XCOM: Enemy Unknown
XCOM: Enemy Unknown will place you in control of a secret paramilitary organization called XCOM. As the XCOM commander, you will defend against a terrifying global alien invasion by managing resources, advancing technologies, and overseeing combat strategies and individual unit tactics.
The original XCOM is widely regarded as one of the best games ever made and has now been re-imagined by the strategy experts at Firaxis Games. XCOM: Enemy Unknown will expand on that legacy with an entirely new invasion story, enemies and technologies to fight aliens and defend Earth.
You will control the fate of the human race through researching alien technologies, creating and managing a fully operational base, planning combat missions and controlling soldier movement in battle.
Key Features
- Strategy Evolved: XCOM: Enemy Unknown couples tactical turn-based gameplay with incredible action sequences and on-the-ground combat.
- Strategic Base: Recruit, customize and grow unique soldiers and manage your personnel. Detect and intercept the alien threat as you build and expand your XCOM headquarters.
- Tactical Combat: Direct soldier squads in turn-based ground battles and deploy air units such as the Interceptor and Skyranger.
- Worldwide Threat: Combat spans the globe as the XCOM team engages in over 70 unique missions, interacting and negotiating with governments around the world.
Game Discussion
Steam User 19
Hot take incoming: I like this game WAYYYY more than XCOM 2. Like seriously, Enemy Within is the best XCOM experience and I'm tired of pretending it's not just because XCOM 2 exists
Steam User 19
Nothing more fun than missing an 98% shot and consequently getting a squad wipe, i still love the game to death tho
Steam User 15
The greatest part is
naming soldiers after friends
and watching them die
Steam User 13
Great game but playing it without a camera mod to freely move the camera around and changing zoom levels is torture. Download this mod (has 5 files, you need at least 3 of them) to not be fighting the camera more than the actual enemies You need this mod to install the camera one but it's very easy to do:
Camera mod:
Steam User 11
Renamed all my soldiers after my friends. They are all dead now.
The game looked me dead in the eyes, let me miss a 94% shot and then had a Sectoid one tap my best guy on the very next turn. Incredible stuff. XCOM is genuinely one of the best strategy games ever made: deep, tense and endlessly replayable. It respects your time just enough to make you waste all of it. Every mission feels like a heist plan that goes perfectly until it absolutely doesn't and somehow that just makes you want to go again. If you enjoy making careful tactical decisions only to watch them collapse in real time, this is peak gaming. Just don't get attached to your squad. Trust me on that one.
Steam User 10
Why play in 2026?
- gameplay is timeless
- comic style graphics age well
- it scales perfectly to 4k graphics. yes, even the UI.
Steam User 9
XCOM: Enemy Unknown - The Streamlined Revival Of A Cult Classic Strategy Behemoth
EU is the revival of a long thought-dead franchise that started all the way back in the mid-90s and was the stroke of genius by Julian Gollop and his team of talented developers at MicroProse. A studio that is now long-since been closed but was responsible for hit games such as Sid Meier's Civilization 1 & 2, Gunship, Master of Orion and many other classic hit games that all aim to bring strategy to the home computer of the time, one of which was also XCOM: Ufo Defense and later games such as XCOM: Terror From The Deep and Apocalypse (There are no other XCOM games, trust me, don't google it).
The original games were always known for being absolutely hardcore. Full of micromanagement in its GeoScape parts and an unforgiving slaughter in the BattleScape, where your soldiers have a chance to be eviscerated the very first turn as they all step off their VTOL aircraft. And because of its unforgiving but rewarding nature, the game has a dedicated and passionate cult following to this very day, with fans still actively banding together to develop a Source Port to make sure the game continues running as best as it can on modern operating systems.
To say that EU had big shoes to fill would be an understatement.
While modern gamers weren't really aware that XCOM was a thing before EU, many people who have fond memories of the original were cautiously optimistic as EU was revealed alongside a supplementary game that ended up being a Third-Person Shooter. But that game has no direct ties to EU and can safely be enjoyed on its own or outright ignored, as it seems largely forgotten with middling reviews.
EU wanted to be nothing more than a more modern, sleek and streamlined revival of a long-dormant series, trimming off the fat where necessary to give a conscise and focused new iteration of the series, one that would have an easy skill floor where many things are explained to you quite intuitively, but with enough depth to still stand out in a videogame market that was, at the time, oversaturated with mostly effortless first- and third-person cover shooters that didn't require much involvement other than pointing and shooting your rifle.
So what is this game about? Well, you are the Commander of the XCOM Unit, an organization collectively funded by the big world powers as a way to combat the threat of Extraterrestrials, also colloquially known as Aliens to the common man.
Your job is to be the Commander of this unit and stop the Alien Invasion of Earth, figure out what their goals are, learn about them, co-opt their tactics, gear, and other advancements to gain an edge in an arms race that spans the entire campaign from start to end.
Throughout the game, you are assisted by a cast of outstanding characters such as Central, the man who will give you the intel for all your missions. Dr. Vahlen, a scientist who is deeply fascinated by the advancements of the Aliens and wishes to pursue ways of enhancing the human body, and Shen, the Chief Engineer, who is responsible for the building of most weaponry and utilities, and also the construction and expansion of the XCOM Headquarters.
And not to forget: Your soldiers. Who will form the frontline and backbone of all your efforts in taking down the Aliens. They will fight for you, bleed for you, and some may even die for you, and will forever be remembered for their efforts, because once somebody dies, they are gone forever.
Permadeath is a constant in this game; your choices in the BattleScape matter. Sometimes you will make a mistake, and you will pay harshly for it.
Sometimes you can plan for all the possibilities and make all the correct moves, but simply be messed up by bad RNG, which causes your 95% chance hit to suddenly miss the enemy, who will then go on to massacre your Squadmate.
Between battles, your time is wisely spent in the GeoScape, a menu encompassing your XCOM Headquarters and all the things you can do there; From recruiting, upgrading, and outfitting Soldiers with their gear all the way to Research, Development, and Production of new Gear, Tactics, Technologies, etc.
You will also have to contend with a rising Panic System that each country in the XCOM program has: Let the Panic Meter get too high, and a country will leave the program, depriving you of precious monthly funds that you now lack and are now permanently without.
To counteract this, you need to make sure to put up satellites to monitor the countries in the program for Alien Activity, stop the abduction/massacring of civilians, and other things.
It's a punishing but deeply rewarding gameplay loop. Preparing for a mission and seeing all the things you've worked on come to play in the Battles you fight.
When everything clicks into place, you will feel invincible, and it is so rewarding to pull off a perfect mission or to see the credits roll after a long campaign, knowing that you made it happen despite all the odds.
XCOM also got a few DLC, most of which I would consider part of the base experience; There is no real reason NOT to have the DLC enabled, especially "Enemy Within", which fundamentally adds things to the game such as a new faction to fight against, extra bits of story and lore, new mechanics such as Mechs and Gene Therapy etc.
It is all integrated into the base game well, and Enemy Within is considered part of the base experience when Enemy Unknown is mentioned by name.
And as a modern iteration? I think EU perfectly succeeds. It deserves all the praise it gets where it is due, and the only thing that brings the experience down is a bit of jank here and there. Sometimes you get shot from weird angles that count as flanks, sometimes you enter the line of sight of an enemy despite them clearly being behind the wall, and sometimes the game just freezes up after an action for a few seconds as the Enemy CPU seems to not know what to do for a moment.
Other than that, this is a phenomenal Reboot and a great entry for people new to the series, and I absolutely suggest that you play this game BEFORE XCOM 2 just to see how they refined the gameplay and what direction they chose to take it in.