32 Games Like XCOM
Our selection of games like XCOM features the best that the tactical strategy genre has to offer with a number of turn based tactical role playing experiences.
This long running and popular strategy franchise originated in 1994 with X-COM: Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense that blended squad management with turn based tactics in a current day alien invasion. This cult classic was eventually recreated in 2012 with the release of XCOM: Enemy Unknown along with other games in the franchise released since. While the franchise has explored game mechanics like simulator, shooter, action and adventure it is generally known for its strategic elements through turn based tactical combat.
While the story has changed throughout the various additions to the franchise the core adventure revolves around a world where alien invasions have already begun, are on the brink of occurring or have already been settled with the aliens victorious. This requires players to command their elite military soldiers in turn based missions against aliens while developing their base of operations and soldiers in between these missions.
The strategy games similar to XCOM listed on this page below aim to capture the intensity and depth of the franchise with a focus on other games with a warfare or space theme that utilise turn based tactic gameplay.
The Banner Saga
Enter the world of the Vikings in The Banner Saga an experience filled with deep story and tactical role playing elements as you lead your own caravan through a range of trials in order to survive the harsh environment and a harsher enemy. With vital decisions falling to you as the leader players have the ability to guide the direction of their caravan as they cross the unforgiving lands. The story in this Viking fantasy follows the adventures of your caravan as you try to survive attacks from t...[Read Review]
Shadowrun: Dragonfall
Shadowrun: Dragonfall started its life as an expansion pack for Shadowrun Returns but was eventually reworked into a complete standalone game with a number of improvements to the mechanics of the first release. With a broader amount of content your distinct adventure mixture of magic, cyberpunk, tactical combat and RPG elements will take you dozens upon dozens of hours to master. The success of this re-release version has also made the game a staple for strategy fans that crave unique adventures...[Read Review]
Jagged Alliance 2
Jagged Alliance 2 is one of the older tactical role playing games launching back in 1999. Set in a small fictional country the sheer amount of choices combined with randomised components guarantees more than a single playthrough. Your adventure will take you across Arulco, a small location ruled by a ruthless dictator. As you might expect your role in this story is to topple the dictator once and for all with the help of the local citizens and militia. The tools at your disposal in this fight ar...[Read Review]
Invisible, Inc.
Use your abilities of sneak in Invisible, Inc. a stealth based tactical game Developed by Klei Entertainment who also brought Don’t Starve to the world the game features similar roguelike elements. Invisible, Inc. explores the year 2074 with a setting where large corporations have done away with the government and put themselves in charge. Invisible, Inc. supports these companies by offering infiltration and intelligence services through field agents and a powerful AI called Incognita. In ...[Read Review]
Dofus
Dofus is a turn based MMORPG that started in French in 2004 and quickly expanded to other languages from the initial success. Further than this the story of the Dofus universe has been expanded with spin off games such as Wakfu and other media. Set in The World of Twelve which is named after the 12 gods of the universe the range of environments on offer in Dofus is high with many well carefully designed biomes and locations to explore. Your main objective as you step into this world is to hunt f...[Read Review]
Silent Storm
Silent Storm is a classic tactical RPG released in 2003, following the events of World War II within Europe the game also incorporates some fictionalised and science fiction elements to create a unique story against a familiar historical backdrop. In addition to the original game an expansion called Sentinels was released a year later and bundled together in the Silent Storm Gold edition which improves on the core adventure by adding additional story and strategy. Set deep within World War II an...[Read Review]
Broken Lines
Stepping into a World War II inspired setting while offering tactical gameplay and soldier management Broken Lines explores the terrors and impact of war on the lives of individual soldiers. With your 8 soldiers trapped behind enemy lines after a plane crash you’ll have to be strategic and make tough decisions as you slowly crawl your way to extraction and safety. Along the way to this game ending you’ll be leveraging World War II equipment across the Nazi like countryside with a dar...[Read Review]
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions is the updated version of the acclaimed tactical role playing game originally released in 1997. Available on the PlayStation Portable and eventually brought onto iOS and Android this release is the best way to get your hands on this much loved historical Final Fantasy tactical experience. The bare bones of the original are still there but the updated version comes with dramatic improvements that you would expect to see in a modernised version. This inc...[Read Review]
Shattered Union
Shattered Union is a turn based game available for Windows and Xbox (Xbox 360 with backwards compatibility) that focuses on the combat side of strategy games with a war themed tactical experience. Primarily a turn based strategy adventure Shattered Union is a challenging title set in the modern day era where you’ll use familiar units across the United States backdrop. Set within an alternate timeline of the real world Shattered Union explores a fractured United States with players able to ...[Read Review]
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin (alternatively, Advance Wars: Dark Conflict) is part of the well-loved turn based strategy series, Advance Wars. It’s the formula that fans have seen before albeit with a darker tone and a greater selection of units that takes the strategy options to the next level. The setting for this strategic adventure is a post-apocalyptic one centred on the Rubinelle 12th Battalion one of the last remaining military forces of the country. In the shadow of a war against their long...[Read Review]
Shadowrun: Hong Kong
The third instalment in the science fiction tactical genre of Shadowrun is Shadowrun: Hong Kong. Offering the same high quality experience as those before it the game is packed full of features thanks to it’s hugely successful Kickstarter campaign to develop these additional features. This list of extras includes new art, better UI, improved music and many other touch ups that have been long requested by followers of the franchise, Set in the year 2056 this futuristic adventure is set in t...[Read Review]
Fire Emblem Awakening
Ideal for long time fans and new faces to the Fire Emblem franchise is Fire Emblem Awakening another addition to the tactical role playing franchise. While it might be the unlucky 13th game in the main franchise this does not effect the game at all as the game achieves new heights, an impressive feat given the level of polish the franchise is known for. This story will carry players across the continents of Archanea and Valm through a group of soldiers that call the kingdom of Ylisse home. Your ...[Read Review]
Valkyria Chronicles
Valkyria Chronicles is a unique role playing game that blends shooting and strategy together into a single tactical role playing title. Serving as the first game in this tactical franchise Valkyria Chronicles has also expanded into the world of anime and magna with varying success. The stage for your Valkyria Chronicles experience is the fictional region of Europa which takes clear inspiration from a real world Europe during World War II as two powerful factions of equivalent strength battle aga...[Read Review]
Halfway
Featuring a tough turn based tactical game with a science fiction setting is Halfway a game that is set hundreds of years into the future of humanity and challenges players to survive the harsh alien futuristic world. With human exploration taking us far into space and colonising planets along the way Halfway explores the fallout of what happens when we have pushed our exploration too far and encountered something out there. Controlling a small team of survivors after being attacked on their shi...[Read Review]
Halcyon 6: Lightspeed Edition
Halcyon 6: Lightspeed Edition combines the original Halcyon 6 game with a host of additional game content, optimisation and enhanced features based on community feedback to deliver a more diverse and vast science fiction strategy adventure over the base game. Blending detailed crew management with space battles, story events that can change between playthroughs and randomised elements Halcyon is an intriguing mixture of game genres wrapped within a Star Trek inspired game skin. Halcyon 6: Lights...[Read Review]
Heroes of Steel RPG
Choose your party of four adventurers and use them to reclaim humanity in Heroes of Steel RPG, a game available on multiple platforms (including mobile) that focuses on the combat elements of tactical role playing games. If you crave the combat of the genre and want a title that offers a depth of challenge across four story arc chapters Heroes of Steel RPG is your ideal adventure to tackle. Set in a post-apocalyptic world full of medieval fantasy players join the ravished world as they seek to p...[Read Review]
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars brings modern war based tactical strategy to the 3DS with a lengthy campaign that attempts to make good use of the 3D functionality of the console hardware. While there isn’t a huge amount of innovation from other tactical titles the way the game caters towards both new players and master tacticians while also bringing plenty of story to the table means its a favourable option on the 3DS. The story of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars w...[Read Review]
Frozen Synapse
Frozen Synapse mixes turn based tactics, cyberpunk and real time turns together for one of the most unique games you’ll play in the tactical orientated game genre. With a huge single player campaign to train you in the mechanics and provide plenty of challenge combined with the massive amount of multiplayer options the strategy challenge never stops. After the original release a remastered version titled Frozen Synapse Prime was released for Windows, iOS, PS3 and PS Vita with some alternative de...[Read Review]
Xenonauts
Xenonauts draws heavily on the science fiction universe of the original X-COM to create a very familiar turn based tactical adventure. The game isn’t just a clone though with many improvements that allow it to stand own feet and not lean too heavily on the reputation of X-COM. The game is set in an alternate Earth timeline where an alien invasion of Earth takes place in 1979, leaving the human race severely outgunned. Your role in these troubling times is to lead the organisation known as Xenona...[Read Review]
Wakfu
Wakfu is a free to play MMORPG that utilises a turn based tactical combat style over more traditional MMO mechanics. The game is similar to Ankama Games other MMO, Dofus in terms of mechanics but it set 1000 years after the events of the original game. Your first adventure in Wakfu serves as both the tutorial and the story foundation. You’ll also be able to select one of the 15 available classes, these aren’t your standard archetypes either with a distinct lack of your standard warri...[Read Review]
Expeditions: Conquistador
Expeditions: Conquistador is a historical turn based strategy experience with a focus on tactical role playing gameplay. The game packs in a huge amount of strategic depth and was released in 2013 for Windows and Mac. In the game you’ll be playing as an expedition leader as you cross South America. The areas that you will explore are all based on their real locations which adds an amazing sense of realism into the game. Expeditions: Conquistador is set in the 1500s so the weapons, resources and ...[Read Review]
Great Big War Game
Great Big War Game is a 3D turn based adventure originally designed for mobile devices and brought across to Windows through Steam. Designed to take hours to complete the core story spans over 50 campaign missions where you’ll utilise tactics, unlock new troops and win the war one turn at a time. Along the way Great Big War Game takes players across countless environments with their own strategic considerations which also carries over to the skirmish and multiplayer options with a vast arr...[Read Review]
Radiant Historia
Radiant Historia is a RPG experience for your Nintendo DS with time travel elements making up the core of the experience. The game was developed by Atlus who worked on many other popular games in the genre including the highly received Nocturne and Persona 3. Radiant Historia is set on Vanqueur, which was the site for a once powerful empire that destroyed itself by using a powerful energy within the game world known as Flux. The current game world which players will have a chance to explore feat...[Read Review]
Skulls of the Shogun
Skulls of the Shogun is a casual take on the turn based tactic genre that brings players into feudal Japan to battle against their former lieutenant that has stolen their place in the afterlife. With simple core mechanics but plenty of strategic variety to explore you’ll find adequate strategy amongst single player and multiplayer modes. Originally launched as an Xbox Live Arcade and Windows title in 2012 Skulls of the Shogun slowly expanded across a number of other platforms, expanding it...[Read Review]
Jeanne d’Arc
Drawing from history but adding countless fantasy elements is Jeanne d’Arc a game for the PSP in the tactical role playing genre. Choosing to focus on smaller combat engagements there is all the depth you need to stay invested from start to end in this 2006 (2007 in North America) released title. The heart of the story line is the 5 magical armlets that were created in the past by powerful heroes to help them in the great war that was fought against the demon army. Fast forward hundreds of years...[Read Review]
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Advance Wars: Dual Strike belongs to the popular Advance Wars franchise and is available on the Nintendo DS platform (and eventually the Nintendo Wii U) with the series long being a Nintendo staple. Taking place in a fresh location but continuing on from previous games Dual Strike is the ideal Advance Wars game for fresh faces to join the franchise but has that extra appeal for long time fans with just the right balance of familiar mechanics. Set in Omega Land two new characters join the Dual St...[Read Review]
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel
Fallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel takes place in the apocalyptic setting that the Fallout universe is known for and opts for a tactical RPG approach ensuring plenty of strategy, customisation and story to be enjoyed. Following a fresh squad in the Brotherhood of Steel faction you’ll accept mission after mission in the wasteland as you help inhabitants and find yourself in the middle of a desperate and seemingly endless war. Similar to other additions to the Fallout universe players can...[Read Review]
Wasteland 2
Set in a post-apocalyptic universe and aiming to capture the same audience as the original Fallout adventures is Wasteland 2. With a huge amount of potential customisation and enough content to ensure multiple playthroughs can take different paths it is a game that succeeds for the most part. Set 15 years after the original Wasteland the game is set in the same gloomy post nuclear holocaust game world. There are plenty of survivors scattered across this landscape with a mixture of friend, foe an...[Read Review]
Braveland Wizard
Braveland Wizard builds on the original turn based adventure of Braveland by introducing a new Wizard hero for players to command into a consistent stream of turn based strategic fights. With plenty of other enhancements ensuring a longer and more satisfying adventure the game is bound to captivate fans of tactical turn based gaming and the original Braveland experience which offers a simplified entry into the genre. Available across multiple platforms and offering three different difficulty lev...[Read Review]
Templar Battleforce
Step into the future and gear out your our squad of experienced fighters with Templar Battleforce, a tactical strategy combat game with deep RPG elements for mobile and PC. Set deep in a futuristic space setting Templar Battleforce will challenge your wits and will as you battle a range of enemies while building up your deadly team. From the get go Templar Battleforce puts you in command of a team if Templar specialists as you deploy them into battles against all odds, allowing them to grow from...[Read Review]
RAM Pressure
Taking a XCOM inspired setting into the free to play realm is RAM Pressure an in development title that seeks to offer alien tactical combat to the masses. Building on a foundation of strategy titles that have come before it RAM Pressure is an ambitious strategy title that has already made some progress towards it’s eventual goal to rival the likes of XCOM. The end game for RAM Pressure also includes a vision of both vast single player and multiplayer options. One obvious similarity right ...[Read Review]
Battle Worlds: Kronos
Battle Worlds: Kronos is an impressive turn based development that grew from a successful Kickstarter campaign into a full release video game with a large amount of single player content. Delivering a strategy experience with a huge amount of units, campaign gameplay and customisation opportunity it aims to be a shining star in a genre that doesn’t receive the same amount of love as the gaming eras of yesteryear. Battle Worlds: Kronos throws players into a militaristic setting as you complete ea...[Read Review]