Call to Power II
The Conquest victory in Call to Power II is one of the clearest versions of world domination you'll ever run into. Forget merely grabbing a handful of capitals—you have to capture or convert every opposing city until no rival empire dares cross you. However, the timeline eventually introduces futuristic technology, so your conquest can become a lot stranger than marching soldiers across a continent.
20. Conquest: Global Domination
Conquest: Global Domination deserves a little credit for all it accomplished. It’s simple: pick a real or fictional nation, develop its economy and tech, recruit forces, and invade countries. Its Domination Mode also specifically tasks you with conquering 20 countries, so it’s go big or go home.
